KAYSVILLE—Robert McGuiness has been flying for 30 years, now he’s passing along that knowledge to the next generation as an instructor at the Catalyst Center. McGuiness has been with the Davis School District since 2017 but this is his first year at the Catalyst. It’s also the first year for the new Pilot & Aviation pathway. The district also purchased simulators for the class that give students the opportunity for hands-on flight training.

“I taught at Viewmont and Northridge but when I saw these simulators I thought ‘oh man they can see what it looks like,’” said McGuiness. “They can’t feel turbulence like in a real airplane but they can scan instruments and check to make sure everything is lining up as it should be.”

The simulators can also make it really cloudy, he said. “If the airplane stalls I’ll shake their seat to show them what it feels like.”

McGuiness started flying when he was in junior high and got his license in high school. “When I was a little kid I could look up at a plane flying over and tell you what kind it was,” he said. “My father helped support me in it. My mom and dad were my first passengers. It scared them but they enjoyed it. My stepdad was a former pilot too.”

The class is a semester long. “It’s offered on A days and B days,” said McGuiness. “There’s 20 kids in each for a total of 40. There’s a waiting list so you’ve got to get signed up early if you want to take it. If someone drops out of the class it fills immediately. I’d like to see more girls take it. About 1% are girls. If they want to do it they should do it.”

McGuiness teaches the basics so students are prepared to take the FAA written exam. “We start off class with questions and I quiz them on what they read,” he said. “I teach aviation history and I have people come in to talk to the students. It’s 30 minutes in instruction and 30 minutes in the simulator then we swap so everybody gets time in the simulator so they get used to it.”

A lot of students want to fly commercial planes, said McGuiness. “You can’t fly commercial without an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license. ATP is the highest certification you can get as a pilot. I encourage students to fly as much as they can (to prepare).”

Now is a good time to get into commercial flying, he said. “There are 600,000 pilots retiring. If you can get hired as a baggage handler or something like that for Delta then apply as a pilot you have a chance for them to put you in the program to fly for Delta.”

Flying isn’t cheap though. “It’s about $17,000-$18,000 for a private pilot’s license,” said McGuiness. “It’s too much for some students. There are a lot of scholarships and some companies can do financing.”

Flying is not for everyone, he said. “There are other things you can do like air traffic control or mechanics or other parts of aviation. This just gives students a taste.”