Plains class gets skyward lesson

A handful of kids took flight from school Thursday, but they were returned by Plains resident Randy Garrison, the one that took them away.

It was part of a hands-on lesson for the Plains High School physics class that centered around the fundamentals of aerodynamics and Garrison had just the way to demonstrate what they already got in the classroom lesson by Plains High School science teacher Brooks Sanford.

Garrison used his Cherokee Piper 235 airplane to drive the lecture home. The students – seniors Piper Bergstrom, Mason Elliott, Montana Killgore, Kaedence Ciferri and junior Lola-Grace Rodriguez – got not only the opportunity to feel the steel and smell the aviation fuel, but they took off and got a bird's eye view of the area.

Garrison, a pilot for nearly 40 years, first went over the parts of the aircraft before giving them an in-flight briefing. He explained how things work as he went, sometimes using a model plane to demonstrate such things as lift, air flow, stall and the Bernoulli Principle, which is the primary relation of the air flow behavior that makes it possible for an aircraft to become airborne. Bergstrom sat in the cockpit pushing buttons and pulling levers to move such things as the flaps and ailerons.

The Plains man reiterated what Sanford had taught them in class by giving them a closeup perspective of the airplane and how it takes off, lands, soars, its speed and how much runway it requires, along with such things as the plane's fuel capacity and its payload of 2,900 pounds. He said he has to get a physical and pass a test every two years to keep his pilot's license.

"The primary topics in aerodynamics that we teach are the fundamentals of aerodynamics - thrust, drag, lift, gravity - as well as primary controls on an airplane like, ailerons, elevators, rudders," said Sanford, who has been a teacher for more than six years and started at Plains last fall. "We also did a lesson on fluid dynamics and how the Bernoulli Principle is involved in lift," he said.

"You can sit in class and understand it, but there's no greater lesson than actually doing what you're learning," said Plains School Superintendent Thom Chisholm, who has attended Garrison's aviation presentation more than a dozen times since he began giving the students the lesson 25 years ago and has gone flying with him numerous times. "This is such an unusual resource for such a small town and a small school to get a classroom lesson and convert it to real life experience," said Chisholm.

Garrison told the group he loves flying and goes up two or three times a week when he has time. Most of his flight time has been on clear and beautiful days. He's been up and down most of the West Coast and to Canada and there's been only two times that he's wished he was on the ground, which prompted a bothersome look from a couple of students.

He gave a brief history of his flying background and told the group that it was a Plains pilot, the late Millar Bryce, who got him interested in flying when Garrison was just a boy. "He took me under his wing and taught me how to fly," Garrison said of Bryce, a World War II pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Garrison took the students up for a short flight to see the countryside. "I loved it," said Killgore, who took photos and video with his cellphone. "I was nervous, but it was fun," said Rodriguez. "I don't even have my driver's license yet, but I'm going to get my pilot's license," she added. Garrison knows of at least five students who he has taken aloft who went on to get their licenses and two are now commercial pilots.

He took the students and teacher up in two trips for about 20 miles along the Flathead and Clark Fork rivers and over Baldy Mountain. Each trip was 15-20 minutes. Sanford said that Garrison let Elliott fly the plane for about 10 minutes. "I like seeing the kids getting to do something they might never get the opportunity to do," said Garrison, a 1976 Plains High School graduate and the Storr Field Plains Airport manager for 35 years. Garrison has given his outdoor class for three teachers - the late John Bauman, retired teacher Carl Benson, and now Sanford, who appreciates that Garrison donates his time and aircraft for the school. Chisholm said they've offered to reimburse him several times, but he wouldn't take it. "They usually always have a big smile after they get back," said Garrison.

For several of the students over the years, going in Garrison's Piper was their first time in an airplane. All of this year's students have flown in commercial planes, but never in a small aircraft. But the physics students had flown another type of small plane this year. It took the class about two weeks to assemble a remote control Piper Super Cub. "We crashed it a lot, but we taped it back together and it still flies," said Sanford.

"The focus at the end of the unit has been career opportunities available in aviation and educational requirements to become a pilot," said Sanford. The class also went on a field trip to the Museum of Mountain Flying and Neptune Aviation in Missoula. They went on board the Miss Montana and one of the fire retardant bombers from Neptune, said Sanford, who added that they learned about aviation career pathways and educational requirements.

"The flight class was incredible," said Sanford, who added that the kids learned how meticulous the pre-flight checklist is, what it takes to go to flight school, different career opportunities that are possible, and the redundancy systems in the airplane. Sanford said the flight was special to the students and was thankful of Garrison's generosity. "Our flight was smooth with incredible scenery," said Sanford, but he also noted that the class learned that there are nice people in their community, such as Garrison, "who are willing to donate their time and resources to give kids an experience they will never forget."