Aberdeen School District gets new airplane
ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI) Normally, owners park their planes inside a hangar at the Monroe County Airport. That’s exactly what the Aberdeen School District is doing. With the help of a one-million-dollar grant, the district now owns an airplane.
“We want to teach our students to dream big,” said Dr. Andrea Smith, Aberdeen School District Superintendent. “By being student pilots and by being mechanics as well will teach them discipline, confidence, accountability, and focus as well.”
This four-seater plane will help about 20 Juniors and Seniors at Aberdeen High School learn how to operate this airplane and get a better understanding of how to safely land it.
“It is a stepping stone for this program in terms of achieving these students’ goals and opportunities into the aviation field,” said Torius Moore, Flight Instructor Chief Pilot at Aberdeen High School. “We are able to do flight training, ground training, and sim training, to help them become a pilot and or a mechanic.”
Aberdeen Superintendent Dr. Andrea Smith hopes this aircraft will provide endless opportunities for teens interested in the aviation field.
“When they are exposed to different opportunities, it creates opportunities for them,” said Smith. “We are excited about what we are doing here in the Aberdeen School District, and we thank everyone for their support.”
Students know the aviation field is difficult and competitive. Now, they have an advantage most high schoolers do not have.
“Since we will have a few years of experience under our belt compared to others,” said Anna Lopez, an Aberdeen High School Student. “I think it will help boost us up compared to our competition.”
“We are definitely going to be years ahead of everybody,” said Ariana Lopez, an Aberdeen High School Student. ” This is a free program, and it costs about $20,000 to have a private pilot license, so this is definitely going to help us save a lot of money and time.”
“It definitely helps us take advantage of the opportunities that have been brought to us for free by Dr. Smith and the school,” said Jamelynn Young, an Aberdeen High School Student. “So, we very much thank them for this amazing experience.”
The Plane will be kept at the Monroe County Airport, and Pilots from the Columbus Airforce Base are volunteering to help teach students to learn how to fly and work on the plane.
