{"id":26393,"date":"2023-08-14T19:35:23","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T19:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=26393"},"modified":"2023-08-14T19:35:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T19:35:25","slug":"oklahomans-land-in-oshkosh-for-the-2023-eaa-airventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/oklahoma\/oklahomans-land-in-oshkosh-for-the-2023-eaa-airventure\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Oklahomans Land in Oshkosh for the 2023 EAA AirVenture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo above – Left to Right, Bill Holland, David Anderson, Zane Hudspeth, John David Muse, Elizabeth Tennyson, Grayson Ardies, Chris Eckler.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nestled between Milwaukee and Green Bay, lies Wittman\nRegional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, host of the annual EAA AirVenture,\nwhich brings together members and aviation enthusiasts totaling more than\n600,000 people. Organizers announced that they tied a record with people from\n93 different countries on hand for the event for the annual airshow and\nconvention.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oklahoma Department of Commerce and Oklahoma Aeronautics\nCommission led a delegation of communities to exhibit at the show including the\nAda Jobs Foundation, Ardmore Development Authority, Bartlesville Development\nAuthority, the City of McAlester, and Tulsa International Airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a busy week for keeping track of all the planes in\nthe air with about 19,000 aircraft movements at the Wittman Airport. EAA CEO\nand Chairman Jack Pelton stated that over 3,300 show planes, more than 1,400\nvintage aircraft, 1,000 home builds, 380 war birds, 194 ultra lights, 65\nC-planes, and 52 Aerobatic aircraft were part of the tapestry of planes on the\nfield. More than 74,000 people camped under aircraft or in RVs during the\nweek-long event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of Oklahomans posted their pilgrimage on social\nmedia as they made their way to the annual event that is in its 71st year.\nAmong those fervent pilots that braved sweltering heat, severe thunderstorms,\nand primitive camping conditions were three students from Ada High School in\nAda, Oklahoma. The young aviators were selected to speak at an AOPA breakfast\non Thursday morning to tell their aviation story and to express their thanks to\nthe donors and veteran pilots who donate to the \u201cYou Can Fly\u201d program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What began in 2017 as a field test opportunity, for the\nnewly developed AOPA you can fly high school aviation curriculum has resulted\nin over 80+ schools teaching the program in the fall of the 2023-2024 school\nyear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWatching these young men tell their Oklahoma aviation story\nto a crowd of pilots from across the United States brought the hard work of our\nCommission staff over the past four years into full focus. Oklahoma public\neducation is making pilots, and that is pretty incredible,\u201d said State Director\nof Aeronautics Grayson Ardies.  \u201cStudents\nare leaving these high school programs prepared to enter post-secondary\naviation programs and ultimately, into the aerospace workforce. I think I can\nspeak for AOPA in saying that the curriculum is doing exactly what it was\ndesigned to do, which is to meet a critical need to address not only the pilot\nshortage but an overarching aerospace tone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Anderson from Ada, Oklahoma graduated from Ada High\nSchool in 2021, and just completed his second year at Oklahoma State University\nin the Part 141 program at OSU. He has his private pilot license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI truly believe that the AOPA \u201cYou Can Fly\u201d High School\nAviation Curriculum has changed the way Oklahoma schools view STEM education.\nThe curriculum provides students with a pathway of learning that has been\ndesigned to ensure that students are ready for post-secondary aerospace\ncareers.  In many cases, the curriculum\nhas changed the trajectory of these students\u2019 lives,\u201d said Paula Kedy, the\nAerospace and Aviation Education Coordinator for the Oklahoma Aeronautics\nCommission.  \u201cThe curriculum is offered\nfree to schools, and our Oklahoma schools are using it to build extraordinary\naviation programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John David Muse, a student at Southeastern University, will\nenter his sophomore year in their aviation program. He completed all four years\nof the AOPA program at Ada High School while also balancing his outstanding\nachievements in athletics and baseball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zane Hudspeth has several hours toward his pilot license and\nhas an interest in rotor and fixed-wing aircraft. He is currently working with\nOklahoma National Guard recruiters to enter into military service with an\naviation and pilot focus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that the students from Ada High School that spoke\nto the impact that the AOPA curriculum has had on their career choices are\nrepresentative of thousands of students across the country that are benefitting\nfrom the AOPA \u201cYou Can Fly\u201d High School Aviation Curriculum,\u201d said Kedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To explore pilot training and for more information about the\nOklahoma Aeronautics Commission and its programs, visit https:\/\/oklahoma.gov\/aerospace<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo above – Left to Right, Bill Holland, David Anderson, Zane Hudspeth, John David Muse, Elizabeth Tennyson, Grayson Ardies, Chris Eckler. Nestled between Milwaukee and Green Bay, lies Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, host of the annual EAA AirVenture, which brings together members and aviation enthusiasts totaling more than 600,000 people. Organizers announced that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-education","category-oklahoma"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/EAA-2023-unnamed-2023-08-13T205729.648.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26393"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26395,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26393\/revisions\/26395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}