Bladen County airport educates middle schoolers through week long program

BLADEN COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Several aspiring pilots took to the sky through a program designed to inspire kids to pursue careers in aviation. 

The program prepared students in Bladen County for take-off on Friday at Curtis Brown Airfield in Elizabethtown. It’s called the Ace Aviation Camp. 

More than a dozen 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students learned about aircraft design, logistics, drone navigation, the air traffic control system, and potential careers paths within the field. Elizabethtown’s Town Planner Rusty Worley said he hopes this program will be accessible to more in the future. 

“We’re starting to work with the community college system and school system to put an aviation curriculum in,” Worley said. 

Many of these students went on their first plane ride on Friday. 12-year-old Chadwick Winchester said he checked a box off of his bucket list and possibly found his dream job. 

“I was always looking at the planes, every time. I thought it was so cool. Ever since I’ve been a kid, all I wanted to do is fly a plane and then I did,” Winchester said. 

Winchester said this past week was fun and important training to get a glimpse about safety in the skies. 11-year-old Chandler Faulkner agreed and said learning about what protocols are in place made him feel comfortable in the cockpit. 

“If you’re in an emergency, you know what to do if you take classes. I’d like to say that this is a very fun school and I enjoy having it. I recommend it,” Faulkner said. 

Worley said this program plants a seed for economic growth in Bladen County because some of these students will choose to enter this field and decide to work where they first found their passion for it. That is Curtis Brown Airfield and the soon to come aircraft manufacturing plant. 

“We feel like that the aviation industry, the shortages that’s in aviation with mechanics, with pilots. We feel like we can fit that niche with the students of Bladen County,” Worley said. 

Work for the aircraft manufacturing plant, also Vulcanair’s headquarters, is expected to begin within the next three months.