Budding aviators take to the sky: Eighth graders cap off Wright Flight course by going airborne for final exam

NORTHAMPTON — “Personally, I think this interview should inspire you to become a pilot,” eighth grader Clea Casey exclaimed moments after landing on Northampton Airport’s 3,000-foot runway and disembarking from the first plane she had ever flown.

She was one of 20 youngsters to participate in Wright Flight, a western Massachusetts aviation program that has been offered at John F. Kennedy Middle School for eighth graders over the past 17 years. This opportunity to fly was the culminating moment after eight to 10 classroom sessions led by volunteer instructors with licensed aviation backgrounds.

Casey gave the program a vigorous and charismatic 10-out-of-10 endorsement.

“It was very fun,” she said. “It was inspiring. We had a fantastic flight attendant. I think more people should become pilots. It was awesome.”

Though they are too young to drive a vehicle, all 20 members capped off their flight lessons over the last two weeks by splitting into groups of two and piloting a half-hour flight to Turners Falls and back. Beside Casey was Keira Cole, who joined the program in the footsteps of her two older brothers.

Before the flight, “We were a little bit nervous, I would say,” Cole said. “But just to be like in the air and flying was really fun and definitely worth it. I think it should be way more talked about.”

Emmett Morris, another student pilot, said taking the flight was “a lot less stressful than I thought.”

He felt “well prepared” by the courses that led up to flying, particularly the classes on weather and operating controls, he said.

“It’s very, very cool seeing the places you only know from the ground level. It feels weird seeing the tops of buildings that you never see the top of. Like it felt weird seeing my house. It’s very cool, I recommend it,” said Morris.

Jessica Chapdelaine, certified flight instructor with Northampton Airport, was one of the flight instructors guiding students on a clear day last week. She said the students were flying Piper Warriors, a single-engine, low-wing aircraft.

“It was really smooth out today, so students had a really easy time maintaining level on the turns and everything,” she said. “It takes about 40 hours of experience to get a full license. They’ve only had a half-hour today.”

She described the flight as an introduction to how the plane works — how it turns, climbs, descends, the different levers and power settings, as well as what it feels like to land and take off.

“They were not capable of doing this all by themselves. I would say it was definately heavily guided, but once we get at a safe altitude, I do take my hands back and let them do everything on their own. I’m just there to observe, to make sure they’re not doing anything dangerous,” Chapdelaine said.

Kenzie Renshaw, a paraeducator at JFK Middle School and the Wright Flight club supervisor, said that the class sessions leading up to flight gave students a background on weather, turbulence, cardinal directions, maps, and the basics of navigation.

There were also field trips lined up, including visits to the New England Air Museum, Barnes Air National Guard Base, and Gulfstream a jet manufacturer in Westfield where students were able to see planes firsthand.

Experts from UMass Amherst’s aeronautics team also came to the classroom to teach students about the physics of paper airplanes, and the physics of flight more generally.

“That was extremely fun for them,” said Renshaw. “They actually got to figure out what is going on, and to craft a paper airplane that is a lifelong skill.”

She added that, “I think it’s important to sort of get a physical understanding of planes, and why planes move the way they do, and what forces are keeping you up in the air, because I think it gives you more confidence.”

Holly Lurgio, marketing manager at Northampton Airport, said the program began almost two decades ago.

“To grow more pilots, and expose more people to STEM — that was the big thing,” he said, adding that many of the students return a few years later for more lessons.

“And maybe they don’t want to fly, maybe they want to be a mechanic, or an engineer, and they want to go at it that way,” she said.

Students who wish to participate in the Wright Flight program can apply through JFK Middle School. The students pay $200 for the flight, but the airport will not turn a student away who can’t pay, said Lurgio, noting that the airport offers a scholarship dedicated to longtime flying instructor Mary Shea.

Shea was a “a huge proponent and supporter of women in aviation, and did that into her 80s until she passed away, and spent the last years of her life still teaching,” said Lurgio, who added that over the years more female students have been inclined to participate.

This year, half of the budding aviators were female, a significantly higher percentage than the 4-6% of female pilots nationwide.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.