Adrienne Mack-Heath always saw planes flying in the sky, but never thought she would get a chance to be in the pilot seat.
That opportunity came in the summer of 1994 for her and several dozens Rock Hill teens aged 14 to 17. The teens, most from lower economic backgrounds, participated in HiTek Aviation One, a summer youth employment program, which operated through the then-Catawba Regional Planning Council.
Now 30 years later, Mack-Heath, along with members of that inaugural class, are reflecting on the program and how they were soaring in a plane and later, in life.
“I didn’t even have a driver’s license yet,” Mack-Heath, who is now 44, told The Herald. “I learned to fly before I could drive.”
Mack-Heath, who currently works for LPL Financial as an analyst, was eager to join the program.
“My mother asked me and my sister if we wanted to do the program,” she said. “My sister said no. I said absolutely. I don’t know what I was expecting but I wasn’t expecting to fly planes.”
The program debuted to as a way to enhance students’ math and reading skills, described in an article published in The Herald in 1994. The approach focused on applying these skills to real-life situations. With strategic planning, incorporating planes was seen as an engaging method to integrate the two, The Herald article stated.
Students were selected based on either their household income or academic standing.
The classes took place at the old Applied Technology Center, nearby Northwestern High School. After the month of teaching, the students flew with a co-pilot departing from Rock Hill Airport. These trips, which include two students a flight instructor as well as a school instructor, would usually last about 15-minutes. The group would fly to the next local airports in Lancaster and Union counties.
“It feels like operating a manual transmission car, once you get it in your head you never forget it,” Mack-Heath said. “That is a skill that will never leave me.”
The students would perform pre-flight inspections on the Cessna 172 sky-hawk. Though smaller in stature the aircraft was regarded as one the best training aircrafts. Known for its simple in-flight controls the plane could fly for 800 miles on a full tank of gas.
“The planes were very small — four seaters,” Alton Johnson, the former project director, said. “It felt like a giant golf cart where you could feel yourself flying.“
During the 1994 and 1995 summer classes, Johnson was involved in the program and assisted the flight instructor with teaching the children and maintaining class organization.
Johnson appreciates how he was able to help change the lives of hundreds of kids.
“I had an opportunity to work with some great young people. I got more out of it than I expected,” Johnson said. “I had compassion for the students. I wanted them to do good so they can benefit from what they learned.”
The program was funded by federal funds through the Job Training Partnership Act.
Passed in 1982, the act focused on increasing production and utilization of the nation’s labor force by improving the skills needed for the jobs and the needs of the economy, while preparing youth and unskilled adults for entry into the labor force, as stated on the Congress.gov website .
Darryl Brown, a classmate of Mack-Heath who works in construction, emphasized that the program presented a huge opportunity for the students, particularly in terms of how they were compensated.
“At the time the only thing I was thinking about was the money aspect of it,” Brown said. “It was like a trial run. It gave me the opportunity to do something different than sports, not knowing it could have helped me in the future.”
Students were compensated for attending the program and had the opportunity to earn $4 an hour, equivalent to about $12 today, for eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, in addition to the chance to fly planes.
“We have our memories,” Brown said. “I always wanted to be in the air and see the world from a different perspective. Aviation one gave me that opportunity.”
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