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.
“Every year, recruiters come up with better games, competitions to, I think, show the students what the military does,” Jim Borgmann, a member of the facilities department at Lutheran South and one of the staff members asked to chaperone the trip, said. “That draws a lot of people in. So, every year they just try to make things bigger and better.”
Before taking off from Farmington Regional Airport on April 23, the four students – Nolan Belval, Sam Catlett, Ike Fronabarger and Hamilton Striker – along with Borgmann and Lutheran South social media coordinator, Mya Eichelberger – were instructed on safety precautions, including how and where to throw up in case of an emergency.
“They normally have sick bags, but didn’t have any,” Borgmann said. “A shirt confines you instead of getting it on anyone else. Because once one person (throws up), then it usually is the domino effect.”
“It’ll go over other people, and they’ll end up throwing up,” Fronabarger, who has his pilot’s license, added. “And it’s also just terrible to clean in the air.”
Once in the sky, the captain demonstrated hovering, diving and pitching from side to side. The group flew for approximately 20 minutes in a loop around the area.
“I thought it was definitely fun, something most people should try at least once,” Fronabarger said.
Though the experience was positive for all involved, Fronabarger shared that those without experience flying “were all panicking” at times. With over 50 hours logged since getting his pilot’s license last year, Fronabarger, on the other hand, felt at ease.
“(Eichelberger) was sitting right next to me, and we went into a bank. It was like only 30 degrees, but 30 degrees feels like a lot up there, and she was screaming the whole time. And then we did simulated stalls where you just drop down real quick … it’s a zero-G (zero gravity) feeling, and they all definitely panicked,” he said.
Aside from the flight itself, highlights of the trip were talking to the crew, who, according to Fronabarger and Borgmann, were “very approachable.”
“They were not standoffish, did not elevate themselves above or below anyone else, and were very encouraging to others,” Borgmann said.
“They were open to talking to high school kids, that’s what I liked. They were able to explain it in a way that other people could understand,” Fronabarger added. “They … were easy to talk to and related to the teenager, I thought, well.”