Dreams take flight through southern Alberta high school flight academy program

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — It's "wheels up" for a group of students from Eagle Butte High School in Dunmore, Alberta after finishing another year with the Dave Rozdeba South Alberta Flight Academy

The program, which started in 2019, teaches the students everything they need to know for future careers in aviation.

"Students can enroll in grade 10 or 11 and they progress through flight training and by the time they graduate grade 12, they have their private pilot’s license among other things," said Dana Marshall, the academy’s lead teacher.

The program was brought forward by the Prairie Rose School Division and was made possible thanks to Super T Aviation in Medicine Hat, which provided both the space for the students to learn and much of the training.

The students begin learning the basics of aviation, then proceeded to learn how to fly in a flight simulator before moving on to actual planes.

"It's been a lot of fun really," said grade 10 student, Kathryne Fairbrother.

"I get to enjoy flying around. I've been on three flights so far, so that's bene pretty fun."

AVIATION ENTHUSIAST

The program was named after Dave Rozdeba, a teacher from Eagle Butte High School who passed away in 2017.

"Part of the program came together in his honour because he was an avid aviation enthusiast so all the right pieces aligned and we were able to come up with something that we really believe is transformational," said superintendent for Prairie Rose School Division, Reagan Weeks.

Rozdeba's daughter, Kaitlyne, is one of the programs co-leaders and says he'd be proud to see what they created.

"He had so many passions and one of them was flying so he would've been so excited to see this program and happy that students get to do a passion of theirs like flying," she told CTV News.

Over the past three years, the students have been working on building a plane of their own, from the ground up, as part of the program.

It took over 1,000 hours to finish and they watched in awe as it took its maiden flight.

"There was a tremendous amount of pride in the student’s faces when they saw it fly for the first time," Marshall said.

"I actually couldn't believe that it finally happened. It seemed to take longer than the actual course itself," added Trigger Ellis, a grade 12 graduate from the flight academy.

They've already begun working on their next plane, which will likely take another three years.

For those graduating grade 12 though, many hope a career in the sky is next.

Spots are still open for next year and they're accepting new students to the academy from across the country.

You can learn more at the DR South Alberta Flight Academy’s website.