Teen pilot takes off
Oak Ridge High School student Andrew Rodabaugh worked with flight instructor Brian Claflin to learn to fly a plane.
Oak Ridge High School student Andrew Rodabaugh flew his first solo flight on April 8 at just 16 years old. He worked with a flight instructor from McGhee Tyson Airport.
“We have several students working towards this goal, but Andrew is the first to turn 16,” said Holly Cross, ORHS supervisor of career readiness and communications.
“He flew over the high school before he could drive to the high school, so that’s pretty cool,” Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers told a crowd at a recent League of Women Voters meeting.
Students in the program follow a pattern in preparaton for the first solo. The student and instructor go up, fly a route that is directly over the airport, and land and take off three times.
“After the student completes this pattern successfully with the instructor on board, ensuring he is in a groove, the instructor hops off and allows the student to repeat the pattern on the solo flight,” Cross said.
Flying is, however, the end stage of completing coursework approved by the Tennessee Department of Education so that the students can earn a pilot’s license. If students complete the ground school, pass the required written exams and complete a number of in-flight training hours needed, which is typically 50 to 60 hours, they can earn a pilot’s license. ORHS courses include Introduction to Aerospace, Aviation 1, and Aviation 2. The school offers dual credit for each course through a memorandum of understanding with Middle Tennessee State University. Six students will pursue dual credit this year in the first two courses they have completed.