05/25/2023
Earlier this month, Mrs. Thornton, a satellite teacher for Pickaway-Ross Career and Technology Center, and her aviation class visited the Pickaway County Airport. The tour started with the students meeting Nick Courtright who is an IT manager for NetJets and also a part of the Pickaway County Airport Authority who talked with them about multiple different jobs available in the aviation industry. They met a representative from Sundowner Aviation out of Lancaster, Ohio, to learn more about the steps to becoming a private pilot. They met with a Delta Airlines captain who described “the day in the life of an airline pilot”. The students were able to walk around and speak with multiple pilots who volunteered their time to show the students their planes. Many of the students were able to sit in the planes and get a hands-on feel for the controls and how everything works. The students also met Mr. Black, another Pickaway-Ross Career and Technology Center teacher, who is also a pilot. Mr. Black walked the students through the check-off process to complete before take-off. The tour ended with the students meeting the founder and staff of Vitatoe Aviation who has a hangar at the airport. Here the students learned about this local company who provides different engines, airframe, and propeller modifications for Cessna aircraft and were able to see multiple planes in various stages of modifications.