Young aviators soar at Triple Tree

I often tell people, “If you want to feel positive about life, just turn off the news and go hang out with a group of young people who are passionate about aviation.”

There’s no better opportunity to practice this than the Triple Tree Aerodrome Young Aviators Fly-In in Woodruff, South Carolina.

Billed as “the ONLY fly-in in the United States that is run by the next generation of aviators,” this year’s gathering took place Aug. 18-20, 2023.

The schedule included guest speakers from the aviation industry, an orienteering challenge and scavenger hunt, introductory flights in Triple Tree’s ever-popular AirCam, and AviCom qualifying events in Triple Tree’s Robert Shaw Learning Center (more about AviCom later).

It’s always a treat to land on Triple Tree’s 7,000-foot turf runway, and after arrival the first smiling face I met was 16-year-old Thomas Wilke, who was staffing the registration desk in the pilots lounge.

Thomas, who aspires to an airline career, was recently awarded a $2,500 scholarship through the Triple Tree Aviation Centered Education (ACE) program, which should take him through his first solo.

Scholarship winners are required to complete their private pilot ground school and 25 hours of community service at the Triple Tree Aerodrome before receiving their funding, and Thomas was happily working toward that goal.

To date, more than $100,000 of ACE scholarships have been awarded, and Robb Williams, Triple Tree’s executive director, points with pride to a cross section of previous scholarship winners: Ben Templeton and Logan McCallister, who are both corporate pilots, Amanda Jo Poole, who is on her way to the United Airlines Aviate Academy, and Major Brent Maggard, a recent graduate of the USAF test pilot school.

To attract and encourage the next generation of aviation professionals, in 2019 Triple Tree began hosting an annual Young Aviators Fly-In, and Williams has since recruited a talented team of youthful helpers.

This year’s event coordinator, Austin Banttari, drove over 600 miles from Lakeland, Florida, to help out. Austin and Robb became friends a few years ago at the Central Florida Aviation Academy, where Austin was a student volunteer and Robb was the executive director of SUN ’n FUN’s Aviation Center for Excellence prior to taking the helm at Triple Tree.

Austin, a private pilot and A&P mechanic, enthusiastically notes that, “I’m here because I’m passionate about this stuff, and everyone else here is the same.”

“We rely on an incredible team of volunteers,” Robb adds. “We have people who come out here to mow the grass, and pay someone else to mow their yards at home.”

That volunteer spirit and passion for aviation was on display all weekend.

Doug Adomatis, a science teacher at Greenville Technical Charter High School, was busy orchestrating qualifying events for the next round of AviCom, scheduled for February 2024. At AviCom, which stands for Aviation Competition, teams of South Carolina high school students compete in three trials: An aviation knowledge test similar to the private pilot written exam, an aircraft recognition test (manufacturer, model, and common name), and a simulated cross-country flight.

Doug — “Mister A” to his students — is a certified commercial drone pilot and avid RC aircraft flyer. He uses the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) High School STEM curriculum, and is the recipient of an AOPA flight training scholarship. He’s now just a few hours away from his private pilot check ride.

In his aviation courses, Doug relies on fixed-base flight simulators to reinforce concepts that are introduced in classroom lessons.

“The idea of AviCom was hatched when I saw how the students would compete with each other on the simulators,” he relates. “So I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we could compete against other schools?’ What it evolved into was we’re all going to meet together where we can all fly at the same time in a sim lab.”

“The whole idea is that we want to give our students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to people who are going to make a difference to them in their life after high school.”

The first state-wide AviCom meet was held in January 2023 at the Patriots Point Flight Academy in Charleston. Next year’s competition will take place Feb. 23, 2024, at the Challenger Center in Columbia.

At the Young Aviators Fly-In, 10 competitors completed initial assessments for AviCom ‘24, with nine students from Doug’s class assisting in the evaluations. The highest score went to Natalie Edhlund from Seneca, who was awarded a discovery flight certificate from Stratos Aviation in Greenville.

“It’s very exciting,” Doug says. “Sometimes it seems like we’re assembling the airplane while it’s flying, but man, we’re taking off!”

And no surprise, the Young Aviators Fly-In was awash in the “fun, fellowship, and hospitality” that Triple Tree is famous for. Folks gathered Friday night for pizza at the campground gazebo, and Saturday night featured a “cook your own burger” dinner on the main hangar patio overlooking the runway and a tranquil lake.

Sunday morning, more than 100 airplanes and 300 hungry fliers from the South Carolina Breakfast Club descended on the field for a classic southern breakfast.

“Young Aviators Week has truly become a beacon of inspiration, organized and led by the next generation of aviation professionals,” Robb Williams says. “In this National Aviation Week, Triple Tree Aerodrome volunteers showcased the essence of aviation excellence, embodying our core values of fun, fellowship, and hospitality.”

Aviators of all ages will have a chance to enjoy that experience during the 16th annual Triple Tree Fly-In, set for Sept. 18-24, 2023.

For more information: TTA.aero