40 Soaring • August 2019 • http://www.ssa.org
Falcon AeroLab student Ella Hurley (14) and
CFI-G Mark Dickerson prepare for launch.
I
magine getting to learn to fly gliders
for free. Well, actually, it’s school
tax money paying for the glider ground
school and 30 instructional flights in
a Schweizer 2-33. A school district in
Colorado is testing this concept by pay-
ing for middle and high school students
to learn to fly in powered and glider
aircraft through a program called Fal-
con AeroLab at Meadow Lake Airport
(KFLY ), located in El Paso County
Public School District 49.
Since September 2018, four stu-
dents, Jared Rhymer, Seth D’Anna,
Anthony Garcia, and Ella Hurley, have
learned from CFI-Gs in the High
Flights Soaring Club (HFSC). This
includes ground school and flight in-
struction where the students are learn-
ing in a very visual and applied way
the principles of Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math (STEM).
This program is so popular
that we plan to double the num-
ber of students and instructors
for academic year 2019/20. Falcon
AeroLab is working with HFSC,
which is a recreational non-profit
organization made of around two
dozen active members. Most members
are older, giving these young pilots an
opportunity to learn from their wealth
of experience. In return we are seeing,
in these youth, the future of the club,
soaring, and aviation.
Falcon AeroLab was started two
years ago by Mark Hyatt, who served
in the role of public school district
leader after his Air Force career and is
a USAF Academy graduate. It offers
middle school students a “sampler
platter” of all things STEM/aerospace
with flights in powered airplanes, glid-
ers, helicopters, vertical wind tunnel,
and hot air balloons, building/flying
radio controlled airplanes and drones,meeting astronauts, engineers, military
and civilian pilots, and much more.
Advanced programs include Intro-
ductory flights – 12 powered and 30
glider, Cyber Network + certificates,
Drone FAA Part 107 professional li-
censes and an Intro to Aviation me-
chanics/build a plane. All this paid for
with mostly public funds.
School districts in Colorado get
funds per student each year. How the
money is spent is up the school dis-
tricts. However, the “education” deliv-
ered to students must align with the
Colorado academic standards and
involves a specified number of hours
where the students are engaged in
learning. Everything done in a “learn
to fly” program can be aligned to meet
state standards, as the Falcon AeroLab
program does.
The four students started this pro-
gram early last semester and are getting
ready to solo now. During bad weather
days, they do ground school, take tours
of control towers and aviation muse-
ums, talk with pilots, and visit airports.
It just doesn’t get much better than
this. If you need more information
about the Falcon AeroLab program,
contact Mark Hyatt: reachhy@gmail.
com.
(Two of the four students have so-
loed since article was submitted – Ella
Hurley and Jared Rhymer.)CLUB COrNEr
BY MARK HYATT
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