Momo Abu-Nader

Air Force

As he watches the planes take off from an Air Force aircraft carrier, Momo Abu-Nader, senior, imagines himself in the pilot’s seat. Whether it’s flying a plane or doing maintenance on AirForce jets he has a great attraction to it. 

Abu-Nader said ever since he was a child he has wanted to fly planes. He had a passion for joining the military in any branch and chose to combine his two interests, so instead of taking the traditional college route, Abu-Nader enlisted in the Air Force. 

Flying in the Air Force wasn’t Abu-Nader’s only dream. He said he always had a deep interest in aeronautics and had received big opportunities before deciding to enlist in the Air Force, such as getting the chance to work in the Boeing Program.

“It was always a passion of his, but I didn’t think [joining the Air Force] was possible and figured he would be a pilot,” Alecia Hinrichsen, Abu-Nader’s girlfriend, said. “He was going to go into the Boeing program, where you do metalling for the construction of the airplanes but he didn’t because of baseball and [instead] got into the process of enlisting into the Air Force.”

Abu-Nader is going to Texas for basic training in the fall for three months before going to Air Force tech school, where he is unsure of his major. He said that after tech school he will enter back into the Air Force using his major from tech school. Eventually Abu-Nader will take over his dad’s HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) company and his girlfriend’s dad’s golf simulator business.

“I thought about college, but I would’ve learned the job I was going to do from my Dad, [because] I would’ve done HVAC with him, but I wanted to try something new,” Abu-Nader said. “I’m going to basic [training] and I’ve never flown a plane before [so] I’m [going] in kind of blind.”