Parked at the end of the Lansing Capital City Airport's runway, Shane McClure coached Tim Bowman one last time before preparing for takeoff on Saturday.
McClure, a 27-year-old communication senior at MSU, is one of 13 instructors at Lansing Community College's Aviation Flight Program located at the airport, 4100 Capital City Blvd. McClure had just finished helping Bowman, a 20-year-old LCC student, perform his pre-flight check.
Now shoulder to shoulder in the cockpit of a four-seat airplane, Bowman, a St. Johns resident, practiced his flight language once before announcing to the flight control tower, "Lansing tower, Cherokee, 2833, November. Ready for takeoff on 2-8, left."
Shaking from the movement of the propeller, the small plane shuddered forward as Bowman used his feet to control the direction of the plane's wheels. He turned the plane around the final bend before starting down the long stretch of runway.
"Power up, power up … power up," McClure repeated as Bowman slowly pushed the throttle to full speed and the airplane raced down the pavement.
Pulling back on the yoke, Bowman brought up the nose of the plane, and the machine lifted from the Earth. Finally in the air, the plane quaked and jerked before stabilizing and gliding northward.
Class was in session.
Airborne lesson
Once in the air, McClure began his instruction.
Today's lesson: turning ascents and descents.
Demonstrating the maneuver, McClure turned the yoke — the plane's steering control — and the airplane sailed to the right and up in the air a few hundred feet before the wings evened out again above farmland.
Now, it was Bowman's turn.
Replicating McClure's movements on his own controls, Bowman slowly pushed the plane up and to the right before leveling it out.
It was the second day Bowman had ever flown an airplane. A few days earlier, his scheduled flight practice was canceled after a heavy snow grounded all LCC flights.
Making use of that day's downtime, McClure and Bowman reviewed concepts in the flight book and practiced a pre-flight check of the plane.
Shivering in the hanger, Bowman followed a checklist and walked around the plane. He climbed inside and opened up the engine as part of the safety routine.
But during Saturday's class, as Bowman practiced turning ascents and descents, rolling the plane from one side to another and adjusting at different elevations above his hometown, he said he began to grow more comfortable and even looked for familiar houses below.
"The first time I had butterflies," Bowman said. "This time it was fun."
His own takeoff
The first time McClure flew an airplane was Sept. 11, 2001 — the day of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
It was a beautiful day for flying, McClure remembered. The sun was out, and people were sailing in Grand Traverse Bay in northern Michigan.
"It was early in the morning; we were laughing and having a wonderful day," McClure said. "When we came back down, everyone was silent."
"I didn't think it was real. I was just in the air flying an airplane, and now this was happening."
He had just begun both his ground and flight training that year after finishing a four-year stint with the Air Force at Hurlburt Field in Florida.
"I always talked about (joining the Air Force) since junior high," McClure said. "I had no ambition whatsoever to go to college. It was the next best option for me, and it got me on the path to valuing education."
When he returned to his hometown of Traverse City in March 2001, he enrolled at Northwestern Michigan College to study criminal justice. But the aviation department intrigued him, and he enrolled in classes for the fall. He attended flight and ground school there, and he eventually earned his professional pilot's license and his instructor's rating.
Now at LCC, McClure instructs students for about six hours a day.
When he's not teaching, the East Lansing resident said he's usually at class, or studying for his 19-credit course load at MSU, or visiting his fiancée in Grand Rapids. He will finish his communication bachelor's degree this May, he said.
"I have very, very long days," McClure said. "I usually get up at 6 and go to bed at midnight."
Ground work
In a small classroom about 100 yards from the Lansing airport runway on the evening of Jan. 17, a group of 12 first-year ground school students reviewed their syllabuses during their first day of ground school.
The goal of the semester is to pass the Federal Aviation Administration's private pilot exam and earn an endorsement for a flying license.
LCC is one of several schools around the state that offer private and professional pilot training, including Jackson Community College and Western Michigan University.
About 30 students complete ground school per semester, and about four students are part of the flight school at any time, McClure said.
The Lansing program is a draw for both students hoping to start a flying career and enthusiasts pursuing a new hobby such as MSU staff members George and Janet Eyster of Williamston.
The couple said they enjoy traveling, and George Eyster has had an interest in flying since he first tried it in 1965.
"Now I've got a little time and a little money to do it," he said during the class.
Time and money are essential when working toward pilot's licenses. The extensive nature of ground training, which combines aerodynamics, navigation, mechanics, law and meteorology into a semester-long course, can be daunting, said Julie Liberti, a flight and ground school training instructor.
She still remembers her fear when first entering the flight program.
"When I started, I called my instructor crying and told him, 'I think I may have made a huge mistake,'" Liberti told her students during their first class session. "He started laughing and I said 'What? You think I did?'"
"He said, 'No, you're just not the first to call me.'"
As Liberti spoke, the faint sound of an airplane landing nearby leaked into the classroom.
"Your solo will be a defining moment for you," Liberti promised. "It changed who I was. I was bashful, shy … Now I'm sitting up here teaching a class, and I can fly an airplane. No matter where you are in life, or how old or how young you are, I hope it's that way for you, too."
For McClure, whose dream is to eventually own his own airplane charter company, teaching has been a rewarding surprise.
"I get to fly, and I like having the interaction with someone who shares a passion for something that I love," he said. "If I can impart some sort of knowledge on someone, I feel good."
Typically, the students practice in specific zones above St. Johns as part of the LCC program for safety reasons. Because of the potential danger involved, McClure said he sometimes gets nervous while instructing.
"I think that's why I'm going gray," McClure said. "There's always apprehension."
"Even though you teach them everything first, if they panic and do something wrong close to the ground, you can imagine the results. I'm always in a high state of alert."
Freelance flying
Later in the day after his teaching was finished, McClure demonstrated the agility of the plane. Quickly jerking the yoke to the right, the plane flung sideways until one wing pointed straight toward the earth. He then quickly turned the plane again to tip the other wing to the ground before stabilizing it again.
To him, it's a routine maneuver, he explained.
When McClure gets the chance to fly for enjoyment, he gets creative. He learned aerobatics from champion pilot Debbie Rihn-Harvey and likes to perform snap roles, outside loops, avalanches and spins.
His favorite is the "hammerhead" which involves flying the plane straight up in the air until it almost stalls midair, he said. At that moment, McClure said, he uses the rudders on the plane to tip the nose forward until the plane begins a nose dive straight toward the ground.
As the sun became bright and golden late Saturday afternoon, McClure flew above MSU's campus and peered down over Farm Lane and the academic buildings below. He turned and circled Spartan Stadium.
"It all seems so big when you're on campus until you come up here," McClure said.
He laughed as a flight controller declared, "Go blue," on the radio.
"That hurts," McClure said. "Go Spartans."
Tina Reed can be reached at reedtina@msu.edu.
