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Takes to Skies Again!
Hamburg, PA
After more than a year without flying, students at Blue Mountain Academy in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, once again have a flight training option, thanks to help from Adventist World Aviation.
The flight program, grounded in 2005 due to unaffordable insurance costs on the school’s Cessna 150, re-opened this school year after AWA acquired the aircraft and more reasonable insurance.
Four students currently keep the plane flying several hours per week. Three of the four are training for their private pilot certificates, while the fourth already has his private certificate and looks forward to earning an rating.
One highlight of the year came on the morning of January 12 when BMA senior Anthony Marcellino soloed for the first time. With just over 14 hours of flight training and numerous hours of independent study, Anthony proved he could handle the plane by himself. He performed three smooth takeoffs and landings during his first half hour alone in the air.
The excitement didn’t stop there, though. Anthony’s instructor, James Hilliard, called him up in front of more than 230 students during the school’s assembly later that morning in order to announce the achievement and cut his shirttail. Cutting off a student’s shirttail after his first solo is an age-old tradition among aviators, symbolizing his independence; the instructor no longer has to tug on the student’s shirt to get his attention and tell him what to do.
“It’s exciting to see progress with the flight program,” said Hilliard. “I hope we’re able to keep this momentum going. This is such a unique opportunity here… learning on a small grass strip, experiencing aviation on a really basic level…it doesn’t get much better than that. I wish more students took advantage of what we offer.”
Although the future looks positive for BMA’s flight program, the skies aren’t completely clear ahead. Getting caught up on aircraft maintenance and the need to order a thousand gallons of Avgas before summer is causing a crunch in working capital.
Also, a concern has arisen over future staffing. Hilliard, who is the current primary flight instructor, plans to leave BMA on June 1, and return to Walla Walla College. He will need to be replaced in order to keep the plane flying during the summer months, traditionally the busiest time of the year for flight training.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” Hilliard says. “But I know God cares about the work here, and I know there are talented leaders guiding the program. If the support this program has received in the past is any indication of the future, I think this operation can last indefinitely.”
