After winning a school-wide National Guard competition consisting of solving a puzzle in the dark using night vision, four lucky Lutheran South High School students earned a ride in a Black Hawk helicopter. 

Before take off from Farmington Regional Airport on April 23, the four students – Nolan Belval, Sam Catlett, Ike Fronabarger and Hamilton Striker – along with Lutheran South staff Jim Borgmann and Mya Eichelberger, were instructed on safety precautions and given a tour of the cockpit. Once in the air, the captain demonstrated hovering, diving and pitching from side to side. 

The group flew for approximately 20 minutes. 

“I thought it was definitely fun, something most people should try at least once,” Fronabarger, who has aspirations to become a commercial pilot, said. 

Read more in the May 22 edition of The Call