EXPERT COLUMN
John Huston CONTRIBUTOR
An Aviation Academy for High Schoolers
Reese Gradwell is aiming high . A first-generation Pilot with 18 months of flight training under her belt , she will be heading to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University next school year to study Aeronautical Science and eventually become an airline Pilot . “ My family traveled a lot ,” she says , “ and that ’ s where my love of aviation came from . I ’ ve known I want to be in the industry for a long time now .”
GRADWELL IS ONE OF THE 30 STUDENTS in the aviation program at the Cherokee College & Career Academy ( C3 ) run by the Cherokee County School District on its ACTIVE Academies Campus . Located about an hour north of Atlanta , it ’ s a two-year program that gives high school students who have been bitten by the aviation bug the opportunity to begin career training in the field . First-year students attend in the morning to learn the basic curriculum while second-year students pursue more advanced studies in the afternoon .
During Airways ’ s visit to C3 earlier this year , the morning students arrived in the classroom , some after riding the school bus for as long as 40 minutes . Lessons began with the instructor , Scott Dubee , a private Pilot with over 2,500 hours of flight time , calling a student forward to a large video screen at the front of the classroom to read the METAR ( Meteorological Aerodrome Report ) for Anchorage , Alaska . The student , Grant Holman , who was aiming to sit in an airline cockpit , did a solid job of deciphering the information , Dubee occasionally helping him along .
“ We use Alaska for this exercise because students can learn about all of the wind and snow and crazy weather we never see here in Atlanta ,” Dubee said . “ I know there are apps that translate METARs into plain English , but if these kids are able to rattle off the information someday for an FAA examiner , he ’ ll know that they have has studied , learned , and really know what they ’ re doing .”
Holman , a junior with about 20 hours of flight time , was the first in his family to have an interest in aviation . “ Honestly , it was when I was on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles . I remember when the wheels lifted off the ground , I just got this feeling . I was like , Oh my gosh — right then and there — and , ever since , I ’ ve been in love with aviation , trying to focus on getting my PPL and eventually flying commercially in the future .”
16 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE JUNE 2024 www . airwaysmag . com