Aviation Camp

By Haley Stumvoll, Rising 11, Alchemists

Every child has fantastic dreams like mine of flying. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be able to fly to the jungle to explore or have an adventure in the Alps?  Last week I brought those dreams to fruition when I went to a weeklong Aviation camp at the University of Southern Illinois- Carbondale. Before I go into details about my adventures in illustrious Illinois, I’ll explain why I became interested in aviation in the first place.

I have hopes of becoming an engineer one day.  I have been investigating several areas including electrical, mechanical and materials engineering. Since I’m interested in aviation, I’ve decided that I want to work to become an aerospace engineer.   So I decided that being able to fly an airplane would give me an insight into what aerospace engineering is all about.  INSPIRE was the catalyst for me to start looking into learning how to fly like Orville and Wilbur Wright, who I really hope to “meet” someday, and have been wanting to meet since the LiveChat with “Wilbur” last year.

I could go on for several pages about my experience, but I doubt anyone would be able to hang with me to the end so I will shorten it to my four top favorite things about Aviation Camp in the US heartland town of Carbondale, Illinois.

First, the flight simulators are a good way to practice piloting a plane, without actually being 1,500 or more feet in the air. It helps ease anxiety when you are actually 1,500 feet in the air because you’ve already seen the controls and flight instruments before, so you know how to control the machine that is keeping you from falling 1,500 feet. I successfully landed a Cessna 172 Skyhawk for the first time in a simulator and my partner would have been scared out of my mind if we had actually been in a plane.

Secondly, most mornings before going out to fly, we had ground school, which covered topics like basic aerodynamics, radio procedures and how to plan cross-country flights. The teacher also talked about basic flight maneuvers which was not only fun to learn about but also enormously helpful when it came time to actually try them out. 

Thirdly, it was great getting to know others who had the same interests I did, especially since I have not really met other people who aspire to be a pilot. Similar to the field of engineering, aviation is largely a male dominated interest, which I hope can change. This was made abundantly clear when I found out that I was to spend six days with nine high school guys and zero girls.

Finally, my absolute favorite part of the camp was flying to dinner. I’ve had some fun times going to dinner before, but nothing beats flying down to Sikeston, Missouri for dinner at Lambert’s. About Lambert’s: the food is great, and the only way you get bread is if you can catch it.

I really recommend taking a flight lesson at some point because it is a fabulous experience. Flying in a small propeller driven plane has a completely different feel than flying in a commercial airliner. Before we recess for summer, I want to thank everyone in the OLC because I have had a great time this year, and really hope to be able to come back next year. Have a great summer everyone!!!