Atlantic City High School sophomore Glenn Lowe says his love of airplanes started innocently enough by playing Microsoft’s Flight Simulator program. From there he became immersed in watching Pilot’s Day Blog videos on YouTube, which led him to his own personal discovery of wanting to one day become an airplane captain.
“Then I started looking into airlines that I liked by doing a lot of research into it,” said Lowe, who routinely, thanks to the help of his parents, goes plane spotting by traveling to nearby international airports in Philadelphia, Newark and New York City. “I really like Alaska because I like cooler weather, so my ultimate goal is to become a captain, of course, with Alaska Airlines.”
Plane spotting is the aviation enthusiast’s version of bird watching as each airplane features its own unique set of structural and aesthetic design elements.
Lowe, and approximately 50 other students from Atlantic City and Egg Harbor Township high schools and the Atlantic County Institute of Technology, attended Atlantic Cape Community College’s Annual Aviation Day on May 22 at the Mays Landing campus.
“It is important to get the students to see and touch, fly the drones, look at a chart, talk in the simulator, listen to professionals talk about their careers and interact with industry professionals rather than just reading about it in a book,” said Atlantic Cape Aviation Operations Chairman Tim Cwik, who presented the air traffic controller workshop where students had the opportunity to interact with the college’s tower simulator and learn how to oversee airplane departures and arrivals.. “Aviation Day is geared towards making the students in our area aware of these possibilities as a career option. We want more people to know that aviation careers are available here and that Atlantic Cape has flight programs for fixed-wing and propeller, and for airline pilots too.”
Keynote speaker Michael A. Konyak, program manager, Innovation & Technology Advisory Council at the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) William J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC) in Egg Harbor Township, NJ spoke of the multitude of career opportunities, such as engineering, air traffic controller and mechanics, just to name a few, that are available with the FAA that do not require flying an aircraft.
Konyak also discussed internships that are available for current high school students
Meanwhile, Lowe isn’t the only student with aviation ambitions. During the upcoming 2024-25 school year, three students from ACIT – Sam Smith, Marco Merlino and Jack Lieberman – will take part in the FAA’s WJHTC Aviation Monthly Mentoring Program (AMMP).
This program will allow students to gain experience in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) by providing them with an immersive aviation experience one day each month for about three hours throughout the school academic year across the various WJHTC laboratories. AMMP modules provide students with a unique opportunity to engage with aviation professionals in several laboratory environments. Experiences may include cockpit simulators, high fidelity air traffic control laboratory simulations, and small and full-scale fire testing.
The students attended various select workshops during two breakout sessions. Topics of discussion and demonstration included an experience with Atlantic Cape’s air traffic control tower simulator, reading sectional charts for aviation navigation, learning about professional pilot careers from United Airlines pilot Cheryl Lynn Simpson, discussion on private jet pilot careers with Walter Ellis, drone safety and flying small unmanned aircraft with Professor Anthony Esposito and ACIT flight program graduate Andrew Rock discussing student flight programs.
As for Lowe’s immediate plans after high school, he says he intends on enrolling at Atlantic Cape for the college’s aviation program.
Visit www.atlanticcape.edu/aviation for more information on Atlantic Cape’s Aviation and Drones academic program.
