The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Aaron Montoya Mike Schranz, a freshman forestry major, gazes out a window of the King Air 200 that took him and other interested students up for an experiental flight Tuesday. The Marine Corps Flying Opportunity Program allows students interested in the Marines and aviation to fly a plane under the guidance of an experienced Marine.

Walking back through the fuselage from the cockpit of the King Air 200, stumbling in compensation for the violent air bumps, Mike Schranz said, "that made me want to do it even more" with a large, satisfied grin.

The freshman forestry major from Albuquerque, N.M., had spent the entire ride before he got to fly the plane looking excitedly out the window at the ground rushing by a mere 500 feet below as the plane careened through the mountain valleys just west of Loveland and Fort Collins.

The wings turned perpendicular to the ground, the oxygen masks popped out of the ceiling compartment, and the passengers laughed.

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