‘There’s a thrill to being in the air’

When Cadet Captain Frederick Herman thinks about his future, he sees himself as a professional pilot and a member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard as well as continuing his service with the Civil Air Patrol.

“I absolutely love flying,” the 19-year-old Larksville man admits. “There’s a thrill to being in the air, up there, away from everything else. You have to concentrate, and nothing else matters.”

Herman, who is a sophomore taking online courses at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is a step closer to his goals now that, as a member of the Civil Air Patrol’s Luzerne County Composite Squadron located at the Wyoming Valley Airport, he has achieved his Amelia Earhart Award.

The Amelia Earhart Award is named in honor of the aviation pioneer who in 1932 became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and in 1935 became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the United States mainland.

For members of the Civil Air Patrol cadet program, it marks completion of the third phase of their training as well as “sustained excellence in all four areas of cadet life, which include leadership, aerospace, fitness and character.”

By earning this award, Herman is qualified to represent the United States in an International Air Cadet Exchange.

He’d be grateful for that kind of opportunity, Herman said in a telephone interview, adding that Australia would be high on his list of places he’d like to visit “and learn what is like over there.”

A graduate of Muhlenburg Christian Academy in Hunlock Creek, he is the son of Captain Frederick Herman and Dia Wallace. His father serves as squadron commander for the Luzerne County Composite Squadron and, as a certified flight instructor, has given his son lessons along the way.

“We’re extremely proud of his accomplishments and hope he can serve as an example to our younger cadets in the program,” Herman’s proud dad said.

The younger Herman, who began his aviation studies at 15 and was able to fly solo by age 17, dreams of serving on rescue missions someday, perhaps helping to save the lives of survivors of a downed aircraft, lost hunters or injured backpackers.

Those are the kinds of missions he might be called upon to fulfill as a member of the Civil Air Patrol, which is the official civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. The Civil Air Patrol, with 66,000 members, operates a fleet of 560 single-engine aircraft and 1,550 small Unmanned Aircraft Systems. It performs about 90% of continental United States inland search and rescue missions and is credited with saving an average 82 lives annually.

Members of the Civil Air Patrol also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies and serve as mentors to STEM students.