She has flown helicopters and jumped out of airplanes and now Christina Leija has piloted a Cessna 182 Tango.
Leija is a fifth grade teacher at Crosby Park Elementary School with a love of aviation that she has passed on to her students as they have built and flown a variety of airplanes this year. They started with paper ones, tested out balsa planes and graduated to remote control foam board planes, which they flew on the playground.
But Leija had never piloted a plane until someone with the Civil Air Patrol saw a story about her aviation lessons and offered her the opportunity to go up in the air with a certified pilot as part of the Civil Air Patrol’s Teacher Orientation Program Flights.
Leija didn’t have to think twice about the offer.
Leija, who is a member of the Civil Air Patrol, contacted her district coordinator, filled out the application, did some work on a simulator “so I wasn’t going in blind” and waited for the appointed day.
And then she waited for the wind to die down.
Pilot Matt Esker, commander of the Cleveland County Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, was due to take off from Westheimer Airport in Norman on Tuesday morning, but crosswinds kept him grounded. Leija had to tell her students that the flight was stalled.
“They had gotten super bummed,” she said.
Esker finally was able to take off and the two met at Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport for a preflight inspection before taking to the Southwest Oklahoma skies. Leija admitted to being a little nervous before the flight.
“I’m a little nervous for the wind as I get motion sickness, but that’s about it,” she said. “But I’m willing to take the good along with the bad. Let’s bring it on. I’m an adventurer at heart.”
The highlight of the flight, for Leija and her students, was a pass over the school. About 10 minutes into the flight, Leija was scheduled to fly over the school and do a wing dip as a nod to students who were watching from the playground.
Serenity Coleman-Whitelow was one of those who saw her teacher fly over.
“It looked like a red, white and blue plane flying over the school,” Coleman-Whitelow said excitedly. “She turned to the side and I didn’t see her after that. I could actually see it, it didn’t look like a speck or a bird. I was on the playground talking to my friend and I saw it. First she was flying straight, then she went over on her side. I was like, it was crazy how many crazy things my teacher does. This is just one of them.”
Jayde Coleman also saw Leija fly over.
“I saw the plane. It was pretty close,” she said. “She had already flown over. I didn’t know she could actually fly a plane. It was pretty cool, though.”
Caleb Schroeder, fifth grader, was a little envious that Leija was getting to take the flight.
“I wished I was in that plane too,” he said. Schroeder said he has a VR headset and that he likes to practice flying. He said he is considering joining the Navy and learning to pilot planes.
All too soon the flight was over and Leija was back at school.
“It was amazing. I don’t have the words for it,” she said. “We saw a bird and it flew right next to us.”
Leija said she took over the controls just before they got to the school and executed a wing dip to say hello to the students. Then she and the pilot took off on a quick tour of Southwest Oklahoma, flying to Snyder and back. She said she piloted the plane about one-third of the trip. She could have taken over the controls longer, but she wanted to sit back and enjoy the flight.
“It was so freeing up there; I just wanted to enjoy it,” she said.
Leija said she hopes the lessons on aviation, and her flight, spark an interest among some of the students.
“I love that a lot of them are enjoying it. This is not for everybody, and that is OK, but I hope that they can see that there is just so much out there. Look at all the possibilities and try new things. You might not think it’s for you, but by trying it, it may be just for you,” she said.
“I’m not just a teacher, but I can expand my education even as an adult. I’m always learning stuff. I’m always getting amazing opportunities, and then you can take them as they come. Life is just your playground.”
Leija said she enjoyed the experience so much she may pursue her pilot’s license, alongside her 20-year-old son.
The near future holds another learning opportunity for Leija. On the same day that she completed her TOP Flight, she learned she will be the Makerspace teacher at Eisenhower Elementary School next year.
Those students will learn all about aviation, from someone who has piloted a plane.