This Catholic High School Has It All — Including a Flight Simulator| National Catholic Register

Students at Detroit Catholic Central can work towards getting a pilot’s license using all-boys school’s latest tech upgrade.

NOVI, Mich. — Aviation had already been a part of the curriculum of Detroit Catholic Central (DCC) in a suburb of the Motor City, but the program received a significant boost with the newly built George and Mary Turek Hall of Science, which was opened in August, offering science labs, flight simulation, robotics, and an astronomy observatory. 

The school’s Redbird FMX electric full-motion flight simulator, according to its manufacturer, offers computer monitors, providing a wraparound view simulating windows in a small plane with views like those that pilots see in real life. Students sit in a simulator the size of a small car activated by motors that imitate the pitch, yaw and roll of actual flight. Approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, the FMX costs nearly $80,000 and fits in a normal classroom. In addition to the FMX simulator, DCC has TD2 desktop units that offer a motionless simulation of flight. These accommodate six students at one time in the aviation lab. 

According to teacher Amy Ely, who heads Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM) at DCC, there are no prerequisites for the aviation program, but a 3.0 GPA or better is required. Applicants must have also had an initial in-flight experience to enter the aviation track. She said so-called “Discovery Flights” are offered by the Civil Air Patrol and the Experimental Aircraft Association, free of charge at local airports as an introduction to flight. 

“We require that they take that ‘Discovery Flight’ before they begin so that they know how their bodies will react. Being a pilot requires a specific set of skills and abilities, and you must not be afraid of heights or get nausea and deal with the conditions of being in the pilot seat,” she said.

DCC offers the ground school, which teaches theory, such as the physics of lift and dynamics of flight. Students learn about weather, laws and regulations related to flight and even the effects of flight on the human body. This is provided in the classroom and computer flight simulation in conjunction with flight school in preparation for their licensing. 

Owen Young, a senior, told the Register, “I use the flight simulators during my homeroom period almost every day. Flying the simulator feels almost like you are in a real aircraft, without being in one. I plan on being a professional pilot in the aviation industry.” He said that he plans to study at Western Michigan University, which offers the only comprehensive aviation program at a public university in the country. Young has participated in Civil Air Patrol rescues and plans on joining the Air Force.

“I spend about an hour a week in the simulator, mainly to familiarize myself with the avionic system, which is different from the one I have used before. The simulator is extremely realistic and gives you a great sense of how certain items will look and feel in a real aircraft. Switch and button placements are almost identical to that of a Cessna 172,” senior Hayden Sawka told the Register. 

Ely said that the Flying Shamrocks student club takes students on field trips to airports and offers guest lectures by military and civilian pilots. In February, for example, students visited nearby Willow Run Airport and the Yankee Air Museum, where they sat in the airport observation tower and tried out flight simulators at the museum. Four students were already halfway through their overall pilot training.

STEM Director Ely said, “Students are getting all of their ground school towards a private pilot license at DCC, as well as getting at least two hours per week on simulators with their flight instructor, which is not something that you see at any other flight school.”

As testimony to Detroit Catholic Central’s focus on aviation and other sciences, there is a decommissioned jet of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels aerobatic team hanging from the atrium ceiling of the school’s robotics arena. 

And the young men are eager to continue their aviation education — in class and in the sky.

While he has not decided where to study after graduation, Sawka said he wants to become an airline transport pilot and is grateful for DCC’s curriculum. “I think it is amazing to have the opportunity to become a pilot and have a career that will be fun.” 

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