According to WDTN, Horton was introduced to flying when he was a freshman in the College Preparation and Placement Program at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy in Chicago. He got his start flying Cessna planes and Taildaggers at the age of 14, and at 16, he earned his glider pilot license before flying his first solo flight.

“My freshman year high school at Dunbar,” he told CBS News of when he was first introduced to flying. “I guess there was an aviation program that started the same year I was a freshman and I never even heard about aviation, never knew that it was a thing.”

He continued, saying he was initially hesitant to learn how to fly.

“At first, I didn’t actually think I would learn this stuff because I thought it was going to be complicated,” he said.

After the third weekend of the class, he was hooked. His instructor took him flying and his dream of becoming a cargo or commercial pilot was ignited. Now, about two years later, he’s traveling to seven HBCUs that were involved in teaching Black pilots how to fly during World War II.

“The seven states that my instructor and I have selected for my tour all house a historically Black university that played an instrumental role in the history of aviation,” Zaire said, WDTN reports.

He explained to CBS News that several institutions were involved in training budding Black pilots.

“Most people don’t realize that Tuskegee wasn’t the only university or HBCU that was training pilots for World War II,” he said.

According to WDTN, the teen landed at Lewis Jackson Airport in Xenia, Ohio, on May 8 to visit his first stop, Wilberforce University.

Horton not only wants to honor the past, but he also wants to inspire future young pilots curious about aviation.

“I want to encourage teens who would be interested to learn to fly without encountering some of the socioeconomic barriers typically associated with careers in aviation,” he said to WDTN. “Flying is another way to open doors and I want to inspire them to experience that.”