Air Force helicopter lands at Iowa City West to show students a little ‘magic’

IOWA CITY — An Air Force helicopter landed on the practice field at Iowa City West High School on Friday, giving students in the school’s aerospace engineering program a close-up look at the machine and a chance to talk to pilots about flying.

The pilots were flying the helicopter from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to North Carolina for routine maintenance.

Capt. Nicholas Sanchez, an intelligence analyst who was part of the crew, said the stop is part of the Air Force’s effort to get high school students interested in aviation — and possibly the Air Force.

“A helicopter, if you think about it, is a little bit like magic,” said Sanchez, a 2018 University of Iowa graduate, that prompts a lot of “curiosity and amazement” in students.

“If a helicopter had shown up to my high school, I probably would have signed on the dotted line a lot quicker,” Sanchez said about enlisting in the Air Force.

A friend who graduated from West put Sanchez in touch with West High’s principal. Sanchez reached out to the school to schedule the stop on the helicopter’s way to the East Coast.

Students were able to climb aboard the helicopter to explore and take photos.

It’s a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students like us,” said West High School senior Ryan Dick, 17, who plans to go to Iowa State University this fall to study aerospace engineering.

The helicopter — a UH-1N Huey — is a light-lift utility helicopter used to support various Air Force missions, including the transport of security forces, disaster response, search and rescue and medical evacuations.

Students wowed

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Dick, the West High student, said he’s taken all the engineering and engineering-adjacent classes available to him at West and was “even more excited” when he learned it was Huey helicopter that would be landing.

“They don’t tend to land helicopters on school grounds every day,” he said. “It’s the first major transport helicopter in the U.S., most notably used in the Vietnam War. It’s a major piece of aerospace history still used in service today.”

Quinn Hett, 16, a junior at West High, also has taken engineering courses and is interested in the space industry. “I’ve never seen a military helicopter this close,” he said. “This is really cool.”

Seeing a helicopter up close for the first time was “very exhilarating” for Kiara Gerdes, 16, a West sophomore taking her first engineering class. “I wish they would let us fly it,” she said with a smile.

STEM fields

Dominic Audia, the Iowa City schools career and technical education and computer science curriculum coordinator, said students in the aerospace engineering class use software that is “pretty realistic” in simulating flying airplanes and helicopters.

“It’s nothing like the real thing where they can feel the blades pushing wind and see a beautiful piece of engineering machinery land,” he said.

The goal of classes like aerospace engineering is to get students passionate about careers in science, technology, engineering and math, Audia said. In the next decade, careers in these fields “are going to explode,” he said.

Engineering classes are offered at all three high schools in the Iowa City district — West, City and Liberty.

Keith Kraeplin, an engineering teacher at West, said some students know they want to be engineers when they grow up. Others are curious, take a class and find out that they “hate it,” he said, adding he’s glad they have the opportunity to figure that out while they’re still in high school.

The Iowa City Community School District is making concerted efforts to expand its college, career and technical education programs.

The goal, Audia said, is to have a pathway for students to explore a career through rigorous classes. From there, students can continue their education — while in high school — at Kirkwood Community College and be eligible their senior year for an apprenticeship for on-the-job experience.

The district already offers registered apprenticeships in nursing and welding and manufacturing.

Two years ago, the district bought a new building at 301 ACT Dr. in Iowa City to house the Center for Innovation, a project-based learning program where students can explore career interests.

Students in the district will get to explore courses in career and technical education as early as sixth grade as the district transitions from a junior high to a middle school model this fall.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com

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