FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — Most teenagers are looking forward to getting behind the wheel and learning how to drive.
With both hands on the yolk, Franklin Special District teens and pre-teens are learning how to land a plane.
I stopped into their intro to aerospace class to learn what the curriculum was.
Christopher Dollar begins the class as most pilots do: getting familiar with the equipment and learning the conditions outside.
“Here’s our weather this morning. Take a second look at it,” he said to his class of eighth graders at Poplar Grove Middle School.
On the screen is a jumble of letters and numbers, but the students make easy work of the equation.
After that, he takes them through some of the pitfalls of the industry as well. On this day, he workshopped with the class what went wrong from a real-world scenario: two planes nearly collided in Chicago.
“What if they continued that landing? We would have had a collision there,” said Dollar.
Students responded back, “The guy’s readback is a hot mess” referring to the air traffic controller.
It shows how students are learning the language surrounding aerospace and how to navigate planes.
"It’s exceptional being able to fly over all the world," said student Vincent Perez. "I came in very skeptical about whether I would take a job or not. This class alongside Mr. Dollar has really inspired me to pursue that goal."
“You know the different lights on the runway they mean different things. It’s taught me a lot,” said student Zac Zimmermann.
Gaining experience on the simulators, each student earns high school credit and logs hours they can put towards a pilot's license.
They already have a jump start on the lingo. Zac took me through one of the simulators and taught me how to land the plane.
“There’s only three notches of flaps because this is not one of the commercial airliners,” he said. “You can decrease your Throttle a little bit and push down on the yoke.”
At that point, it started to sound like Zac was speaking another language.
“We don’t want them to be afraid of flying. We want them to understand the safety aspect of it and understand what went wrong and use that information to become safer pilots,” said Dollar.
Becoming a safer pilot starts in the classroom one landing at a time.
The classes are maxed out with 53 students enrolled.
Students who complete the class can continue when they graduate from high school in Williamson County.
If you have thoughts on this story, email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
