By Chris Richards
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 15, 1997

Earning their Wings

Chris Richards Arizona Daily Wildcat Emilio Ruiz at the controls, winging his way west over Tucson.

It's early Saturday morning. Under cloudless skies a light wind blows across the airstrip at Tucson International Airport as Vicente 'Emilio' Ruiz, a 10th grader at Desert View High School, stands next to a small plane. Someone is explaining it's steering mechanisms, and he's paying attention because he's about to take this Cessna for a spin.

His private instructor - in this case, UA senior and commercial pilot Eric Achen - is going to make that happen. Achen, head of the UA Flying Club, volunteers for Wright Flight, a national program that trades flying time for good grades.

Emilio has good grades, but it wasn't always that way. Six months ago he promised in writing that he could do better. He did and today marks Wright Flight's half of the bargain.

We squeeze inside the single-engine Cessna 172. Emilio puts on headphones and gets acquainted with the pilot's seat. Achen reads out loud a pre-flight checklist.

Chris Richards Arizona Daily Wildcat The training plane, a Cesna 172.

The plane is a trainer, he explains: a bit beat-up, but meticulously maintained. The VW bug cockpit bears this out. Achen shouts "Prop clear!" and the little plane sputters to life.

As we taxi down the runway, Achen guides the controls, but Emilio is making the moves. He's studied this in an after-hours class on aviation that's part of the Wright Flight bargain. With the buzz of a dragonfly, we're airborne.

It's taken a bit longer for the Tucson-based Wright Flight to get up and flying, but not much. This is the 12th year of the program, which exists in every school district in Tucson, with branches in Phoenix, and four other states, says Bill Bohnstedt, program director.

Chris Richards Arizona Daily Wildcat Eric Achen (Right) UA senior and Right Flight volunteer, prepares Emilio for the flight.

Today is the first "fly day" of the school year, and they hope to put up 50 kids on their way to 1,500 this year. This is with an assortment of volunteer, private, commercial and military pilots, all willing to share the gift of flight.

Emilio seems to have a knack for flying. At the very least, he has a stomach for it. We bank, climb and roller-coaster, without a hint of airsickness. Achen tells me pilots joke that five vomiting kids earns you status as an "ace."

The city and mountains spread out around us. Emilio, who has never flown in anything before, takes it all in before Achen brings us back to earth.

"It can be quite a sight for a kid who has never been north of Broadway," Bohnstedt says.

Chris Richards Arizona Daily Wildcat