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The Elizabethtown Airport hosted its first aviation camp this week at Curtis Brown Field on Airport Road. The classes ran for four days and included all phases of aviation. The camp hosted local pilots as instructors and also air traffic controllers from the Fayetteville Airport.
The academy is sponsored by a grant from the NCDOT Aviation Division along with Campbell Oil Company and Sovereign Aerospace. The first session was June 5th through 8th and consisted of 50 campers from grades 5 to 9. The students were from eight surrounding counties with every school from Bladen County represented. The classes taught were intro to aircraft, aerodynamics, aircraft flight, helicopter flight, navigation, weather, aircraft mechanics, pre-flights, military aviation, corporate-commercial aviation, air traffic control, aviation jobs and drone flight.
The camp used military and civilian aircraft during the week and even helicopters. The camp was a great success and impressive.
“The kids were very excited to be able to see inside the cockpit of a helicopter and airplane and learn about all the job opportunities in the aviation field. We are very grateful to our staff at the Town of Elizabethtown and, most especially, Rusty Worley, for making this camp possible for our kids,” Elizabethtown Mayor Sylvia Campbell said. “We had great volunteer instructors this week and they brought a vast array of knowledge and aviation experience during sessions.”
This would not have been possible without the sponsors and the Bladen County Schools CTE program. The number of applications for this camp exceeded expectations with over 180 received, according to Elizabethtown Town Manager Dane Rideout.
The next camp is slated for June 26th through June 29th, and plans are being made for next summer.
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