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May 01

Maryville Mountaineer Pathfinders Get Their Wings

By Linda Pomeroy

Mountaineer Pathfinder Jackson Ridley of Maryville, Tenn., prepares to take a flight in a small airplane, the last step to earn his Young Eagles wings. The Experimental Aircraft Association’s Young Eagles Program aims to get children, ages 8-17, interested in flying.

 

Maryville Mountaineer Pathfinders listen to a pilot with the Experimental Aircraft Association Young Eagle’s program. The Pathfinders went through ground school helping them to understand aviation before taking a 45-minute flight around the county.

 

A cool and sunny Sunday morning, February 18, 2024, was a perfect day for flying, and 17 Pathfinders of Maryville Mountaineer Club and their parents began assembling at the Monroe County Airport in Madisonville, Tenn., to meet their pilots and take their flight. The excitement was contagious.

On honor day, a few weeks earlier, they had gathered at the church and had spent two hours of “ground school” instruction, taught by Linda and Harold Pomeroy and Carl and Linda Smith. This included the history of aviation, the four forces of flight, the three axes of motion, and the controls surfaces of an airplane and how they are used. They had a fun time experimenting with weight, drag, lift, and thrust, using balloons, an umbrella, ping pong balls, straws, and weighted medicine bottles.

They also talked about how Adventist World Aviation uses airplanes/helicopters in the mission field. Many jungle areas and mountain villages are only accessible by air for medical, educational, and evangelism purposes.

Linda Pomeroy had previously made arrangements with the Experimental Aircraft Association and their Young Eagles Program (YE) coordinators, Roger and Juliette Cosh, to take the Pathfinders for their first flight. The focus of the YE Program is to get the Pathfinders, ages 8-17, excited about flying and to possibly go into aviation careers. Normally they do these flight rallies on Saturday, but once they learned that the Maryville Mountaineers were Seventh-day Adventists, they quickly offered to do it on a Sunday for them.

Roger Cosh had assembled five pilots to come and donate their time, their airplanes, and aviation fuel, to take the clubbers on a 45-minute flight around the county. Some even let the Pathfinders take the controls for a few minutes. Chloe was one of those who got to fly the beautiful blue RV-14-A built by owner/pilot Juliette Cosh. Later, she told Linda Pomeroy that she couldn’t believe what a “natural pilot” Chloe is, so she let her fly most of the trip. Chloe wants to take part in a program at Sky Ranch Airport in Knoxville, Tenn., where, if the teens work two hours helping restore an airplane, they can get an hour of free flight lessons.

“It was so cool seeing the ground from up in the sky,” said one Pathfinder. Other Pathfinders said, “That was amazing!” “Mom, I think I want to be a pilot,” and “That was so much fun!”

At the end of the day, all the Pathfinders earned their Aviator honor, as well as receiving a set of wings to display on their sash, a “Certificate of Flight” signed by their pilot, and a special code for applying for free ground school from the YE Program.
Following the flights, Roger Cosh emailed Linda Pomeroy to let her know that the pilots commented on how respectful and interesting the Pathfinders were, and that the pilots enjoyed the flights as much or more than the Pathfinders did.

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