CHAPTER 'TEACHER OF YEAR' FLIES WITH CAP

The Frank Luke Chapter's 2009 Teacher of the Year, Joanne Henning, is sold on flight!

As part of her award, the 4th-grade teacher at Glendale American Elementary School received a complimentary 1-year Civil Air Patrol membership. While talking to members of the 313th Civil Air Patrol Squadron in Glendale, she learned about the CAP's "Fly A Teacher" aerospace education program.

In addition to being a member of the CAP, any teacher interested in receiving an incentive flight would promise to share the experience with his/her students through a specialized lesson plan.

Henning jumpted at the chance! She already was helping her students learn about aviation through a Lego robotics project. An F-16 pilot visited her classroom and explained the mechanics of flight to her young charges.

On Nov. 23, the excited educator flew around the Phoenix Goodyear area for an hour in a brand-new Cessna 182, with CAP Lt Col Rick Amundsen at the controls. Amundsen, also an AFA member with the Frank Luke Chapter, had just flown the aircraft in from the factory in Kansas, and this was the plane's first official mission.

Peter Feltz, director of Aerospace Education with the Arizona CAP Wing, said this was the first of nine flights scheduled around state under the CAP's Fly A Teacher program.

Teachers from local elementary schools will be solicited to participate in this program during the chapter's frequent contacts throughout the year.