Kids Fly High in Aviation Program

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By J.J. Jensen
Seattle Times staff reporter
Thursday, May 22, 2003

Twenty-six Greenwood Elementary School fifth-graders from Seattle possibly had the all-time-best answers last night, when their parents asked them the recurrent question, "What did you do in school today?"

The answer: "I got to fly an airplane."

Not a model, remote-control or paper airplane. A Cessna 172, to be exact.

"At first, I didn't really want to go because I thought we'd crash, but my friends told me we'd be all right," 11-year-old Wesley Soden said shortly after her flight at Boeing Field. "It was a great opportunity and it was really fun."

For the students, members of the school's aviation program, flying the small, single-engine planes was the wrap-up to six months of aviation ground school under the tutelage of Principal Robert Radford.

Radford initiated the program at the school last year, he said, because he never had the opportunity to fly when he was young.

Growing up in Mississippi, he would spend hours watching the planes that would come and go from a nearby Air Force base. But when Radford, an African American, volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1946, units were segregated and opportunities for blacks to become pilots were limited. Radford served in the Army Air Forces doing manual labor and guard duty.

Now, Radford, who received his pilot's license in 1958, wants any student with a desire to fly to have that chance — regardless of race or gender.

When students start at his school as kindergartners, they begin receiving flight training. By the time they're fifth-graders, they will be ready to fly.

Students receive the same instructions as adults do in ground school; learning about principles of flight, navigation, weather and spending time in flight simulators.

This year, the fifth-graders logged more than 70 hours of instruction before taking the controls. The cost was about $60, and parent permission was required.

In addition, students heard from guest speakers, including Boeing flight instructors, a Civil Air Patrol officer and members of the Tuskegee Airmen, an all-black fighter squadron during World War II.

"It's like a dream come true," said Radford, as he watched his students return from their flights. "It's exposing them to choices and encouraging them to dream big and be innovators."

For about an hour yesterday, students went over final information with instructors at the Wings Aloft pilot-training facility at Boeing Field. Then, with instructors accompanying them, they took flight to Bremerton, Auburn and Everett.

It wasn't apparent who was more nervous, students or the parents who came. Said one mom: "My baby's up there!"

Kelli Munro was moved to tears when she saw her son, Liam, fly.

"It's just become an obsession for my son and I'm so proud to see him take his obsession to fruition and live his dream to fly," she said.

Anthony Sam, 12, said he handled it better than his friends. "They were scared. They were about to throw up."

He was thankful for the experience.

For his work with the program, Radford recently was named state teacher of the year by the Air Force and nominated for the national Christa McAuliffe Teacher of the Year Award. He plans to continue the program next year.

J.J. Jensen: 206-464-2386 or jjensen@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company