Wyandotte introduces aviation simulator for high schoolers
WYANDOTTE, Okla. — High school students in Wyandotte, Oklahoma now have a way to immerse themselves inside the cockpit of an airplane – without ever leaving the classroom.
Imagine being 30,000 feet in the air – sitting in the cockpit of an airplane. Well, that’s just an ordinary Wednesday afternoon at the Chief Leaford Bearskin Aviation Academy within the Wyandotte School District. As the academy recently received an anonymous donation – the Redbird MX2 flight simulator.
“We are talking about the forces of drag, we’re talking about Newton’s Third Law, it’s abstract. So when we get to actually learn about it and then come experience it, you get to see a light, kinda switch on for the students,” said Dana Morisset, Wyandotte Schools Aviation Administrator.
“There’s tons of different scenarios on the simulators, like taking off and landing, you can go through different scenarios with weather, and I think that is very helpful,” said Jack Jones, Wyandotte Sophomore.
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Jack Jones is a sophomore at Wyandotte High School, taking his second consecutive aviation course. He tells us, he’s interested in a career in the aviation industry.
“Being able to look around and see as far as you wanna see until you just can’t anymore. Everything is small, you can see different towns and everything,” said Jones.
District officials say this is perfect timing – as the Federal Aviation Administration recently announced – they will need more than 34,000 newly trained pilots by 2025.
“The goal of the Aviation Program is to provide opportunities for students, so they could become a pilot, which would combat the pilot shortage, but not everybody is designed to be a pilot, that does not mean that they can’t come to our program,” said Morisset.
This is the first semester students in the flight academy can use the new flight simulator.
School officials hope this encourages more students to pursue a career in the aviation industry.
