North Adams Boy Takes to The Skies
Noah gets a chance to fly high.
Like many boys, Noah likes things that move. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats and, of course, airplanes. However, Noah does not simply care that they move, he wants to know how they move.
"I used to be a big car person but when I was 4, I saw this plane flying around and I thought it was so cool so I have been interested in them," Noah said. "I ask my mom questions every day like about different engines."
Noah's mother, Tina Welz, says she often does not have these answers but she has always been amazed by her son's inquisitive mind.
"He is very intrigued by the mechanics of everything. It is not just the fact that it flies he wants to know the engine, literally everything," she said. "You think at 9, he would just want to sit in the plane but he wants to know what the little flap does or what a certain button does ... he does not just accept one answer."
Welz said she wanted to bring her son closer to his obsession and ascending passion and for his birthday in May inquired on social media about possible scenic flights in the area.
"I made a Facebook post basically just asking the community," she said. "I said I have an aspiring pilot and asked where are some places I could take him. ... I got such great feedback."
Local pilot Trevor Gilman heeded the call and put Welz in contact with the Greylock Flying Club — a newly formed group focused on bringing aviation enthusiasts in the Northern Berkshire region together.
"I knew our group of people would be more than happy to help make that connection so I passed the word along and they took it from there," Gilman said.
Noah expected to maybe just be in close proximity of a plane or possibly be invited along on a scenic flight which he said would have been his first time in the air.
He did get this tour and even was taken on a scenic flight with pilot Joel Glickman but Noah did not expect to be handed over the controls to actually fly the plane.
"I was supposed to just learn about planes but they actually let me go on a plane," he said. "I got to steer it and it was not scary ... It was like I thought it would be. It looked like every single car driving around was little, like toy cars."
Noah said he flew around the city and even while in the air, undoubtedly excited, was still fixated on the machine itself. Although he already knew a lot about what was in the cockpit, he still had questions.
"I knew all the stuff but I asked what a few buttons were for," he said.
Noah then addressed the aforementioned "flap" his mom referenced.
"It mostly helps you when you are landing. It helps you pitch up the front because you can't just land on the front wheel," he said. "It helps slow it down faster."
Thorne is now an official member of the Greylock Flying Club and is also in the Young Eagle program.
"It is a nationwide program that allows noncommercial private pilots to give back to young kid interested in aviation. It gives them a chance to fly in an airplane," he said. "The pilots do it voluntarily."
Although the Greylock Flying club is not yet accredited for the Young Eagles program, Glickman was able to sponsor Noah through his own flying club.
The club is also working with area pilots for flight and ground school training.
Gilman said Noah's aviation journey is just beginning and the trick at this point is to keep him in the air.
"Once they get to the high school age and they start thinking about what they want to do for a living, they can take flying lessons," Gilman said. "But it is nice to go up once a year to keep the bug but once you get around 14 or 15, that's when it starts to happen."
But even at 9, Noah already has his sights set on getting his wings.
"It's awesome," he said. "I want to be a pilot."
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