The Mountain Home High School Career Academies began this year with a new aviation club, the Leading Edge. The club will be sponsored by Skip Thurman, an MHHS faculty member and coordinated by Steve Johnson, a retired educator.
According to Charisse Jones of USA Today, U.S. airlines may see a shortage of pilots as soon as this year, as thousands of them start to retire and new rules requiring extra training and more rest start to kick in. She says aviation is a definite career possibility for young men and women to consider.
Among many aviation topics monthly club meetings will feature talks from local aviators who have landed on carriers as a naval aviator, spread insecticides on fields as a crop duster, and given flight training as a certified flight instructor. Extracurricular activities will consist of after-school gatherings at the Baxter County Airport to get hands-on exposure to aircraft and their characteristics. Introductory airplane rides will be eventually added to the program and will require parental permission.
The Club name comes from an old aeronautical term. The Leading Edge is the surface of a propeller or wing that first makes contact with the air in flight. Brent Bogy, Principal for Mountain Home High School Career Academies, says the plan is for young adults to get exposed to the latest in aeronautical technology so they can be on the “Leading Edge”.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI