Retired Air Force Crew Chief-Turned-Educator Teaches Horlick Students to Fly Drones, Find Jobs in Aviation

May 18—RACINE — Horlick High School, the only Racine Unified School District high school to offer aviation classes, has recently added to its already unique course offerings and launched a new drone program.

"This program is more of a focused branch of what we were already doing," said James Bucholtz, a career and technical education (CTE) teacher at Horlick High School.

Bucholtz teaches aviation, woodshop and construction classes. He additionally has a background in aviation — he was a crew chief in the U.S. Air Force for six years — and said he's been trying to get drones added to the curriculum for three years.

"I'm really psyched to get this going. They're a whole lot of fun to fly," he said.

All about drones

A drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle or an aircraft without a human pilot on board.

Drones can be as expensive as $15,000, but the 20 drones Horlick currently has are smaller; the most expensive school-owned one is $1,500 and the least expensive one is $100.

The drones were purchased thanks to a $6,700 grant from the CNH Industrial Foundation and arrived at various times throughout the month of April. The school is still expecting one more drone.

"Without them (CNH), I'd still be saying, 'Hey guys, why don't we start a drone program?'" Bucholtz said.

Drone curriculum will be added to existing aviation classes starting next school year.

One reason Horlick, located at 2119 Rapids Drive, has an aviation program is because of the proximity to Batten International Airport, 3239 N. Green Bay Road, just under two miles from the school.

"If any of the other schools attempted that, I would've thrown a fit," Bucholtz said. "We've really created a natural foundation for these drones."

While the drone curriculum hasn't been set up yet, and there are plans to outline that this summer, the three aviation classes ( General Aviation, Airframe and Propulsion) already cover mechanics and ground school. Ground school covers the basic rules of becoming a pilot, such as the theory of how airplanes fly, the weather, Federal Aviation Administration regulations and several other aviation-related topics.

Horlick CTE is working with the Batten Airport to hopefully bring the drone program there as well; the aviation program already works with the airport. The partnership could help students have real-world examples of what drone flight is like, Bucholtz said, including performing pre-flight checklists and communicating with other pilots.

The importance of drones

The aviation program started at Horlick five years ago, and the class numbers have been pretty consistent, Bucholtz said, with about 65-70 students in all three aviation classes per year. Twenty-four students are already enrolled in next school year's aviation/drone program.

Bucholtz noted students can learn how to program and fix drones, and may be able to start an aviation-related career right out of high school. About 10 students, after completing the Horlick aviation coursework, have found places within the aviation industry over the last five years, he said.

With the help of this class, students may take a test offered each year in January to obtain their Part 107 license, an FAA license that allows the license holder to fly drones.

Drones are an important skill to master, he said, as drones are one of the fastest growing fields that's relatively unknown to most people.

Drones can do a lot of things, from taking photos initiated by amateur and professional photographers, to carrying large Hollywood cameras, to providing surveillance for building inspectors and crime prevention for police departments. They've also played roles in online food or other product delivery services in recent years.

"There's certain aspects of these drones that are really going to help kids further along," he said. "We can't get them into the cockpit yet, so we're letting them see how drones function in the air."

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