It's 7:45 a.m. and it's the final boarding call for students in Mr. Hakala's "Intro to Aviation" class.
"We're flying from Arlington to Paine Field," he announced to the class.
Your pilot today is 16-year-old Maddy Chriest. As Maddy settles in behind the controls, her instructor reminds her to check the elevator lift and rudders.
"It's a little nerve-wracking," she said.
Chriest and her classmates at North Creek High School in the Northshore School District are learning to fly using a $14,000 Redbird flight simulator.
Just don’t call it a crash course.
"I don’t know why I keeps like crashing," said Chriest, after flying her virtual plane into the ground. "I think I was using too much rudder."
Keep in mind, Maddy has only had her driver’s license for seven months. But when she finishes this, class she will have the skills to pass the FAA’s written pilot's exam.
"It's really cool to think about becoming a pilot, one day," said the North Creek junior.
"I always dreamed about planes," said classmate Christian Ramirez.
For Ramirez, however, it is a dream that has always been out of reach, until now. Classes like this are only for the rich in his native Colombia.
The son of a painter and daycare worker, Ramirez fantasized about flying Boeing airplanes as a boy. Now, he sees it as a reality.
"Everyone in my family has wanted to fly, but now it can be me," said Ramirez with a shy smile. "It feels so good. I feel like I can make it. I can do it."
Instructor Doug Hakala is an engineer and pilot who worked on jet engines at Boeing. He says this class isn’t just about learning to fly but helping keep Boeing on course for the next generation around Puget Sound.
"We know that Boeing is studying the location of the 797 design and production facility. To the extent that we can provide talent in this area, we’d like to keep facilities like that here and build future jobs for these students," said Hakala.
Hakala believes his class will help prepare students for jobs beyond Boeing.
"Microsoft, Amazon, it's all about innovation here. We want to inspire our students to become stewards of innovation," he said.
Meantime, Chriest finally sticks the landing on the simulator. She’s now taking the controls of her future and thinking about navigating a career in aeronautics.
"There are so many things this can open you up to," she said. "It's really exciting."
