The Owensboro Air Show in September is always a crowd-pleasing event for the City, but many years of practice go into putting on such a high-octane performance. Students from local schools on Thursday learned about different aspects of aviation and met a few of the pilots who participated in the Air Show.
Students from Owensboro Innovation Academy, Grace Christian Academy, and Apollo High School experienced a walkthrough of the MidAmerica Jet course with 10 different planes and helicopters. The students had a range of interests in aerospace. Some want to be pilots, while others, like OIA Sophomore Dayton Dawson, hope to get into the mechanical engineering part of aviation.
“One of the great things about aviation in the mechanical aspect is it’s one of our greatest feats of achievement. We have automobiles, and we have boats and rockets and all that. It’s something I definitely want to look into when I get through my mechanical career,” Dawson said.
As he walked through the different aircraft, Dawson noted how they’re developed and how it can connect to daily life.
“It introduces you to careers, hobbies, and just systems that run our daily lives. It’s very important to get to know these things and the impacts they have on us,” Dawson said.
Helping young, interested aviators like Dawson is what 19-year-old Mason Rowe looks forward to as a pilot instructor.
Mason has been flying since he was 12, but he’s been interested in planes since age 9. Since then, his passion for flying has led him to become a flight instructor. He soloed a glider at 14 and powered a plane at 16 before obtaining his license on his 17th birthday.
When he started, he said, many of his teachers were much older than him. He wants to change that to help future pilots get started early.
“Now it’s neat that I could actually teach them, and I get to give back to people who are my age. I had a lot of people invest in me, but they were all older. Being the same age helps because I can have a better relationship, and I feel like they are more apt to talk to me or ask questions,” Rowe said.
Rowe experienced that on the runway as some students approached him and shared his passion for flying. He was able to not only connect them to pilot school but also provide advice on navigating the aerospace industry. Rowe is also a co-owner of Kentucky Flying Services, which is based in Ohio County and specializes in primary flight training.
The 2024 Owensboro Air Show is scheduled for September 13-15. Read here for the latest details and lineup info.
