UW freshman takes Badger Aviators off the ground

UW-Madison freshman and longtime aviation enthusiast Gregory Oudheusden founded a new club on campus this year to share his passion with fellow students who have the will to fly, but not necessarily the ways or means.

From negotiating affordable rates on piloting instruction, to partnering up for flights, Badger Aviators is all about getting off the ground – together.

Badger Aviators vice president Alex Van Orsow, who has also just completed his freshman year, helped Oudheusden found the club last fall with a common goal of making all aspects of aviation more accessible to students.

Van Orsow says he had mentors with private pilot’s licenses growing up, and after coming to campus and taking a few flights with Oudheusden, he knew that seeing Badger Aviators — which began as a group called  Flying Badgers — take off and becoming a pilot himself were goals to make part of his college experience.

According to Oudheusden, flying solo is wonderful, “but when you can share the passion it makes the activity exponentially more enjoyable. I started Flying Badgers to share the passion of flight with fellow pilots and those who have a budding interest in aviation.”

Oudheusden says his greatest motive behind starting the club was to dispel any notions that it is impossible or impractical for college students to fly. Oudheusden and his growing organization work hard to not only make flight opportunities available and affordable, but to show students that “yes, you can fly.”

“In gaining initial members and officers, I took one particular student flying which turned out to reaffirm my motives for starting the club,” Oudheusden says. “My favorite memory was seeing him smile ear to ear during our flight while I explained to him the fundamentals of flying and air traffic control. It makes all the effort I have put into the Badger Aviators worth it when I can help someone, otherwise unable, to experience the joys of flying.”

Oudheusden first took an interest in aviation playing a flight simulator game as a kid, and with the help of his grandparents he made his first flight in a glider at the age of 12. His mother, who is afraid of flying in small planes, only found out he was up in the air in time to see him land safely.

Oudheusden says afterwards she figured letting him fly in something with an engine would not hurt. He continued to fly and learn as much as possible about flying, and earned his private pilot’s license at age 17.

Many Badger Aviators are pursuing a private pilot’s license, including Van Orsow, club event coordinator Kristen Labs and member Katie Framstad. For Van Orsow, the desire to fly comes from a will to challenge himself and learn new skills.

“I already enjoy sailing, skiing, hiking, and other land or water based hobbies. For me a transition off of the ground and into the skies just seemed like the next big thing for me to pursue,” Van Orsow says.

Labs’ interest in aviation began as a child, when she would get to fly in her grandfather’s Cessna 150. Labs has also attended the annual air show at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in Oshkosh, Wis., each year since she was six months old, and says that reinforces her interest in flight.

According to Van Orsow, while most current Badger Aviators are students who have or are pursuing a private pilot’s license, the group is open to interested students with any level of familiarity or experience.

Labs says her biggest goal with Badger Aviators is to share what she and fellow members love with anyone and everyone.

“Whether it is introducing someone to flying who has never considered it before, or just being with others who share the same passion, that is what I feel the Badger Aviators are all about,” Labs says.

Framstad says Badger Aviators is great for beginners like her because members start with the basics and then students can decide if they want to try more.

“And I definitely do,” she adds. “Aviation is thrilling to me because enjoying the world above the ground is an incredible feat for human beings to have accomplished.”

For Framstad, who is studying atmospheric and oceanic sciences, Badger Aviators provides another outlet to pursue her passion and study of the skies.

“I’ve tried to incorporate my enthusiasm for the world above the ground into everything I do, thus I am attending UW–Madison for atmospheric and oceanic sciences,” she says. “The aspect of weather in aviation is of huge significance and I hope to use my meteorological expertise to accompany me in my aspirations of flying and skydiving, and I hope Badger Aviators can assist me along the way.”

According to Oudheusden, UW–Madison made taking the club off the ground a breeze. He says he has received a lot of support, especially from associate professor of engineering Douglas Wiegmann, who serves as the club advisor.

Badger Aviators also offer Wiegmann a chance to recruit experienced student pilots to help in the design and testing of simulated cross-country flights in his Flight Simulator Laboratory in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Wiegmann says if he could describe Badger Aviators in one word, it would be “‘Soaring,’ because they set a very lofty goal of establishing a club that would soar through the skies and they achieved it!”

After recruiting initial members and gathering resources last fall, Oudheusden has seen Badger Aviators really take off this spring. In April, the group tok a field trip to tour the EAA. A stretch from traditional field trips, by standard yellow school bus, the group flew themselves.

Plans are in the works to continue holding unofficial ground school sessions, schedule trips to control towers and airline hubs to see what goes on behind the scenes, enjoy social cookouts as well as fly-outs (perhaps a fly-in/drive-in pancake breakfast), and overall provide members with connections to other like-minded aviation enthusiasts.

“Aviation is fun but challenging,” Wiegmann says. “Flying is both an art and a science. Students will learn all these things with Badger Aviators. They will also learn more about themselves as they experience and see the world from a whole new perspective.”

Oudheusden admits, “It’s a long road ahead, but the passion for flying is not something to be underestimated.”