High school students learn to pilot aircraft

  • Published
  • By Bud Cordova
  • Nucleus writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  More and more students are learning to pilot a small plane alone on cross-country flights at Southwest Aeronautics, Mathematics and Science Academy. 

SAMS Director of Aviation Daren Gallacher revamped the flight program for SAMS last year to make it inclusive of all aspects¬ of aviation.

Gallacher said the flight program is very regimented to help students prepare for careers and education in aviation after graduation.

For senior Tristen Warner, who uses the call sign "Slick," the flight program is a head start. Warner wants to fly mid-air refulers for the Air Force after he graduates from Eastern New Mexico University.

"For those of us in the flight program here, it's an all-encompassing program. We learn the science of weather to the physiology of flight on the body. It is more than just piloting," he said.

Warner will graduate from SAMS with a private pilot certification in May. He has logged more than 150 hours on the flight simulator, 36 hours of flight time and 107 takeoffs and landings. Warner flew cross-country for the first time to Spaceport America from Double Eagle II Airport on April 2.

"The flight took me about one and a half hours to complete because I had a tailwind that day," Warner said.

The next cross-country trip Warner will fly is to Farmington on April 23.

As part of the flight program, students are taught aircraft maintenance and creation of flight plans.

Ninety-six students are enrolled in the aviation program across two campuses. Seventeen of those students attend Southwest Secondary Learning Center but are enrolled in the SAMS aviation program.

Out of the 96 students, 26 are female.

Students can apply for the aviation program in eighth grade and go into one of four main categories of maintenance, engineering, air traffic control and flight. Students begin flight training their junior year on simulators.

"By the time the students get behind the controls of a real airplane they already know how to fly," Gallacher said.

Junior Mikel Woo, call sign "Butter," said Gallacher ensures that all the flight students live up to the highest standards.

SAMS supports the Civil Air Patrol squadron at Double Eagle airport. Of the 31 cadets in the squadron, 26 attend SAMS or SSLC.

At SAMS, the curriculum is largely geared towards aeronautics. However, the science curriculum also includes robotics, engineering, biology and chemistry.

SAMS offers dual enrollment with New Mexico universities in many cases.

Principal Coreen Carrillo said many of the students would graduate high school with their associate degree. The science, technology, engineering and mathematics core of the academy helps them find careers after high school.

SAMS uses on-premise and remote-based curriculum. Students are required to be on campus 10 hours a week with another 10-15 hours for web-based education from home. SAMS balances the students' education with extracurricular activities such as sports.

Students are encouraged to engineer aircraft in the school "Smart Lab." They can use three 3-D printers to test their designs, as well as a computer-based simulator to test the physics of a plane.

SAMS also has a wind tunnel to test wing designs for drag and lift.

In the main lab, students work on school assignments such as English, history and math. Here, they have access to instructors to assist them.

Grades seven through 12 are mixed together in the main lab, creating an approximately 28-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio. For students with special needs, an instructor is available over email.