Photo by Joe Imel/Daily News Nathan Cherry launches a balsa wood glider Tuesday during flight aerodynamic class at Aviation Summer Camp at the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport.

advertisement

Ten-year-old Hunter Taylor has to wait six more years before he can drive a car.

But that isn’t stopping him from flying a plane.

Today, Taylor of Welchs Creek will join more than 20 other campers in steering a Cessna 172 single-engine airplane 2,000 feet in the air over Bowling Green.

It’s the fifth year for the Aviation Summer Camp at the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, and after a day of flight planning and simulation practice, the 10- to 15-year-olds will be taking over the skies once again with the Aviation Museum of Kentucky.

Hunter said when he steers the trainer plane to the Glasgow, Russellville or Portland, Tenn., turnaround points with the close guidance of a flight instructor, it actually will be the first time he has ever flown.

“I told my parents I was getting to actually fly a plane and my mom said I was living her dream because she’s always wanted to fly in an airplane,” Hunter said.

On Tuesday, the students spent the day learning about aeronautical maps for navigation and taking in the aircraft instruments, engine and design.

Hunter said he has learned a lot about takeoff and landing, but was surprised by the amount of skill the flight simulator takes.

“It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be because I’m not used to pulling a throttle, I’m just used to starting a key on a golf cart, but it was really fun,” Hunter said. “I would compare it to driving a car, but it’s a little harder because we’ll be in the air.”

Airport Manager Robert Barnett said the program has grown to include two, two-day camps with a number of local businesses providing scholarships to send underprivileged children to the camps.

The camps have routinely filled up quickly, drawing students from South Carolina and Pennsylvania this year.

Natasha Wilson, who recruits students to the program, said in the past few years, several students have come back to the airport when they are 16 to attend flight school and receive their licenses.

“We have a lot of kids each year who come back,” she said. “It’s something they can pursue that doesn’t (require) a lot of money. There are programs with the Air Force and (Middle Tennessee State University) where you can get your license” or pursue a career.

Valerie Salven, the museum’s camp director, said she has watched students come to enjoy learning subjects they tend to dislike in school.

“They learn a lot of the practical applications of science and math and that physics can be a lot of fun,” she said. “It’s the fun side of a lot of hard science and subject matters. I wish they had this when I was young.”

Twelve-year-old Scott Minton, a Drakes Creek Middle School student, said this is his second year attending the camp and hopes he can improve his landing skills.

“When you hit the ground, it only has three wheels, so it’s like a grown-up on a tricycle, it’s (a little bumpy) when it first hits the ground,” he said. “But it was really fun just to be able to sit in the driver’s seat and steer and actually have a real headset that pilots use in real life. You can talk in it and everyone can hear it.”

Ten-year-old Nicole Miller, a student at Richardsville Elementary School, said she’s learned a lot about physics from working with the wooden airplanes and flight simulators.

“It’s pretty awesome - I’m learning more than what you would at school and it’s really fun,” she said.