Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. shares love of aviation with youth

ORLANDO – Long before Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. was known for his high-flying dunks, he had dreams of going much higher.

“So, growing up, I remember that was one of the first things I told my mom I wanted to be was a pilot and then it went to being an astronaut,” the 6-foot-10, 270-pound Carter told Andscape. “I love anything aircraft-wise.”

Carter was born on April 16, 1999, from parents (Wendell Carter Sr. and Kylia Carter) who both played college basketball. Kylia Carter worked with a construction crew for the runway at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for 15 years. One of the luxuries of having that job was once a year employees were allowed to bring their families on the runway to tour the grounds and the planes.

A young Carter instantly fell in love with airplanes and started dreaming of becoming a pilot.

“My son came for the first time when he was five and came all the way up until he was 12,” Kylia said, who also brought him on other occasions when permitted. “He loved it every year. And they would take him on the tours. They’d take him on runways.”

Carter said he was able to receive unique and memorable access during those visits to the Atlanta airport. He learned a lot about the planes, the runways and the airport. It allowed him to dream even more about being a pilot one day.

“One of the first times she took me, I got to meet this pilot and he took me into the cockpit showing me how everything works, how all the buttons don’t necessarily get pushed,” Carter said. “It looked crazy when you walk in there. He said, ‘You turn it on here, put it on autopilot and it basically flies you to your destination.’ One time I actually walked out on a wing of the plane. I doubt I was supposed to be doing that, but he took me out there with one of the mechanical guys.”

Another thing that stood out to Carter was the lack of African American pilots on the planes he visited and pilots he met. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of 2023, only 3.9% of the 211,000 commercial pilots employed in the United States are Black.

“As I got older, I started seeing [aeronautical] movies, reading books and it was never really about Black people,” Carter said. “You got the ones that kind of broke the barriers early on, but we’re still a minority in that field of work. So, it was something I kind of picked up on probably as I got older, probably in my teenage years when I got a little bit more mature.”

By the time Carter was 11 years old, however, his dream of adding to the number of low African American pilots came to a halt for height reasons. He had grown to 6-4 with a projection of growing close to 7-feet. The tallest a pilot can be in the Air Force is 6-6.

Sadly for Carter, his dreams of being a pilot was grounded due to his unique height.

“When he was 11, he was talking to the pilots and they let him get in the cockpit and do all this kind of stuff. And he was like, ‘Well son, I’m not sure exactly right now, but you are too tall to be a part of this.’ He felt bad,” Kylia said. “But I was like, ‘You know what? That ain’t all the way true. You can’t fly planes. We’ll figure that thing out.’ ”

Along with loving aeronautics, Carter also ended up falling in love with basketball.

The former Duke University star has averaged 11.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in eight NBA seasons with Chicago and Orlando, including 9.1 points and 7.2 rebounds with the Magic this season. Carter also had 16 points and eight rebounds in Orlando’s 109-100 Game 2 loss to the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics on Wednesday. The Magic take a 0-2 deficit in the best-of-seven series into tonight’s game against Boston in Orlando (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET).

“It challenges us, but that’s the beauty of basketball,” Carter said after losing to Boston in Game 2. “We’re all competitors. We all believe we can guard our yard. We’ve just got to do a better job of knowing our personnel, including myself. Some guys like to pump-fake, certain guys drive certain directions. I have to do a better job in the moment understanding that and getting the costly stops that we need, especially during those runs that we had.”

Carter has used his love for aviation to inspire kids of color and those who are less fortunate in the Orlando area to enter the field through his A Platform² Foundation. Carter’s family foundation created the Flight 34 program to inspire youth to consider a career in the exciting world of aviation. Carter hopes to make change by fostering interest in aerospace careers among minority youth.

In August 2024, Carter and the A Platform² Foundation hosted Orlando-area high school students for a Flight 34 event to provide a hands-on experience for the youth to show them what is possible in aviation. L3 Harris Flight School in Orlando and Microsoft offered students in the Flight 34 program the opportunity to take a flight in a private airplane above Orlando with experienced pilots to provide an introduction and valuable insights into the industry. Students were also able to interact with both male and female pilots in uniform to learn about aviation career paths. The attendees received a tour of the L3 Harris Flight School, took part in a classroom lecture from experienced aviation professionals and played aviation-themed games.

“It’s kind of in its early stages,” Carter said. “Eventually we want to be able to send kids to an aviation school out here that basically just teach kids everything from being a pilot, to possibly being an engineer, to all fields around the aviation space.

“What we did this past year, we just kind of introduced them to it, see if there is interest. Then, the next steps are partnering with the school to get kids admission into there without necessarily having to pay for it.”

Said Kylia: “These kids not only didn’t know the flight school was here, some had never been in an airplane or anywhere near an airport.”

Another next step for Carter is possibly having the Flight 34 program again this summer combined with a summer basketball camp in Orlando. He hasn’t given up on his dream of learning how to fly, too, regardless to his height.

“There’s ways to get around it,” Carter said. “There are actually tall pilots out there. I met a pilot who is 6-6. He said certain planes they just can’t fly on. And then there’s some that they’ll adjust the seats depending on what airline you fly on.

“I just feel like it’s an interest of mine that outside of basketball. They say this basketball thing doesn’t last forever. So, I think that’s something I could pursue when I’m done and I could fly until I’m 80 years old.”