Riverside, CA – Most high school students cannot wait to get a driver’s license. That was not the case with Jonathan Deming and Tyler Howell, students at the Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy. They opted to get their pilot’s licenses first. Both are now private pilots.
They were able to start taking flying lessons before they could start driver training. As participants in one of Flabob’s ongoing restoration programs they worked on an aircraft project and qualified for flying lessons at the low rate of $15/hour. While obtaining a driver’s license has some status for kids in high school, having a pilot’s license means a lot more, especially at Flabob Airport Preparatory School.
Jonathan Deming graduated this past spring as a member of the Honors Society. He accompanied the Aviators Group, made up of 12 of his fellow Flabob students, to AirVenture 2012. Tyler Howell is currently restoring his own EAA Biplane with help from his friends at Flabob. He is a senior this year and is also a member of the Aviators Group that went to AirVenture 2012.
Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy is located on historic Flabob Airport. It exists to expose middle and high school students to aviation as a possible career. Sponsored by The Tom Wathen Center, the airport is utilized for a variety of youth programs, including grade school, middle school and high school. The Tom Wathen Center conducts air academies, hosts aircraft restoration programs and work with EAA Chapter One on one the most active Young Eagles Program in the world. The pilot training program along with other aviation programs are possible because of donations to The Tom Wathen Center.
