Get ready for takeoff. To take the newest class at DeLand High, students need to strap in tight.
"Everyone here is the best there is. Who the h*ll are they going to get to teach us? - Top Gun: Maverick
DHS now offers Aerospace: The Journey of Flight, an honors level course, that
teaches students the basics of flight and how to grow an appreciation for the operation.
Russell Sanborn, the instructor, is a retired U.S. Marine Corps Commanding General of 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, “in charge of all Marine Corps airplanes, helicopters in the Pacific Ocean.” He has over thirty years of experience in the aviation community flying fixed-wing and helicopters.
He was a naval aviator, like Top Gun, “landing on aircraft carriers.” He was also a test pilot working on the Joint Strike Fighter program, “doing their testing and development on it.”
Sanborn wears his tan uniform worn in the desert. His green uniform is worn in the woodlands.
This course teaches students about the different career opportunities within aviation and aerospace as well as the history of aviation. They also learn about "various aspects of engineering."
Despite the technical language of the course description, this class provides "one
more opportunity for students to explore potential future career paths," according to Sanborn.
He states that some students have their passions already decided and "the beauty of it is that now we're offering those that are interested in the aviation field and that's not just being a pilot.”
There is an abundance of careers in aviation like airplane designer, air traffic controller, mechanic, software engineer, simulator builder, astronaut, lawyer and aircraft accident investigator, similar to NCIS in which “every time an airplane crashes… they send them there to figure out how it crashed.”
One of Sanborn's class exercises where the students and Sanborn test out paper planes they made.
Sanborn was originally going to have two more courses, which provided students with dual enrollment credit through Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
These courses, AS120 and AS121, offered three and five credit hours of college credit free of charge. Students would not need to take the PERT test usually required by dual enrollment to take these courses.
AS120 provides students with “a broad-based aviation orientation in flight-related areas.” In AS121, also known as Pilot Ground school, students earn their pilot grounds school certification, worth $8500 of private pilot training.
The aviation dual enrollment courses were planned to be offered during the fall 2023 semester. However, not a lot of students were informed of the classes until the courses were dropped by Embry Riddle and DeLand High.
Left is a full body image of one of Sanborn's flight suits. Right is of one of his model jets.
There are plans this spring to offer AS120 and another three-credit dual enrollment course (AS 220, Unmanned Aircraft Systems) that will provide a Part 107 Certification (commercial license to operate an unmanned vehicle).
These new aviation classes will open up the field of aviation to a whole new generation of pilots and related careers. “It’s not just being a pilot; it’s everything related to aviation [and] aerospace.”
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Photos by Ella Eagan
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