The Aviator

Margy Natalie earned her wings the same year she entered the classroom. Now, the Virginia teacher is mixing both passions as part of a unique parternship with the Smithsonian's air and space museum.

By Roger Friedman

The small, motorized propeller is spinning quickly, its three blades blending into a single blur. But despite the smooth motion, there’s something wrong. The connections to the power source are good and the speed is more than ample, but the propeller seems as effective at levitating its pint-size cargo—a small wooden beam—as a house fan trying to lift a loaded bookcase. A young man in a uniform stands watching, a baleful look in his large brown eyes.

“What’s different about your propeller from the ones you saw on the museum floor?” asks Margy Natalie, the flight instructor. Holding the failed attempt in her hand, she points out the flatness of the propeller, which is made from poster board.

The high school senior, on a field trip with his Air Force JROTC class from Virginia, quickly catches on. After adding some twist to the blades to better enable them to catch the wind, the plane soars skyward in the student’s next trial. And another...