The plane lurched left, then right, and took off into the sky.
Columbus Air Force Base’s runway dropped out of view as the T-6 climbed, replaced by treetops, then a view of the sprawling land below, with Columbus visible off in the distance.
A smile split 10-year-old pilot Griffin Threatt’s face.
Hugh Saint, a civilian instructor for CAFB’s T-6 simulator, leaned into the cockpit with a guiding hand on the joystick as Griffin turned the T-6 south toward Columbus.
Griffin flew over the city, and as he turned back toward the base, Saint rose to change controls to show him all the conditions the simulator could create — the dead of night, dusk/dawn, and a snowstorm so thick you could only see the plane’s wings.
As they came in to approach the base, Saint told Griffin that his experience was just like flying a real T-6, and he wasn’t wrong — the great wrap-around projected screen fooled the eye into telling the brain it was moving, even though the simulator itself is stationary.
Griffin brought his plane toward the tarmac under Saint’s guidance. The plane touched down, but too fast, and skipped back up into the sky. It was only a temporary setback.
Saint led Griffin through a loop-de-loop to gain speed.
“You want to do a bridge run?” Saint asked as he pointed Griffin toward the Sen. Terry Brown Memorial Bridge over the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. “We can’t do that in a real plane, but that’s part of the fun of the simulator.”
Griffin obliged, of course, and the plane zipped along the river under the bridge.
A day at the base
Griffin, a Clinton resident, has spina bifida — a birth condition where the spine does not develop correctly. It’s unlikely that he’ll ever be a pilot, but Columbus Air Force Base welcomed him on Friday to make the impossible possible through its Pilot for a Day program.
The base welcomed Griffin’s mother, Amanda, and his grandfather, Robert Moulder, to the base with him.
The simulator, which Griffin called the “video game”, was the day’s last activity before a lunch where he met Col. Douglas Gosney, commander of the 14th Flying Training Wing.
“It felt like we really were in a plane,” Griffin said.
Saint finished Griffin’s session in the simulator by letting him launch from the deck of the U.S.S. Lexington, an aircraft carrier stationed off the coast of Corpus Christi, Texas.
“It’s fun just having the regular students out here, but when you have someone who’s maybe not going through the normal life experiences that maybe some people get to, it’s great to give him a shot of experiencing something he might not,” Saint said.
Throughout the day, Griffin got to see a plane with his name — Griffin “Griffinator” Threatt — on it, tour the base’s fire department and use simulators at the air control tower learn how to guide planes in for landing or through takeoff.
At the fire station, Griffin played foosball with firefighters, tried on turnout gear — which he said made him feel like he was in space — and rode out on one of the fire trucks to empty its more than 1,000-gallon tank.
After the day’s events concluded, Amanda said it was special to see Griffin have such a good time.
“This was just an amazing experience,” Amanda said. “We are so excited to have this opportunity just to have this day. He has had an amazing time here and we just appreciate everyone’s time and effort that was spent — it was really worth it for us and I think it was worth it for everyone involved.”
Amanda said Griffin’s prognosis is “excellent,” and 90 percent of children with spinal bifida reach adulthood.
Everyone who met Griffin spoke highly of him. Gosney said he was honored to welcome Griffin to the base for a day.
“It’s been great to have Griffin as a part of Team BLAZE and part of the Pilot for a Day program,” Gosney said. “I think we gained more from his visit than he did.”
The program
Capt. Steve Brown oversees the Pilot for a Day program.
The program, which has run since 2001, works with medical providers to welcome a handful of children with terminal or severe illnesses on to the base each year.
Staff at Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson told Griffin’s family about the program and helped set up the visit.
“Blair E. Batson Hospital really is going beyond to help all these kids and find things for them to do,” Moulder said. “Other people might shove it under the rug so to say, but for (children) to be able to venture out and see something like this is wonderful.”
Brown said CAFB tries to bring children to the base quarterly for the program. He said it’s not only a way to make a special experience for a child, but to deepen CAFB’s connection to the community.
“We’re really proud to handle this because it gives us an opportunity to show that we want to be connected with the community,” he said. “That we care about not just accomplishing the mission that is given to us, but being actively involved in the community.
“It’s very minimal tasking for the base to bring someone in like this,” he added, “but we know this event means the world to a 10-year-old.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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