Byron hangar to become aeronautics classroom

Aug. 09--BYRON -- Chazz Allain would have spent Saturday afternoon playing video games if he hadn't decided to check out the open house for a fledgling aeronautics academy.

The hands-on fun he encountered was definitely worth the change in plans, says the Liberty High School junior.

"I liked how it was interactive -- there wasn't as much talking," Allain said, recalling the remote-controlled model helicopter he saw in action along with a demonstration of how hot air balloons get off the ground.

Learning by doing is central to Patriots Aerospace Academy, which will offer after-school courses covering the principles of flight starting next month from a hangar at Byron Airport.

"They are getting math and science in school, but they're getting it in a classroom setting," said David Ringler, executive director of the nonprofit foundation that's offering this alternative. "We want to ... show them the utility of these concepts in a stimulating setting that will make them go for more."

About a dozen high school students from around the county and beyond recently gathered at the airport for a daylong introduction to the curriculum.

The academy's volunteer instructors, who include commercial pilots, a former NASA space shuttle pilot and a high school robotics club adviser, spent most of the time illustrating ideas such as thrust, pitch and lift.

Activities ranged from the simple to the sophisticated: Kids used a surgical rubber tube as

a slingshot to fling Styrofoam airplanes into the air, and 15-year-old Aundrea Gregory was suitably impressed by an example of what can happen when there's an imbalance of air pressure.

A can of boiling water was placed in a cooler filled with ice water, which quickly condensed the steam; the resulting vacuum combined with the pressure outside crushed the metal container.

"The demonstration made it really easy to understand," said Gregory, whose interest in becoming an airplane mechanic motivated her to make the 2 1/2 -hour drive from her home in Grizzly Flats.

Teens also took turns manipulating a joystick and foot controls to alter the trajectory of a model jet suspended from a frame, trying to point its nose directly into the airstream created by a fan.

Nearby, a miniature helicopter outfitted with a video camera buzzed around streaming images from the cockpit's perspective onto a computer monitor.

The idea for the academy came from seeing the brief chats that Patriots Jet Team pilots would have with young people after performing their aerial acrobatics at airshows, said Randy Howell, who owns the L-39 jets they fly.

He formed the team in 2003 as way of encouraging the next generation to pursue careers in aviation, and reasoned that by establishing a nonprofit dedicated to teaching young people the basics he could share his love of flying with a larger audience.

"When you don't know any pilots you think of them sort of like FBI agents, as being super heroes, and you don't think you can attain that," said Howell, who's president and board chairman of the Patriots Jet Team Foundation.

But in meeting individuals who have earned their wings, young people find inspiration and mentors to help them on their way, he said.

The academy isn't only for those who have their heart set on flying for a living, however, but also for students like 15-year-old Tyler Williams, a Heritage High School sophomore who wants to go into biomedical engineering but enjoys being around Howell's fleet of gleaming black planes.

"Regardless of their career path ... understanding how the world works from a scientific and technical standpoint will help them," Ringler said. "We're about math and science and engineering, and whatever you learn here you can apply elsewhere."

Contact Rowena Coetsee at 925-779-7141. Follow her on Twitter: Twitter.com/RowenaCoetsee

Copyright 2012 - Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.