Students to Experience Thrill of Flight as Co-Pilots

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Estella Zavala or Jennea Moore, 225-6437 
Posted on: January 13, 2004

Twenty-five fifth grade students from Soleng Tom Elementary School, 10520 E. Camino Quince, will experience the thrill of hands-on flight as co-pilot of a small aircraft at 8 a.m. on Sat., Jan. 17, at the Executive Terminal of Tucson International Airport.

The students were given the opportunity through the Wright Flight program, which uses aviation to academically motivate students in grades three through 12 to succeed in school. Participating students sign a contract vowing to raise a grade in one of their weaker subjects, and remain in school, off drugs, and out of gangs. If they meet this criteria and pass the Wright Flight “History of Flight” test, the student is granted the opportunity to co-pilot a small aircraft as the culmination of the eight-week program.

Saturday’s events will include flights in groups of two students per one-hour flight with students’ family and friends in attendance. Graduates of the program receive a Wright Flight t-shirt, a photo of themselves with their pilot and plane, and a first-flight graduation certificate.

Wright Flight, Inc., begun in Tucson in 1986 and now with chapters in Phoenix, Massachusetts and Florida, is a non-profit corporation funded primarily on donations. Thirty-one pilots currently participate allowing over 700 students to successfully graduate in Tucson this school year. Since it’s inception, Wright Flight has had approximately 4,000 Tucson graduates.

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