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Life & Arts

Above the rest

Cadets from UH's Air Force ROTC program get a chance 
to fly across the skies to help their future

by NADA ELSAYED 
The Daily Cougar 

Instead of being grounded to just books and lectures, some students at UH take a hands-on approach at learning and go head first into their future careers. 

The cadets at UH's Air Force ROTC program take to the sky from RWJ Airpark in Baytown, Texas. It is through Civil Air Patrol, a semester-long program, that Air Force ROTC cadets get a chance to fly. 

CAP gives students the opportunity to fly a Cessna 182-T, a small 4-passenger plane. With an instructor and a lieutenant colonel of the CAP, cadets are given the opportunity to fly and operate the aircraft four times during the program.

Cadets Jeremy Ruffin and Adrian Hopkins flew their last flights before completing the program Thursday, focusing on navigation. Each cadet was taken to a random location in the air and was required to find his way back to the airport using both the basic navigation techniques and the instruments aboard the aircraft. 

"The CAP program is really good for cadets who want to become pilots," Ruffin said. "Most of the cadets in the ROTC want to enter the air force as officers. We want to be leaders, so the Air Force ROTC tries to give us as many opportunities so that we can be the best going into the Air Force."

The cadets focus on four areas during their participation in the CAP program, including take off and landing, flight maneuvers, use of instruments and navigation. A short class is given before each flight to review on the ground what will be implemented in the air.

Besides handling the plane, cadets also learn how to maintain the plane and its equipment. Cadets wash and refuel the plane after their flight, which lasts around 45 minutes. 

"After each flight, they must wash, refuel and clean the inside of the plane so that it is left just as it was found," said Lt. Col. Don Fisher, who also serves as the cadets' instructor. "We have so many cadets who use this aircraft that we make sure they take care of it." 

The UH Air Force ROTC houses many students from neighboring universities in a cross-town agreement that was established with Rice University, Texas Southern University, St. Thomas and Houston Community College. Current efforts to expand the agreement to include UH-Downtown, Houston Baptist University, San Jacinto Community College and Embry Riddle University are under way. 

UH's Air Force program gives cadets first-hand experience that can help them enter the U.S. Air Force as 2nd Lieutenants instead of entry-level positions. They are required to participate in basic physical training, leadership labs and basic ROTC classes to prepare themselves for the Air Force officer-qualifying test, in which they must do well to be even considered for officer positions.

"We want to be leaders, not followers. It is very difficult to become an officer from being an unlisted. It's possible, but we are being prepared specifically for an officer's position," Hopkins said.

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