TUCKER TOOK A BREAK from three-a-day practices in his 400-horsepower red Oracle III biplane to give a tour of his home turf in the Bob Hoover Academy's Cessna 152. Students at the academy get hands-on flight experience in addition to classroom learning and extracurricular fun. Martin Mendez said when he was a child and first viewed an aircraft in flight it was "almost like magic. I thought in my head, 'I'm never going to be able to do this.'" academically when they start at the academy but when they come out they are changed people. They get to redefine their dream, to have joy again, to be inspired." Tucker said his idea for a school struggled at first when it was an after-school program known as Every Kid Can Fly. "Our students come from broken homes and juvenile detention centers," and some have a chip on their shoulder, he said. "There are gangs patrolling here and there's a 24/7 assassin squad. They're broken when we get them, but we're putting them back together and they're tough. These kids are our future. They are our precious jewels and you have to give them a shot. They're not looking for a handout." The school found its groove when it partnered with the Monterey County Office of Education and implemented a Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. technical career program. The aerobatic specialist renamed it after his mentor and aviation