With
instructor Jeff Kaloostian observing his moves, senior William Paleveda, 18,
trains in the school's $18,000 flight simulator. Photo: Bruce Hosking/Tampa
Tribune
With
instructor Jeff Kaloostian observing his moves, senior William Paleveda, 18,
trains in the school's $18,000 flight simulator. Photo: Bruce Hosking/Tampa
Tribune
Published: Jan 18, 2007
TAMPA - Robinson High senior William Paleveda eyes Runway 17 at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport and gently pilots the plane off the ground.
"Adequate power. Rotating 80," he tells his flight instructor, Robinson teacher Jeff Kaloostian. "I feel the crosswind."
Kaloostian sits a foot behind Paleveda, just outside the cockpit of the school's new flight simulator. He calmly directs Paleveda through the elements and across the sky. The twin-engine Seneca glides through clouds, touching down minutes later at the same airport.
The mission is a success.
Paleveda is among about 35 students in the school's MacDill Aeronautics Academy, formed during the 2002-03 school year. In a classroom on the South Tampa campus, academy members get an in-depth look at aerospace and airplane technology.
They also get a chance to build a plane.
Three years ago, the academy, MacDill Air Force Base and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration paid about $18,000 for a Van RV-9A two-seater plane kit. Kaloostian's students hope to build the experimental plane and have it certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
They have worked on the plane for more than two years, but Kaloostian said the project has at least five years to go. He hopes that when the plane takes its maiden flight, it will have Robinson's colors: black, white, silver and gray.
"Getting to know how to build something like this, something that can defy gravity and fly through the air like a bird, it's always been man's dream. It's just wonderful," senior Chelci Hone said. "I would definitely love to fly this plane, even though students are working on it. A lot of people are not so sure about that, but I definitely am."
Senior Sanchez Boyette, 18, spends two class periods a day building the plane and said he loves the mechanical aspect of the class.
The academy, 6311 S. Lois Ave., unveiled the $18,000 flight simulator just before the winter break.
Kaloostian, a former Air Force pilot who flew fuel tankers over Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001, said flying in the simulator is close to the real thing. He can adjust it to create poor weather conditions or plane malfunctions.
For Paleveda, 18, the simulator couldn't have come at a better time. Outside school, he is studying to become a pilot and is 10 hours of flight time from being certified. After his simulated flight last week, he said he appreciated Kaloostian making the weather conditions rougher than he usually sees in the skies.
"It's not a typical day I'd be flying, but it's really good training, really good practice," he said.
Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 835-2105 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Plane, for audio and video of Robinson High's MacDill Aeronautics Academy.
Kevin Morris, a Shreveport, La., flight instructor, got quite a scare -- he called it the most intense few moments in his flying career -- when the Cessna 150 he was in struck a kite string just after takeoff from Runway 14 at Shreveport's Downtown (DTN) Airport. This "string" was braided nylon rope that wrapped around the spinner and immediately starting chewing away cowling and melting onto the windshield. He saw the box kite at about 500 feet AGL and thought, "No problem." As he took the controls from his student pilot to maneuver around the kite the prop caught the rope, wrapping it up like a winch. A significant drop in power and severe vibrations followed, but he had enough power to make Runway 23 safely. Local police tracked down the box kite culprits ... young people in a nearby neighborhood who had lost their kite in gusty conditions.