Campus News
Campus News
TAKE FLIGHT A simulator helps students earn their wings on campus. By Hannah Van Sickle
Berkshire’s Aviation Science program, which began in 1943, is soaring to new heights with expanded offerings and a new, cutting-edge flight simulator. One of Berkshire’s 10 Signature Programs, Aviation Science is now available both first and second semester, with a curriculum that prepares students to take the FAA Knowledge Exam for Private Pilot. Additionally, every Sunday students can receive flight instruction at the nearby Walter J. Koladza Airport in Great Barrington. Berkshire is the only independent school in New England to
offer such an advanced Aviation Science curriculum, allowing students, quite literally, to see the world from a whole new vantage point. This year, the School purchased an FAA-approved flight training device called the RedBird LD FTD, which provides an easier, more cost-effective way for students to hone their skills before they get in an aircraft. Michael Lee, a science teacher and flight instructor at Berkshire since 2009 said, “It replicates exactly what an airplane will do.” Science teacher and pilot Ben Urmston,
who teaches the fall semester of Aviation Science, is thrilled with how the simulator fast tracks students’ knowledge. “Theoretically, by the time kids get to the airport, they will be familiar with instrumental panels, taking off at the right speed, putting the flaps down, and following a checklist,” he said. Urmston’s course touches on engineering, aerodynamics, airspace, and weather. Hands-on activities impart lifelong skills, and include learning to safely fly drones and launching a weather balloon into the upper atmosphere.
“I love transferring my passion for aviation into something that could stay with students for the rest of their lives,” Urmston says, who is the proud owner of a 1970 Cessna 172. Come spring, Lee helps students prepare for the FAA Exam through a multifaceted curriculum. Topics range from electronics systems and aerodynamics to weather and the physics of air pressure. “Aviation is where freedom and responsibility find each other,” Lee said. Emmet McDonnell ’20 participated in the Pro Vita aviation trip to Florida in 2018, passed the FAA exam the following year, and is working toward earning his private pilot license. “The simulator has helped me do multiple things at once,” he said. McDonnell demonstrated how to change frequencies, enter a location into GPS, and talk to air traffic control—all while flying without visual aid from a classroom in the Bellas/Dixon Math and Science Center. Aviation Science is supported by The Hans Carstensen Aviation Endowment, a fund created in 2011 and named for Emeriti Trustee and alumnus Hans Carstensen ’66. The endowment in his name allows current students enrolled in the program to have a similar experience by funding flight time and test fees. When Victoria Rowland Garrido ’20 signed up for Aviation Science, she too was looking for a transformative experience—one that would allow her to take a risk outside of her comfort zone and follow in both of her grandfathers’
“I’m living a dream not many get to have, and I’m doing something not many women get to do.” —Victoria Rowland Garrido ‘20
footsteps, each of whom were pilots in the military. Having recently passed her FAA exam, Rowland Garrido is striving for her private pilot license as well. “I’m living a dream not many get to have, and I’m doing something not many women get to do,” she said. This winter Lee and science teacher Maura MacKenzie led a Pro Vita trip to Houston, Tex., titled Aerospace and Aviation. Rowland Garrido and McDonnell, along with four other Berkshire students, attended a fully credentialed and FAA-certified flight school, where they underwent six to eight hours of flight training and fifteen hours of ground school training. The trip also featured a VIP tour of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where students were able to witness real-time operations
in Mission Control as the controllers went about daily operations with the astronauts on the International Space Station. Students also toured the floor of the facility where work takes place on the new spacecraft and astronauts train for their next mission. Ashanti Bruce ’20 found the entire experience enriching and enthralling. “How many 17-year-olds can say they have flown an airplane, and at night too?” Bruce said. “Staring in awe during the NASA trip and during my flights along the skyline, I realized the infinite possibilities I have for my career and my future. After the aviation trip, I will be looking for that blood-pumping experience in a cockpit again, and in the career I choose to partake in.”
“Aviation is where freedom and responsibility find each other.” Nicholas Pesce ‘21 learns how to fly on the flight simulator in his Aviation Science class. 12
Berkshire Bulletin
—Michael Lee, Science Teacher and Flight Instructor
Pro Vita students get a VIP tour of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. Summer 2020
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