South Bend community learns what it takes to fly in the sky at Aviation Education Day

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The South Bend International Airport (SBN) gave a behind-the-screens look Saturday at their 6th annual Aviation Education Day.

The free SBN event included drone demonstrations, aircraft displays, Ground Support Equipment displays, airplane walk throughs, family activities and more.

The SBN CEO, Mike Daigle, said there were about 1000 people at the event by 11:00 a.m. He explained he hopes this event encourages new interests in all the career avenues an airport has to offer.

“It’s just a way for our community to see other jobs, we’ve got TSA that’s here, we’ve got FA that’s here and then we’ve got the military folks. It's just aviation is an amazing career path and there’s so many ways to start,” said Daigle.

Booths were set up in a hanger displaying information from many organizations related to aviation, including the Stay Indiana Aviation Program.

9th grade member of the program, Luke Stroka, explained that the club is the first of its kind in Indiana. He said they get to learn how to build a plane from scratch. Then, when they finish building the plane, they will learn how to fly it.

“It’s a lot of work and a lot of precision and if you rush through it then you can make a mistake and then you have to like start the whole thing over again,” explained Stroka.

He, like many young aviation fans at the event, hopes to be a pilot when he grows up.

“I like learning about airplanes, I like seeing how they work, and I like them because they’re just really cool, I was really fascinated by them,” said Stroka.