Learning how to fly an airplane is just one more way Faith Lutheran is preparing students for life after college. 

Mrs. Lorenz, a certified helicopter pilot, is the teacher of the flight class. Alongside teaching, Lorenz and her husband own 702 Helicopters, a flight school located at the North Las Vegas Airport. 

“It prepares students for the written exam and covers ground training needed for a private rating,” Lorenz said. Hayden Levine, a senior at Faith, said that he hopes to achieve getting his license.

However, this class does not guarantee a pilot’s license. To achieve a pilot’s license, a student has to earn flight time outside of school. 

The topics that are covered in this class correlate to ground schooling. Lorenz said that “aerodynamics, aircraft systems, flight instruments, the rules and regulations, weather and navigation,” are some of the topics that will be discussed and taught in flight. “I have begun to learn all the basic ground knowledge needed to pass the FAA written exam.” Levine said about the knowledge he has learned. 

In the flight courses at Faith, students will dive deep into these topics. Visual aids are brought in by the teacher to also give the students a hands on experience. For example, instruments such as the altimeter, airspeed indicator, and vertical speed indicator are brought in to give students a visual experience. 

The class is held in the library during the first block. Students are given the privilege of flying on one of ten simulators. These simulators are the closest things that students have at school to apply their knowledge that they have learned in class.    

Students are signed up to a Red Bird account, which gives them lessons to complete and it also tracks the students’ progress to see if they may need more direction. These simulators can mimic flying at any time during the day and night. 

“The Sims are great for practice skills and students are able to log actual flight time on them,” Lorenz said about the helpfulness of these sims. Levine said, “The simulators are a huge blessing and they are great for training.”

Also, they can simulate any type of weather. However, to be able to get access to these sims, a student must be in the class. Non-Flight class students are not permitted on these simulators.

The students in the flight class have an opportunity to earn five flight hours towards their actual flight time on the simulators. “The FAA has arrived at the AATD sims to count towards their rating. 5 for 141 private and 20 for 141 Instrument,” Lorenz said. 

The rest of the hours that students that want to pursue and get a license have to go outside of school to get their hours. 

“It is huge to be able to log hours on the simulators because flight time is expensive so to be able to log real hours is a blessing,” Levine said about the simulators.  

Students have many options of flight schools at either North Las Vegas Airport or Henderson Executive Airport. The location of the airports will be linked below. This class is open to all students from 10th to 12th grade. Levine’s expresses his opinion on this class. “I love this class because it is helping me to achieve my career goals.”

North Las Vegas Airport Address: 2730 Airport Dr, North Las Vegas, NV 89032 

Henderson Executive Airport Address: 3500 Executive Terminal Dr, Henderson, NV 89052

702 Helicopters Website and Address: https://702helicopters.com  2634 Airport Dr #101, North Las Vegas, NV 89032