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NORTHAMPTON - For the first time in 13 years, the Northampton Airport has put young kids in planes, and letting them take to the air in the pilots seat.

This year the airport has revived its Summer Flight Camp, and in its first week, 11 boys and three girls learned the ropes about airplanes, aviation, flight planning - lessons that culminated in a flight from the Northampton Airport to one in Westfield.

Rich MacIsaac, manager of the airport and flight school said campers control about 70 percent of the flight they make, depending upon what they feel comfortable with. "As much as they're willing to do," said MacIsaac. "We'll let them do it."

The camp is for 12 to 15 year olds, and while that age range may seem young, MacIsaac said the choice was a very deliberate one.

"We wanted kids that were old enough to understand, old enough to fly," he said. "And in a few years they could get their licenses."

MacIsaac said FAA rules require that people be 16 before taking a solo flight, and 17 before getting private pilots license, so the age range is designed to give teenagers a basic introduction to aviation in the hopes of nurturing an interest.

Instructor Mike Byrnes, who delivers a lecture in one of the hangars wearing an orange shirt that reads "uwannafly?" says the camp is really about sparking kids interest.

"The main goal is to hook them, give an overview and see if it clicks," he said.

Byrnes also mentions that there are a lot of options in aviation besides being a pilot, like an engineer, or air traffic controller, and part of the point of the camp is to introduce kids to all of the options in the aviation field.

To that end, the camp recently took a trip to Westover Air Reserve Base, where they met with engineers and saw a plane that 40 years ago was covertly taking pictures over Russia.

The former U-2 spy plane, now called the ER-2, today mostly does high altitude work for NASA.

The campers also got to try out Westover's C-5 flight simulator, a much bigger plane than they will be flying at Northampton

Camper Ryan Yeh on Thursday said seeing the plane and trying out the military simulator has been his favorite part of the camp so far.

Curtis Mailloux, another camper said he was most excited about the actual flight, although he was a little nervous about going up in the air.

Holden Krueg, said his favorite part of the camp so was learning about the airplanes.

All three said they were interested in aeronautics, and said they hoped one day to get their pilot's license, that is, as soon as they're old enough.

MacIsaac said the camp has been extremely popular so far, and while they were only planning on having one week of the camp, the airport quickly added another, so the camp is continuing this week.

He said they will definitely be continuing the camp next summer, and possibly even have a session over this coming winter break.

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