Bullis aviation camp invites children to pilot planes
Campers spend week learning the highs and lows of aviation
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Children often paddle canoes, ride horses and jump on trampolines during summer camp, but not many can add fly an airplane to that list.
Students who attended Kids Take Flight camp at Bullis School in Potomac can boast that they took to the skies and took the controls of an airplane this summer.
The boys were flying with instructor Hillary Montgomery from Open Air, a company that offers flight training at the Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg where the campers flew Aug. 11.
"It's a great idea, to get them involved early," Montgomery said.
Zhenya Lutterman, 11, of Potomac, said he is serious about flying and would like to be a fighter pilot someday.
"This is the best day so far because we get to fly a plane. I have been practicing at home on a flight simulator. I practice every day," he said while he waited for his turn to fly. He was decked out in aviator-style sunglasses and a camp T-shirt with a helicopter on the front.
The campers each had about 15 minutes of flying time, and also got to ride with their partner at the controls. Two planes took students up while others were given tours of the 138-acre Airpark or sat in a Cirrus SR22, a four-seater turboprop single engine plane.
Jamey Greenbaum, 15, of Bethesda, and David Fasano sat in the small plane looking at the multi-function cockpit display and were surprised to learn that it was equipped with a parachute designed to deploy to lower the aircraft in an emergency.
The camp included lessons covering the history of aviation, an introduction to helicopters and a visit to the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
"That was really nice, there must have been hundreds of planes. We had a tour and my friend and I went in a fight simulator where you actually move around," Jamey said.
The camp, which has been offered in New England for four years, opened at Bullis this summer with two one-week sessions, each designed for 20 campers ages 10 to 15. The camp cost $450 per session and was full both weeks.
One of the goals of the camp is to introduce campers to aviation careers, said camp director Betsey Sanpere.
"For every plane that goes up there is a plethora of people who make it happen. It is important for people to know that you can be in any career and be that in aviation," Sanpere said.
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