Students from the Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind had an elevation experienced on Monday at the Gooding County Municipal Airport.
Pilots from the Gem State educated students on aviation, all part of the Experimental Aircraft Association Young Eagles Program. The EAA Eastern Idaho Chapter organized the event.
For Kike Lopez, in his last year, taking part in the experience said he will miss it.
“For a person like me that get this opportunity year after year, I really will miss this,” Lopez said. “Being blind it’s not the end of the world, flying isn’t either. I touched down on the ground just as easy as I went up. It was fun.”
At 1,100 feet of the ground, Lopez said it’s all about his imagination.
“Many things, many things. Flying with other planes. I can imagine flying to different places,” he said.
About 53 students participated in the event. For Veronica Tolman it was a shaky experience at first.
“First time felt a little nervous, a little bit scary taking off,” Tolman said through an interpreter. “Then when it leveled off it’s OK then it’s really enjoyable. Lots of things to see, you can see the school, farms. It was fun.”
Tolman said she found herself looking at the pilot and how he operated the plane.
“How to operate and how he piloted the plane watching how he did that. It was really puzzling but interesting,” she said.
This is the 11th year EAA Eastern Idaho Chapter hosted the event.