Jay’Liana Bailey put on the virtual reality headset and held a set of controls in each hand as she began flying a virtual airplane.
“I liked it, at first it was confusing, but then I understood it,” said the freshman from Gary’s 21st Century Charter School.
She was among more than 400 Gary middle and high school students to take part in the Aviation Day and Youth Expo on Tuesday at the Gary/Chicago International Airport.
Schools included Thea Bowman Academy, Steel City Academy, Gary Lighthouse College Preparatory Campus, Charter School of the Dunes, Bailly STEM Academy, Gary Middle School, West Side Leadership Academy, and 21st Century Academies.
The Boeing Co., which designs and manufactures airplanes, sponsored the event in partnership with the airport and B. Coleman Aviation.
Boeing wants to foster an interest in aerospace to build a talent pipeline with STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and math programs. A Boeing official said it’s invested more than $1 million in STEM education and workforce development in Chicago and Gary this year.
Outside the hangar, students made and flew their own paper airplanes and launched plastic “stomp” rockets with their feet.
They also got an up-front look at a small plane from Purdue University and a helicopter with a crew from the Lake County Sheriff’s department.
Inside the B. Coleman hangar, students flew a simulator plane and gathered information from university and college representatives and the Chicago Area Business Aviation Association.
Ivan Lyons, 17, a senior at the Gary Lighthouse Prep Academy, said he’s already sold on a career in STEM.
“I am very interested in STEM stuff, I like the hands-on,” said Lyons who said he’ll study engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette.
Outside, Harrison Kane, a Purdue senior and flight instructor and recruiter at Purdue, explained the dynamics of flight to groups of students as they gathered around the four-seat Piper Archer TX single-engine plane.
He said it has a 180-horsepower engine and can fly about 140 mph. It took about 30 minutes to fly from West Lafayette to Gary, he said.
Kane showed the students how the retractable flaps on the plane’s wings make the plane turn.
Students asked Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Romero what kind of training he needed for his job as a helicopter mechanic and tactical flight officer.
“They asked fantastic questions,” he said.
Joshua Johnston, a mechanic and facility manager at B. Coleman, came to the airport 10 years ago from jobs in the steel mill and trucking industry.
“I got bored and wanted to learn about airplanes,” he said. A friend who was a flight mechanic encouraged him to join the field.
He said he tries to be encouraging to students, yet realistic when he talks with students about his job.
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“I have mixed emotions, you don’t want to scare them, but they have to put in the time,” he said.
Marcellus Freeman, a corporate pilot who grew up on the south side of Chicago, joined a panel discussion with Johnston that concluded the event.
“I wanted to be a pilot since I was a kid,” said Freeman who added he practically grew up at O’Hare International Airport where his father worked as a refueler for an airline.
He graduated from Morgan Park High School and went to Saint Louis University which offers an aviation science program and a flight school.
With help from the Tuskegee NEXT program that promotes aviation careers, Freeman got his pilot’s license and became a flight instructor at age 21.
Then, he gained a scholarship to gain a challenging certification to operate large jets.
With help from Mark Jackson, director of Boeing Executive Flight Operations, Freeman landed a job as a corporate pilot with the Gary Jet Center, based at the airport.
Freeman, 28, typically pilots a nine-passenger jet.
“I have the luxury of going to amazing places and I can relax and stay awhile.”
He just returned from taking clients to Arizona and Colorado.
Freeman also shared life lessons about tenacity and resolve.
“For me, it makes me proud that I’ve been able to accomplish what I wanted to do in a short period. Growing up on the south side of Chicago, all my teachers didn’t believe I’d be a pilot.”
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.