Governor Phil Bredesen with Jeanne Hardin and her two art students, Chihye Kim and Zeth Akins

NASHVILLE — Governor Phil Bredesen congratulated two Knoxville, Tennessee elementary students at the state Capitol Thursday for placing first and second in their age group in a national aviation arts contest. The Governor recognized 4th grader Zeth Akins for placing second in the International Aviation Arts Contest. Student Chihye Kim was recognized for winning her age bracket in the National competition. Both children are students in Ms. Jeanne Hardin’s class at Cedar Bluff Elementary School.

“Being an artist and a pilot myself, I’m especially appreciative and proud of the work of these young people and the recognition their work has brought to Tennessee,” said Bredesen. “Congratulations to each of these students for their work, talent and achievement.”

The annual International Aviation Art Contest, an event of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) is cosponsored by the National Association of State Aviation Officials Center for Aviation Research and Education (NASAO Center) and the National Aeronautics Association (NAA). The art contest encourages youth, ages 6-17, from all over the world to reflect on aviation by having them design a piece of art based upon the year’s chosen theme. This is the 13th year that TDOT has sponsored the contest in Tennessee.

Nine-year-old Zeth Akins won first place in the statewide competition and went on to win second place in the national competition and second place in the international competition.

Nine-year-old Chihye* Kim placed second in the statewide competition and went on to win first place in the national competition.

“This contest not only encourages young Tennesseans to display their creativity, it also introduces them to the fascinating world of aerospace and aviation,” said TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely. “This is the first time a Tennessee student has won the national competition and the first time a student has placed in the international competition. Congratulations to Zeth and Chihye on achieving this honor.”

Based on this year’s theme “Create a Poster for the World Air Games,” students in age groups 6 – 9; 10 – 13; and 14 – 17 were asked to submit entries at the state level. These entries were judged on creativity, presentation, technical ability and appropriateness to the theme. First, second and third place winners were chosen in each category.

All first place winners received a $200 savings bond, second place winners received a $100 savings bond, and third place winners received a $50 savings bond. Artwork for all first place winners from Tennessee and from across the United States were forwarded to NASAO to compete at the national level. Winners then went on to compete in the International competition. This is the first time a Tennessee student has won the national competition, and the first time a student has placed in the international competition. National winners will receive a certificate, ribbon and a framed reproduction of their artwork. International winners will receive a certificate and either a gold, silver, or bronze medal, and the Art Department of each winner’s school will receive a matching monetary gift

1st Place National, Junior Category (Age 6-9)

Chihye Kim, Age 9
Cedar Bluff Elementary School, Knoxville, TN

2nd Place International/2nd Place National, Junior Category (Age 6-9)

Zeth Akins – Age 9
Cedar Bluff Elementary School, Knoxville, Tennessee

Flight check...

Growing up outside New England’s largest Air Force Base, I was always captivated by flying, both the small jets and the huge bombers that once a year would be on display for air base “open houses.” Years later, I found myself in the envious position of being paid to do things like hot air ballooning, soaring in a glider over the Vermont mountains, racing along the ridges of a mountain in small Cessna with a pilot whose feet barely reached the pedals. Exhilarating. Intoxicating. Adventure.

When the opportunity to try my hand at piloting a Cessna arrived, I reached out and grabbed it. No second thoughts. I stepped onto the tarmac aiming for the passenger door.

“No, you take the left side…” my flight instructor said. Without a bit of hesitation, I headed around the place and took the “driver’s seat.”

Looking down on cotton ball clouds and the Clarksville landscape

That’s how it began, with the friendly smile of pilot and certified flight instructor William Kowalski of Volunteer Aviation, who made it all seem easy. Too easy. I told him that I might have trouble with the left pedal due to an injury that sometimes kept my leg from exerting the needed pressure, and it was glaringly obvious that I walk with a limp. But with his tandem controls, that would not be a problem. Reassurance that I would not crash. A momentary thought.

Kowalsky ‘walked” me through a pre-flight check list, telling me about the instrumentation, explaining the function and pointing the most important of the myriad gauges on that overwhelming “dashboard.” The control panel in the cockpit of a Cessna is impressively large, and high, vision-blocking high. In my mind, I was redesigning that panel to allow a person to actually see the runway without craning their necks to one side or another. I was tall; I can’t imaging how shorter, smaller people do it.

The first wildcard was the use of one’s feet to steer down the runway. Stop, go, right, left all controlled with my feet. On well-functioning leg and one slightly gimpy one. It will be interesting, I told myself, without ever reconsidering this plan. I realized I was way too comfortable with not knowing what I was doing, considering I would be doing it at 5,000 feet above Clarksville.

That little Cessna some folks might have seen wobbling like a Weeble down the runway was me. It gets smoother every time, I was told. Unfortunately this was the first time. The foot pedals were a challenge; I’d never ever mastered handbrakes on a three-speed bike, and that was at least anchored to the ground. But the plane moved ever straighter, and picked up speed and was in the air almost before I could blink.

A bend in the river...

Exhilaration! feeling the twinge of an adrenalin rush. I slowly fumbled with the controls, accelerating a bit faster, a slow turn to the right, the left, don’t fly over Fort Campbell air space, follow the curve of the Cumberland, drop a little lower over City Hall, my house, my grandchildren’s home, avoid the jumpers leaping out of the other airborne plane, avoid the other plane, check the controls, look out and down at the cotton ball clouds, feel the rush of cool air thorough the partially opened window. The Clarksville landscape unfolded, green tobacco fields here, pale golden cornstalks there, the lacing of rivers connecting the colors of this landscape patchwork quilt.

As I zigzagged across the sky over Clarksville, I realized the absence of any fear or anxiety was palpable. I felt as if I was meant to this, and should have tried it much earlier in life. Not that I felt completely confident in knowing every detail — I didn’t — but supremely confident that it could be learned with relative ease, in part with steady practice, and in part by the necessary technical/classroom study required.

I’ve always been a hands on learner: reading a principle may or may not stick, putting it into practice is a constant “gotcha!”

As we circled the field, having waiting for a large group of skydivers to bail out, drift and land, we slowly set up our landing. I could feel the reduction in speed, sense the earth moving closer, finally looking ahead at the runway. I sensed the landing, pushing on the brakes and cutting back airspeed as we rolled to a crawl, stopping back at the terminal, where the next student, 13-year-old Brooks Louie, was eagerly waiting for his second flight lesson.

I’d had a different view of the world, different than flight in a commercial jet, different than the lazy drift of a balloon flight, different than riding the wind currents in a glider … just different. I can be comfortable in most situations, but the sheer comfort I felt in the pilot’s seat was somehow different. Better. Stronger. In the quiet of the sky, I had the same feeling of sacredness, of being at peace with something so much bigger than the ordinary earthbound human that I am.

October 13: Part 3: — Flight School at Outlaw Field

October 14: Part 4 — Leaping into the wild Blue