Chickasaw Nation Aviation and Space Academy offers a five-day summer camp that this year doubled in size. Some 82 students signed on for the five-day experience that put each one of them in the pilot seat of a Diamond DA-40, thanks to US Flight Academy in Denton, Texas. The children ranged in age from 10 to 18 and spent one of their five days at the academy taking ground school, visiting the control tower and going for rides. “There’s no substitute for the real thing,” said US Flight Academy’s Mark Taylor, who acted as event coordinator. “When these kits take their first ride in an aircraft, their eyes light up like the sun,” he said. The camp brings children together from all over the Midwest. Through the program they gain exposure to everything from model rocketry to the basics of space medicine.
Form more information on the Chickasaw Nation Aviation and Space Academy, visit Chickasaw.net. For US Flight Academy, visit its Web site.
