Arden – Christ School, a private boys high school in Arden, started an aviation program for students last year. This is now part of their afternoon winter sports offering—for 10 students. The Spanish teacher, Les Thornbury, who flew for seven years with the Navy and parent Stephen Hoffert, a retired career Air Force pilot, started the Robert Morgan ’36 Aviation Program, as a nod to the 1936 alum who was the pilot during World War II of the Memphis Belle bomber.
The students have unlimited access to a state-of-the-art flight simulator, “The BATD (Basic Aviation Training Device) simulator produced by Real Sim Gear, in a classroom. Flying a plane, using this simulator, was certainly dramatic and terrifying for this author! The landscape looms ahead on a huge screen, as you make turns to fly over Lake Julian toward the mountains ahead.
In addition, the students fly in the school plane with the experienced pilot Stephen Hoffert to prepare them for their later solo flight. This, of course, will pave the way for them for high-paying rewarding careers in the future. There are only a few such high school programs in the United States.
Safety is a primary concern for both Thornbury and Hoffert. Safety is incorporated into everything they do in the program; this includes how to use a parachute. The program is a combination of ground and in-flight lessons in the school’s own aircraft. Thornbury and Hoffert want every student to take real, concrete steps toward FAA flight ratings, including a FAA Student Pilot Certificate, Full FAA Private Pilot Ground School, Official FAA Private Pilot Written Exam, and the opportunity for a FAA Class 3 Medical Certificate needed to fly solo.
In the winter 2023 edition of the Galax it was stated that “because we bought an aerobatic aircraft that can spin and do rolls and flips it allows us to expose kids to a part of aviation that is hard to find anywhere else,” said Thornbury. The plane is a 1998 American Champion Citabria, a tandem two-seater that gives the students the feel of flying solo, even with their instructor sitting behind them. Thornbury believes that flying an aerobatic plane gives the boys a competitive edge in their future flying. “We didn’t just buy the plane to have fun, we bought it because it will better prepare the boys for any flying situation that may arise,” Thornbury said. “He will know what it feels like to enter into a spin and will therefore be able to anticipate and correct it if it happens in the future. From a safety perspective, we think we are building better pilots.”
“The goal of the program is to get every boy up to pre-solo speed, or rather all of the steps necessary before the FAA gets involved. For $4500 Christ School students of all ages are eligible to participate in the program during the winter sports period. (Scholarships are available.)“What we provide is 10 hours of flight time and the entire ground school; all of the academic course work that you would do to get your pilot’s license we complete during the sports period so they will be prepared to take his FAA exam at the end of the season,” Thornbury said. Each boy will have a logbook signed by the Hoffert with hours that are good for the rest of their lives. Thanks to the generosity of two sets of parents, the boys will also have unlimited access to a state-of-the-art FAA-approved flight simulator, allowing them to log another two and a half hours. “The BATD (Basic Aviation Training Device) simulator produced by Real Sim Gear, adds $600 in value per student per year, not to mention that the students will have just about unlimited access to the system as it will be housed in Thornbury’s classroom. It’s a large, three-screen FAA-approved high-powered gaming device that runs flight simulator software.” (Quoted from Winter 2023 The Galax, a Christ School publication.)
Flying solo is a big deal for any pilot, especially one still in high school! One of the biggest obstacles for students is the absolute rule that no student can be on any medication or alcohol. Luke Garner ’24 was one of the student pilots in the inaugural year of the Robert Morgan ’36 Aviation Program. Luke and Tyler Brouse ’25 have each taken off and landed without anyone else in the cockpit of the school plane, “Greenie1,” in the past nine months. Tyler touched down in Rutherfordton, N.C., on Sunday, February 18th, 2024, while Luke’s first solo flight occurred last June at an airport in Marion, N.C.
The Christ School board, the headmaster, the parents, and alumnae have banded together to get this program off the ground and have been giving the program their full support—verbally and financially. More about this remarkable program can be found on https://www.christschool.org/aviation-program-summary.