Taos Youth Flight Rally draws enthusiastic crowd
99 kids of all ages showed up at the Taos Regional Airport last Saturday (Sept. 10) for the 12th annual Taos Youth Flight Rally, where they were met by enthusiastic pilots donating time and money to fly kids around Taos and teaching them about aviation in the process.
“I’m only nine years old and I got to fly a plane!” exclaimed nineyear-old Edward Trevino, who was brought to the event by his dad. “It was pretty exciting, and I’m definitely gonna do it again,” he added, noting that it was scary “for a second,” but then became fun. “Today, I decided that I was going to be a pilot,” he declared.
Kids scheduled time slots ahead of time with Town of Taos events coordinator Judy Esquibel. They then went through a debriefing, and were grouped with a pilot, who then led them onto the tarmac and showed them the plane and explained details of the plane and what they should expect. Esquibel said they only had three kids who didn’t show up out of the 94 registered. She were able to add eight walk-ins for a total of 99 kids.
Ashley Martinez said her daughter Isabella was nervous to fly, but said she had a great time.
Nine-year-old Isabella Martinez, said her first time up in the air was “kind of scary at first, but then it wasn’t scary… I saw some birds, and I saw a lot of houses,” she said.
Caleb Mares got off the plane with a huge grin. Despite his pleasant demeanor, he told the Taos News it was “not very good.” However, just minutes later, Caleb shouted to his parents: “I want to go again!” and his grin did not cease for the entire experience.
Mares’ mother, Danielle Mares, said it was a great opportunity for Taos youth. “It’s really awesome to have the opportunity for them to do this and see Taos from a different point of view. My kids had never even been on the plane. We’ve never even been to the airport. So for them to have the town to offer this, that’s awesome,” she said.
Jorge and Ana Rascon brought their eight-year-old son, Jorge Junior, to the event on his birthday. “He wants to be a pilot,” said Rascon Senior. “He even got to sit in the front and get even more of an experience.” Jorege Junior described the ride as “awesome!”
Town council member Corilia Ortega was on scene to help guide kids and parents around the taxiway. “For so many of our youth this is their first flight ever. So it’s exciting that it’s close to the mountain, with their family nearby — it’s pretty special. We never had this growing up!”
A few other parents also wished the same opportunity was presented to them as adults. “I’m a little jealous,” said Ruby Estrad, who brought her son. “I would have liked to be able to go up!”
Pilot Jonathan Kushner said the flights had been fantastic. He said it was his fourth time participating in the event, and was glad to help introduce the local youth to the magic of flight. “I think they’ve all enjoyed it. You know, nobody got sick, so that’s a good sign,” he said, noting that kids have often become nauseous in the past.
“I’m just trying to get these kids interested in aviation. I mean, they need pilots right now,” said Kushner.
Ben Derby, another pilot who flew kids Saturday morning, agreed the event was a success. “It’s not often that you get to take little kids up,” he said. “The two boys we had this morning were just amazing. They loved everything — asking questions about the plane. All I hope is that we’ve maybe planted a seed.”
Michael Diamond has been flying in Taos for 12 years, and has
participated in ten of the previous youth flight rallies, but was not flying this year. Still, he was there to experience the event and see the smiles on kids’ faces. “[The rally is] probably the best thing that this airport could do for the local population, because a lot of these kids have never flown in. And anything gives them an opportunity. Not only can they fly in the airplane, but if you get the right pilot, he’ll let you fly it,” said Diamond.
“I’ve seen kids who were shaking before they got on the airplane. And when they got in, they just cooled out. And by the time it was over, they didn’t want to get out of the airplane,” Diamond continued.
Micahel McCann, who runs Fly Taos Sky, a scenic tour business and burgeoning local flight school, said the day had been a huge success. “It’s so great. I think with every flight you leave this impression on people’s minds, especially young minds, that they will remember for so long,” he said. “You can talk about it, you can read books about it, but when you actually just do it, it’s so different. It’s transformative.”
McCann was a commercial pilot with United Airlines for 25 years, and now hopes to bring that love of flight to Taos youth. “There’s so much stuff that has to happen to get a pilot to the place of being a pilot in command of their own life that we can learn by being a pilot in command of an airplane.”