Students learn about aviation careers – Bradford County Telegraph

U.S. Coast Guard Chief Scott Blackall tells students about careers in the Coast Guard. The Keystone Heights High School graduate said he joined the service to start a career in aviation. In the background are two Lockheed P-3 Orions. Photo: Dan Hildebran, Telegraph Staff Writer.

BY DAN HILDEBRAN

Telegraph Staff Writer

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Keystone Heights Junior-Senior High School students toured the airport on April 11 and 13. The seventh, eighth, eleventh and twelfth graders listened to workers in the aviation industry about careers in the field.

Former airport manager Maria Searcy, who organized and participated in the event, said that the airport had hosted similar field trips in the past but wanted a more engaged group of students this year.

Former Airport Manager Maria Searcy explains the many different career paths available in aviation. Photo: Dan Hildebran, Telegraph Staff Writer.

“I think you get a group of kids out here where not everybody’s engaged,” she said of previous field trips. “We wanted to make sure that this field trip was exclusive to what these kids are asking for, so we met early on a few months ago (with school officials) and sent videos to the high school for these kids to watch.”

Students (l-r) Peyton Chambers and Reggi Buckman sit in the cockpit of a single-engine plane. Chambers said the event at the airport was interesting and fun and that she is considering a career in aviation. Buckman said she was already familiar with aviation before the field trip to the airport. Still, the event made her aware of the many different career opportunities available in the industry. Photo: Dan Hildebran, Telegraph Staff Writer.

Searcy said the videos covered airframe and powerplant mechanics, avionics, becoming a pilot, law enforcement aviation, air ambulances, cargo and other topics.

Airport Authority Vice Chair Scott Fryar shows students the components of a plane’s instrument panel. Photo: Dan Hildebran, Telegraph Staff Writer.

She added that after viewing the videos, students could better decide whether to visit the airport in person.

Todd Falconer of MHD Rockland explains the function of the Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft. Falconer’s company maintains several of the former U.S. Navy submarine hunters and trains foreign crews at the Keystone Heights Airport to operate the planes. Photo: Dan Hildebran, Telegraph Staff Writer.

Speakers at the airport included representatives of the Keystone Heights Airport, U.S. Coast Guard, Florida State College at Jacksonville’s Aviation Center of Excellence, MHD Rockland and Distinguished Flyers flight training.

Searcy said 40 seventh and eighth graders visited the airport on Tuesday, April 11, and 22 high school juniors and seniors visited on Thursday, April 13.