2023 Memorial Day Issue

Program Soars with
ning Pilot’s License
The high school has continued to add classes
in the years since and will offer a total of four
different courses next school year. “Anyone can
take the Introduction to Aviation course for their
first year,” Gottfried explained.
During the second year, students can choose to
do the Pilot Pathway, which is two more years of
classroom education towards a pilot’s license. “Or,
they can take our Drone Technologies course. It’s
everything you need to get your Part 107 drone
commercial license,” explained Gottfried.
He describes the pilot course as driver’s
education for pilots. Students learn the ground
portion, and they can choose to take the written
test and enroll in flight training, according to
Gottfried. “Pilot Pathway students will be ready to
take that test at the end of three years,” he said.
“It fits into the curriculum great,” said Matthew
Mawn, supervisor of science, engineering,
technology, design and visual arts at Roxbury
High School. “It’s kind of a mesh of technology,
engineering and science. Students who exhibit
interest in those areas can come put those skills to
the test in the field of aviation.”
Much of the learning materials and tools of
the trade, like maps and plotters and even some
remote control planes, were provided free to
the program by the Civil Air Patrol, a nonprofit
civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force,
said Gottfried. Flight simulators were installed in
the school in the first year. “The following year we
added some more, and this year we are up to 11
simulators,” he said.
Gottfried is currently going for his pilot’s license,
so he brings firsthand experience to the classroom.
“Figuring out where the instruments are, how
the plane works, how to start up the plane, little
details like that, will save you a lot of time and
money when you are in the air,” he said. “I printed
Top to bottom, left to right: Max Corsi at a threemonitor
simulator. Teacher Mike Gottfried at the
aeronautical chart hanging in his classroom.
Gottfried, right, watches as Yuriy Hrytsay lands a
drone on the black case. Yuriy, Tyler Benedetto
and Aaron Pineiro at the simulators. Gottfried,
Aaron, Tyler, Michael Gutierrez, Daniel Sugarman,
Sebastian D’Amoto, Max and Yuriy watch drones
in flight. Tyler operates a drone. Michael, Aaron,
Daniel, Tyler, Yuriy and Max watch as Tyler
maneuvers a drone.
out the checklists that you have to go through
to make sure the aircraft’s ready. I teach that
to them, and they practice on the simulators.”
Tyler Benedetto, 17, a junior from Succasunna,
is one of Roxbury High School’s first success
stories, only two years into the program. He
has wanted to go into aviation for a while, so
when he started high school and heard about
the new program, he said he had to take it.
“It was the push I needed. I took it and ran
with it,” he said.
“I learned everything I needed to know for
the written test,” Tyler said. That left the pilot
training, which can be expensive. “Gottfried
and I applied for a scholarship from AOPA both
years. My sophomore year they implemented a
requirement where you had to pass the written
test in order to apply and that cut down the
number of applicants,” said Tyler. This change
resulted in both of them receiving $10,000
towards flight training. “So that was the last
piece I needed.”
He began training with American Flyers in
Morristown on Memorial Day 2022, finally
earning his license on February 1 of this year,
just three months after getting his driver’s
license.
“I want to be an airline pilot—that’s the goal,”
said Tyler. “There are a few different licenses
and ratings that you need. Right now, I can
fly a single-engine plane, up to six passengers,
in nice weather—to put it in simpler terms.
There’s an instrument rating that allows you
to fly in bad weather and then you do your
commercial rating, which allows you to fly in
bigger planes. From there, you’ll build hours.
After 1,500 flight hours, the last thing you need
is the airline transport pilot license [ATP]. When
you get that license, that’s when you can go to
the airlines.”
Tyler plans to attend college at either Embry-
Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona
Beach, Florida, or Arizona State University,
where he’ll earn all the ratings and licenses he
needs, plus a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical
Science.
This year, Tyler and sophomore Yuriy Hrytsay
started an Aviation Club. They welcome
anyone with an interest in aviation, especially
those who might not have been able to fit the
program into their schedules. “The club has
exceeded all of our expectations,” said Yuriy,
16, of Kenvil. “It is based on fostering a love for
aviation, as opposed to teaching aviation.”
Yuriy, currently in his second year in the
aviation program, was surprised by how much
he’s learned. “There’s a lot you don’t see on the
surface. Someone flying an airplane is turning
the steering wheel. They are moving some
levers. It’s all the stuff that happens before and
after the flight, all the calculations and all the
preparation. A lot of people see the math and
science and they get bored. Maybe I’m biased. I
think this is fun math.”
The course shows students the real-world
application of what they are learning. “I can go
on a simulator and use the calculations that I
made to fly from an airport to an airport using
weight and balance, using the amount of the
fuel that I calculated I need,” Yuriy said.
“I can take what I did on paper and bring it
not necessarily into the real world because it’s a
simulator, but as close as we can get in a school
setting. I don’t think Roxbury’s going to pave
a nice runway for us in the back,” Yuriy added
with a laugh.
Like Tyler, Yuriy wants to become a
commercial pilot. But he’s taking a different
approach—a training program sponsored by
United Airlines called Aviate.
“It’s a four-year program. You spend the
first year getting all your licenses—private
pilot, instrument, multi-engine, everything you
need,” said Yuriy.
The next three years he’ll work as a certified
flight instructor, gaining experience and racking
up flight time, he said. “You’re training other
people to fly, and you’re getting paid for it, so
it’s kind of a win-win-win.” Once he’s earned his
airline transport pilot license, Yuriy said he’ll be
guaranteed an interview with one of United’s
subsidiaries.
Senior Max Corsi, 17, of Succasunna, was
in the program for two years but was unable
to include it this year. He’s now a member
of the Aviation Club. “I’ve been interested in
flying for a really long time, but more into the
engineering and math side of it,” he said. But
it is his love of the aircraft and how they work
that has given him direction.
He’ll be attending Purdue University next
year, where he’ll study Aeronautical and
Astronautical Engineering. His dream job is to
work at Boeing or Lockheed Martin, where he’d
be able to envision and build the very planes
on those simulators.
“Knowing how to fly a plane, what the pilot
sees and feels, is going to make it easier,” said
Max. “I’ll have a better understanding of what
to make, what to design.”
Administrators remind students that the
field of aviation doesn’t just include pilots,
said Mawn. The school has brought in guest
speakers, held career panels and even invited
the New Jersey State Police to land their
helicopter at the school. Field trips are also part
of the experience.
On a recent trip to Newark Liberty
International Airport, Mawn said students
were escorted into the air traffic control tower
to observe the magic behind real takeoffs
and landings. They went to the maintenance
hangar; they saw inflight food being prepared.
“If a student does have an interest and wants
to check it out, I highly encourage them to join
the club or try Intro to Aviation. There are a lot
of fun things going on here,” said Mawn. “There
are a lot of ways to explore the skies.”
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