The Remington Viney Scholarship Fund was recently a featured story on local news station, WKOW.

Scholarship fund started in honor of pilot who died in crash helps women take to the skies

SUN PRAIRIE (WKOW) — Just over a year after flight instructor and Air National Guard Pilot Remington Viney died in a plane crash, her parents are turning the tragedy into opportunity for other young women interested in flying.

The Remington Viney Legacy Fund was started in Viney’s honor last year and provides a scholarship to women interested in aviation along with educational and charitable service projects.

Viney died in a plane crash in Rock County in February 2021, after she and her friend, Tanner Byholm, decided to fly to Florida for a spontaneous trip. The two reported having engine troubles shortly after takeoff, but the exact cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Viney’s parents, Kevin Viney and Tia Scanlon, said the news was unexpected and devastating.

“We were there when we pulled her teeth out, you know, when she was growing up,” Viney said. “But this is one time that I had neither of us could be there to, you know, to pick her up to save her to hold her and comfort her.”

Her parents originally started the fund after receiving memorial donations following her death.

“We basically knew almost immediately any memorials that came in, that that money was set aside immediately,” Viney said.

Viney’s parents say she was a warm, energetic kid and young woman who always wanted to be at the forefront of the action.

“She just had this huge smile that that pulled you right in,” Scanlon said. “She just did everything. She told me many times that life was too short for all the things she wanted to do.”

Viney was just 26 when she died, but was already a highly-accomplished pilot. Viney was the captain of the University of Wisconsin flying team, was a founding member of Women in Aviation’s Madison Chapter and was assigned to the 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard…

See the interview and read the full article here.