WESTFIELD — While many students and staff from school districts throughout the region spent their spring vacation sleeping in, catching up with hobbies or simply treating themselves to some relaxation, a group of teachers and administrators from Holyoke Community Charter School used part of their time off at a place where they feel at home — the classroom.

But instead of their schoolrooms on Northampton Street in Holyoke, this group’s lessons had them cruising at 3,500 feet in the air as part of an event called “Fly Day.”

With overcast skies and a blustery wind on Wednesday morning, the Holyoke educators performed a preflight inspection on a Cessna Skyhawk at Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport, a joint civil-military airport, before hitting the skies.

From checking the oil and gas to inspecting every knob and switch on the Cessna, educators got firsthand experience of a pilot’s responsibilities.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for our teachers,” said Robert Riddles, academic quality controller at Holyoke Community Charter School. “They get to learn about aviation with a preflight inspection followed by a free flight where they have a chance to control the airplane.”

Riddles, who organized the lesson in aviation and aerospace education, is also an instrument-rated private pilot who volunteers to fly for the Civil Air Patrol, the civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. Following the inspection, the educators were split into three groups on three different flights piloted by Riddles, Greg Leonard and Randy Fritz.

“This work blends my two passions: flying and education. For me, this is important because I want our teachers to bring back this experience into our school and introduce it to the students and get them involved,” Riddles said. “I want them to see the opportunities that are out there for them.”

The mission of the Civil Air Patrol is supporting communities throughout the U.S. with emergency response, diverse aviation and ground services, and youth development, and one of its main missions is to encourage civil aviation in community aerospace education programs.

Hampshire and Franklin counties are served by the Air Patrol’s Brigadier Gen. Arthur J. Pierce Cadet Squadron in Amherst. Including its adult leadership, the squadron has 23 members, with cadets ranging from 12 to 18 years old. They meet every Monday evening from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on the campus of the University of Massachusetts.

Before Fly Day, Riddles had introduced the Holyoke educators to the Air Patrol’s Teacher Orientation Program, which is designed to acquaint teachers with aviation and provide them with free Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, resources, such as robotics kits, cybersecurity kits, and flight simulation software.

“I attended the Teacher Orientation Program and now I’m trying to convince my son who is 17, to consider the Civil Air Patrol,” said Janefer Echevarria, who teaches first grade at Holyoke Community Charter School.

In addition to Echevarria, other educators from the school who participated in Fly Day included English and language arts teacher Joannah Thai, Deputy Director of Academics Benjamin Torres, Data Compliance Coordinator Omar Torres, social studies teacher Troy Miller, math teacher Robert Rash, and English as a Second Language teacher Michael Forest.

Though they had all flown on commercial airlines before, the majority of the group expressed some apprehension about the winds that day and the smaller size of a Cessna Skyhawk.

When asked for his name during an interview with the Gazette, Benjamin Torres inquired if it was needed in the event that he should not return and instead need a gravestone.

“I’m not afraid to fly … I just don’t like flying on little planes,” Torres joked with his peers. “I mean, it is the size of a coffee maker.”

Torres’ brother, Omar Torres, didn’t exude the same level of uneasiness. In fact, he inquired if he could experience an airborne “stall,” which occurs when the smooth airflow over a plane’s wings are disrupted and results in a loss of lift.

“I like adventure,” Omar Torres said.

Despite some other jitters here and there, the entire group was in good spirits.

“I’m not an adventurous person, but I want to be. In fact, I’m also genuinely afraid of heights,” said Thai with a chuckle.

About an hour after the preflight inspection, the groups split off, heading to different destinations — one to Springfield, Vermont, another to Windham, Connecticut, and a third to Keene, New Hampshire.

“I’m looking forward to taking this experience back to the kids … and engaging them with what STEM can do for them and what they can do with teachers,” Forest said.

Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.]]>