Maine
Former Afghan Air Force pilot fights to revive his aviation career in Maine
During the war against the Taliban, it’s estimated that the United States spent tens of billions of dollars to train and equip Afghanistan’s security forces, including the thousands of pilots that flew supply planes, fighter jets, and attack helicopters, in addition to mechanics and ground crew.
When the U.S. withdrew its forces in 2021, most of these aviation professionals went into hiding. The few pilots that have managed to get to the United States have largely remained grounded, unable to afford certification. But one former helicopter pilot now living in Auburn is fighting to get back in the air, with help from some American military veterans.
At the New England Aviation Academy in Brunswick, flight instructor Tony Alves is helping 26 year-old Farooq Safi get situated in the cockpit of a small propeller plane.
This will be Safi’s first time piloting an aircraft in the U.S., but he is no stranger to the skies. Growing up in Kabul, Safi said his childhood dream was to become a pilot. He went on to graduate from the Afghan Air Force academy and trained to fly Black Hawk helicopters.
Ari Snider
/
Maine Public
But shortly after completing his training, the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan. As the government collapsed and the Taliban stormed Kabul, Safi said he and fellow Air Force service members decided their best hope for survival was to take one of the planes and flee to neighboring Uzbekistan, and hope for the best.
“One of my friends was taking the plane, trying to go towards Uzbekistan without knowing anything,” Safi said.
With the help of the U.S. government, Safi eventually resettled in the Lewiston Auburn area, alongside several other Afghan Air Force veterans.
Safi said he wanted to restart his flying career, but ran into a major roadblock.
“First of all, you need a lot of money,” he said.
At least $40,000, to be precise, which Safi said he didn’t have.
Then, he met Jen Fullmer, a retired colonel who flew for 24 years in the U.S. Air Force.
“He reminded me of myself when I was 26 years old,” Fullmer said, of Safi. “And I just knew we needed to help him.”
Fullmer, who lives in Biddeford, started applying for grants and raising money through a GoFundMe. Her goal is to come up with the money to cover the training and flight hours Safi needs to get his private pilot’s license. It’ll cost even more for Safi to get a commercial license.
Fullmer, who flew dozens of missions over Afghanistan, said helping Safi is personal. Especially after seeing how the U.S. withdrawal hurt many of the Afghans she’d served with.
“We were over there supporting our Afghan allies for 20 years, me personally, it was, like 15 years. And I’ve seen the anguish and and of their lives just being completely torn apart,” she said.
Ari Snider
/
Maine Public
Brunswick flight instructor Tony Alves, a retired Marine, said he too was angered by how the withdrawal was handled.
“I mean, you know, our ethos is we never leave anybody behind,” Alves said.
Alves said the flight school covered the cost of Safi’s classroom instruction, and is providing today’s introductory flight lesson for free.
After taxing out to the runway, Safi and Alves lifted off into a stiff breeze, then banked left and buzzed out of sight.
Safi is among hundreds of Afghan pilots, mechanics, and ground grew who’ve resettled in the U.S. since the fall of Kabul, according to the Afghan American Development Group, a nonprofit formed to help these aviation professionals restart their lives and careers.
Russ Pritchard, the group’s CEO, said a few have gotten jobs flying for FedEx and UPS feeder airlines, jobs for which he said they are eminently qualified.
“You stack them up against some of the other employees that they’ve hired for the same positions, and this guy literally has thousands of hours more airtime under combat, under duress,” Pritchard said.
But Pritchard said the cost of training, the day-to-day challenges of resettlement, and the urgent need to send money to family back home have kept most Afghan aviators grounded.
As his organization tries to raise enough money to cover those training costs, Pritchard said he’d like to see some American defense contractors pitch in.
“There’s a lot of companies that made a lot of money in Afghanistan, like Raytheon, Sierra Nevada Corporation, I mean, they made huge money,” he said. “And I’d love for them to say, hey, disgorge, some of those profits back to the people you made money off of because they’re trying to survive.”
Ari Snider
/
Maine Public
At the former Naval Airbase in Brunswick, Safi and Alves bring the plane back to the hangar after the introductory training flight.
After years of flying helicopters, Safi said his first time at the controls of a fixed wing aircraft wasn’t too difficult.
“It was good,” he said. “It was so nice.”
Still, even if everything goes smoothly, he is still potentially years away from his long-term goal of becoming an airline pilot.
But Safi said he doesn’t care how long it takes.
“As I say, it’s a dream,” he said. “When you want to reach that dream, you have to work for it and to try to get it.”
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This story will be updated.
The Maine Department of Transportation is moving to slash up to $400 million in projects from its agenda, a shocking and abrupt cutback that is rattling the state’s construction industry at the start of building season.
Roughly $50 million across six pavement projects have already been delayed, according to a memo exclusively obtained by the Bangor Daily News. The agency plans to cut or delay another $150 million in bridge, highway, intersection and multimodal projects later this month. A further $200 million or more in cuts are planned in the next three-year work plan.
Those figures were outlined by Transportation Commissioner Dale Doughty in the May 18 memo to Gov. Janet Mills that has since circulated widely in the transportation sector, which has been getting drip-by-drip details on the wide scope of the cuts over the past three weeks.
It comes at the beginning of the state’s relatively narrow construction season. Companies have hired workers and ordered materials for projects they expected to begin this summer. The severity of the transportation budget problems was not raised to lawmakers during the 2026 legislative session.
Kelly Flagg, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Maine, called the shortfall “deeply troubling” in a statement.
“We stand ready to work with policymakers, stakeholders, and industry partners to identify both immediate and long-term solutions,” Flagg said. “Maine cannot afford to fall further behind.”
Insiders saw this first.
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The cuts stem from a structural funding gap of at least $130 million in the state’s current work plan, according to Doughty’s memo. Losses are magnified because state money from the gas tax and other revenue sources is matched by federal funds. Lawmakers have long grappled with politically difficult long-term problems with the state’s transportation budget.
A Mills spokesperson said Wednesday morning that the administration was working on a response to questions from the BDN. The department says it needs roughly $240 million more in state capital funding annually to maintain the existing system, and that anything less than $200 million will erode it over time.
Doughty’s memo the only near-term solution is a series of bonds beginning as soon as possible. Lawmakers would have to return to Augusta to authorize that if one is going to appear on the November ballot.
The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Michael Capeci is the former chairman of the Bangor GOP.
Let’s be honest about Maine’s current state.
For many families, the cost of living has become unsustainable. Housing is out of reach for many young people. Energy bills keep rising. Many small businesses are struggling under taxes and regulations that make it harder to grow. Rural hospitals are under strain and despite years of increased state spending, the results are not showing up in people’s daily lives.
Concurrently, Maine continues to lose young workers to other states. That is not a statistic, it is a warning sign.
To me, the question in this Republican primary for governor is not about slogans. It is whether we continue with a political approach that has failed to reverse these trends, or whether we nominate someone with new ideas. I think that someone is Owen McCarthy.
Owen is not a political insider. He is an entrepreneur from Patten, a small town where opportunity is not assumed, it is built. He grew up in a working-class family, became the first in his family to graduate from college graduating from the University of Maine, and founded MedRhythms, a healthcare technology company focused on neurological treatment.
He didn’t just talk about opportunity. He built it. That distinction matters, because Maine’s problem is not a lack of debate it is a lack of results. We have seen the trajectory: higher costs, slower growth, and a steady outmigration of young workers. I believe Owen McCarthy represents a break from that pattern.
His Maine 2040 plan focuses on creating 50,000 new jobs in sectors where Maine has real advantages — maritime and defense, advanced forest products, and life sciences. These are export-driven industries tied directly to Maine’s workforce, geography, and institutions. What sets Owen apart is not only what he proposes, but how he approaches governing.
He prioritizes modernizing permitting so projects do not stall. He supports using technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency. He focuses on making it easier to build, hire, and expand in Maine.
That same practical mindset extends to healthcare. Expanding telehealth, strengthening EMS systems, improving provider flexibility, and shifting toward earlier intervention are not abstract reforms. They are system upgrades designed to improve access while controlling costs.
Maine voters consistently respond to competence. They reward candidates who understand problems and present plans to solve them. I believe they are tired of rhetoric that does not translate into results, and skeptical of politics that prioritizes messaging over execution.
Owen’s approach is grounded in solving the issues that shape daily life — affordability, healthcare access, job creation, and government efficiency. That is not just policy positioning. It is a governing model that speaks directly to voters.
Some will point to his lack of political experience. But I believe Maine’s core problems are not the result of insufficient political experience; they are the result of policies that have failed to deliver measurable improvement. Experience inside a broken system, by itself, is not a solution.
If Republicans want to win, this primary must be taken seriously. From my perspective, it is not about choosing a nominee for governor who can energize the base. It is about selecting someone who can compete in a broader electorate that is frustrated and looking for change.
That requires a candidate who can speak beyond the base, not by abandoning principles, but by demonstrating competence and a credible plan to address Maine’s challenges. I believe Owen McCarthy offers that combination. He represents a shift away from managed decline and toward economic execution.
This is not just another primary. It is a decision about whether Republicans position themselves to win Maine or whether they remain trapped in a cycle of repeating the same strategies and expecting different outcomes.
If Republicans want to compete for Maine’s future, they cannot afford to nominate a candidate who only motivates part of the electorate. They need someone who expands it.
I believe Owen McCarthy is that candidate.
And if the goal is to win Maine, then the choice should be unmistakable
The only notable change in the top-seven of the Varsity Maine baseball poll is that Gorham now has eight first-place votes, two more than last week. The order of the seven teams is identical. In fact, the only change in the top-seven over the past three polls is the swap at the top after Gorham’s win over South Portland on May 19.
Furthermore, Gorham, South Portland, Oxford Hills, Cheverus, Bangor, Mt. Ararat and Fryeburg have been ranked in the top seven for four straight weeks, and six of those squads have been among the top seven in every poll this spring.
Meanwhile, Scarborough is ranked for the first time since May 5, and Ellsworth and Thornton swapped spots.
The Varsity Maine baseball poll is based on games played before June 2, 2026. The top 10 teams are voted on by the Varsity Maine staff, with first-place votes in parentheses, followed by total points.
1. Gorham (8) 89
2. South Portland 79
3. Oxford Hills (1) 75
4. Cheverus 55
5. Bangor 42
6. Mt. Ararat 41
7. Fryeburg Academy 30
8. Ellsworth 27
9. Thornton Academy 25
10. Scarborough 12
Also receiving votes: Washington Academy 8, Monmouth Academy 4, Cony 4, Leavitt 2, Falmouth 2.
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