If you have ever fantasized about flying planes or felt your happiest on a flight, the most recent addition to Chamblee’s club collection may be for you.

“Aviation Club is a club with a bunch of aviation enthusiasts who are considering a career in aviation. Everyone doesn’t know too much about flying planes or different aviation related careers yet and the point is to kind of immerse everyone into the career field,” said club founder Nathan Jovanovic (‘24).

Chamblee Aviation Club allows students to explore a new topic and participate in new opportunities.

“Our purpose is just to have fun, but also learn about aviation and planes and expose high school students to planes close up, because we don’t normally have that experience,” said Cooper Malone (‘24).

This club entices all kinds of students who join for different reasons.

“I joined Aviation Club because I’ve always liked planes and I’m thinking about being an aerospace engineer,” said Malone. “My friend Nathan had the idea of starting it, so we started [it] together.”

Other students also are drawn to the club in hopes of learning more about their future careers.

“If I ever want to become a pilot or aerospace engineer, this is a great club. I learned a lot and I look forward to learning more,” said Piyush Roy (‘24).

This group is the perfect place to begin turning aviation dreams into reality.

“I personally want to become a pilot and I have a couple of friends that were considering becoming pilots and there’s not a club at Chamblee related to aviation, so I just thought it would be a good idea,” said Jovanovic, “PDK [is] right down the road, so that’s also [a] pretty good opportunity.”

The close vicinity of a functioning airport is indeed a major opportunity for the club.

“I reached out to different companies at PDK Airport to see if there was a possibility to partner with them or go out to the airport,” said Jovanovic.

The close relationship to actual flight establishment creates mutual benefits for both groups.

“We get special access to go onto the RAM or tarmac of PDK sometimes, which is not something you can just publicly do. We also got to wash planes for the Georgia Tech flying club and go into the air traffic control tower,” said Daniel Luo (‘24).

This meeting is just one example of the hands-on events this club organizes.

“Our latest meeting was about a week ago. We went out to Aero Atlanta. They have the world’s largest Cirrus fleet which is a type of plane. We got to sit inside their planes, then we also went up to tour the control tower,” said Jovanovic.

Each of these interactive experiences changes the way members view aspects of the aviation field.

“I get to learn a lot about planes. Last weekend, we went to a plane tower and I got to see people controlling air traffic and everything,” said Roy, “It’s super cool because I want to fly planes one day maybe.”

Outside events are just one of the many ways Aviation Club involves its members.

“Nathan got a bunch of people who have a pilot’s license or are training to get a pilot’s license. They came to talk to us about the whole process and that was very informative,” said Luo.

Aviation Club also appears to students who are more interested in the mechanical side of flight.

“I’ve definitely learned a lot about the mechanics of planes and it’s just shown me more what I’ll be getting into firsthand,” said Malone.

Even the meetings held at school prove to be just as exciting as the outside gatherings.

“We also have fun meetings. We had a paper airplane contest where we had to use recycled materials to see if it can fly. We threw them off the skybridge,” said Jovanovic.

Each event the club holds has a purpose and every meeting allows members to get more involved in aviation.

“I learn a lot and the activities we do, like building planes, are really fun. I just got to learn more about aerodynamics and all that,” said Roy.

The next meeting is currently in the works, and aims to be the best yet.

“Right now I’m working on setting up a tour of PDK with the manager, so we’ll have speakers that are gonna be there. We’re just gonna tour the airport, see different planes, and take pictures,” said Jovanovic.

Members have already learned a lot since the club began.

“My favorite part would be looking at all the planes and the insides of them because it’s just super cool to look at all the gadgets,” said Roy.

Overall, the club has the perfect combination of social and educational benefits.

“It’s a lot of fun and it’s also very interesting. You also can hang out with your friends if they’re in the club,” said Malone.

Chamblee Aviation Club is helping its members find a new meaning of “the sky’s the limit”.

“My favorite part of the club is seeing how happy everyone is and seeing different planes. Most people haven’t been up close to planes, you go fly Delta or something, but not these other planes,” said Jovanovic, “I get to learn more as well. I get to meet new people and see what life as a pilot would be like.”