Friday night’s rivalry game between the Pike County High School Bulldogs and the Charles Henderson High School Trojans was historic, but not because of play on the gridiron.

For the first time, a student at PCHS piloted an aircraft in a flyover of the stadium just prior to game time.

Dalton Earles, a senior at PCHS, is a member of the Pike County Schools, First in Flight and Leadership Academy. He is scheduled to have his final FAA cross-country check on Thursday and, if successful, he will be a certified private airplane pilot.

Jeff McClure, director of Alternative Learning at the Troy-Pike Center for Technology, was a passenger on the historic flyover, along with Dalton’s flight instructor.

“Everything went so smoothly – take-off, flight, fly-over and landing,” McClure said. “I don’t think it could have gone any better.

“When we drive everywhere, we don’t realize how close together things really are. We took off from Campbell Field and we were circling over Brundidge in much less than 10 minutes. That gave us the opportunity to take in the landscape, houses and businesses. Everything looks so clean and orderly from the sky. All very impressive.”

McClure said Dalton handled himself like a professional.

“It’s so nice to see our students perform as planned,” he said. I felt very safe flying with Dalton. Never did I have any concerns. I am proud of him, as I am all of our students, and look forward to the opportunities that the future holds.”

The Pike County First in Flight and Leadership Academy provides high school students with a unique instructional experience that allows them to earn a high school diploma and advanced academic, technical education and academy endorsements and a post-secondary associate degree from Troy University.

Dr. Mark Bazzell, Pike County School superintendent, said, during the three-year program, students are dually enrolled in their home high school and Troy University.

“Through this partnership, students earn over 60 hours of college credit toward an associate degree while completing their high school requirements at the same time,” Bazzell said. “Through a partnership with Troy Aviation and Mauna Loa Helicopters, students are provided with ground school training and accumulate actual flight hours that place them well on their way to a private pilot license. There is no cost to students who participate in the program.”

The out of pocket expenses for the flight training and the associate degree would be around $60,000. The price tag for the associate degree alone would be about $35,000.

Nikki Hughes, a senior at Goshen High School and a member of the aviation academy, will pilot a flyover at Goshen’s home game against Ariton Friday night.