Aviation Summer Camp

I can hardly believe it, tonight I met some of my childhood heros in addition to Captain Sully Sullivan. Let’s see. The event was celebrating Bob Hoover’s reciept of the 2009 HUghes Memorial Award from the Aero Club of Southern California. In addition to Mr Hoover, I had the chance to shake hands and talk with Chuck Yeager, Neil Armstrong, and Buz Aldrin. What a night.

I wanted to share a few items about events in Southern California. If you are interested in aviation museums, there are two new museums in Southern California. Santa Ana (John Wayne Airport) has the Lyon Air Museum and Santa Monica has reopened the Museum of Flying.

Hi All,

It is Friday. I’m pretty sure that the kids had a good time this week. Please feel free to contact me with any questions that you or your kids may have about aviation. As a teacher of 18 years I know the importance of resources to youngsters. I tried to create a blend of aviation specific activities that introduced important concepts with high interest, high fun activities. I hope that you feel that you received exactly that over the last week. If it is okay with you, I will update you every few months on aviation related events in the local area. If not please just let me know.

The web site has the camp photos that were taken today. The direct link is here. I am also trying out several different blogs for this summer. If you are interested click below:

http://uniqueeducationalexperiences.com/ASC/wordpress/

http://aviationsummercamp.blogspot.com/

Blue Skies,

Hi All,

I think that we had a lot of fun today. Most of the kids liked the multi player aspect of the Skyfighters sim. Some of the kids asked where they could get the software. If you are interested, there is a free download and free demo at http://DonsGames.com The full price is $29- . If you are interested let me know and we may be able to purchase a few copies with a discount.

We played a lot on the sims today. We did finish a discussion about lift and used a lift simulator which changed the angle of attack, airspeed and wing area to effect lift. I hope that the kids saw the relation between these elements and lift. I shared this today because several students are slightly more interested in the design of aircraft. Tomorrow I will share an aspect of X Plane that is used to create planes. I have heard of companies that use this software do test different design ideas. It is pretty cool stuff. Some what sophisticated but a great tool.

If you have not already brought the KNBC release form please do so tomorrow. Here are a few pictures taken from today.

Hello All,

We had a great day today and an unexpected opportunity to see several very cool planes. The kids also got to sit in one of the Oshkosh Fire trucks!! There are some great photos as well. Even though it proved to be warm in the room, the kids did a great job paying attention.

Before we walked to the fire department, we started with a brief orientation and safety discussion. We also had one additional guest speaker who shared some experiences in Iraq as a helicopter pilot. A special thanks to Dan Carlson (Dillon’s Dad).

Once at the fire station, the kids got to see the fire house, some pretty amazing fire equipment and heard some good advice. The firemen discussed several points that became a theme for the day. One of the firemen shared the following: mind your parents, stay out of trouble and work hard in school. This theme reemerged in Pat Carey’s presentation where he did a great job of connecting nearly every school subject to aviation. The theme also emerged to some degree in a story that I shared about Eddie O’Hare on doing the right thing.

Once back at the California Flight Center, I shared with the kids the requirements to obtain a private pilots license. After lunch we discussed and then performed a walk around of a Cessna 172 with an avionics package called the Garmin 1000. The G1000 has two 10″ electronic screens which provide more data and situational awareness than some airliners have. Once we walked around the aircraft looking for cotter keys in place, hinges in the correct shape, dents, bird nests etc. we got to sit in the plane. We discussed some of the avionics and at the end, I could tell that many of the kids did not want to get out of the airplane.

I do have some disappointing news about Yip Yap. They called this evening and will not be able to make it to the camp tomorrow because they do not have camera people available. I have to say that I was personally very excited about them seeing the camp. Thanks to everyone who completed the KNBC release form. Maybe the timing will be better next year. Speaking of next year, I am working on some ideas for an Aviation Summer Camp 2 and will share those in the future.

Enjoy the pictures below and the rest on the web site. Be sure to scroll down on the web page to see the latest images.

Blue Skies.

Hello All,

Thursday is our field trip day to the California Flight Center. This is what I have planned:

Meet 9:00
Safety Discussion / Orientation 9:10
Fire Department Demo approx 9:30
CFI Discussion 10:45
Lunch 12:00
Guest Speaker 1:00
Airplane Preflight 2:15
Day Finishes Approx 3:15

Just a reminder if you will be meeting me at the flight center I will be there just prior to 9 am. At this point I am planning on meeting three participants at Millikan. Please be there by 8:30 I will leave at 8:35 to be at the flight center by 9am. Directions are on the web site and I have included them below.

Today’s activities ranged from a story about Icarus to launching our bottle rockets skyward. I’ve included a large number of images on the web site. Some are very good of the kids. Let me know if you would like a high resolution version of an image. The link to the page is here.

From the 405 North Bound
•Continue on I-405 N
•Take exit 29B for Cherry Ave N 0.4 mi
•Turn right at Cherry Ave 0.3 mi
•Turn right at E Wardlow Rd 0.5 mi

Happy Thursday!

It has been a long good day. After camp I attended a presentation by Long Beach’s former mayer (and Pilot) Ernie Kell then attended the EAA Chapter 7 meeting at Air Flight. I did get a request from the president and the person responsible for Young Eagles Chapter 7. If you are interested in attending the Young Eagles event please reply to this email and let me know two things.
Will you attend?
Did you register on the web site? If not please do so at http://fs10.formsite.com/eaa7/form355769513/index.html .

I’ve been asked to let them know how many from the camp will likely attend. Young Eagles is a program established by EAA to give young people a chance to take a FREE flight in a general aviation airplane. Plan to meet at 9 am at ESCAP which is very near the California Flight Center. See the image below or visit the EAA Chapter 7 web site. It is a terrific opportunity to experience an initial flying experience. The national site is located at http://www.youngeagles.com/ if you would like more information.

Please visit the web site for some of the images from today’s activities. It seemed to me that the days activities were slower paced and some were a little more formal and ‘classroom like’. Still valuable in providing the kids with information about the requirements to become a pilot and safety around aircraft. We did get to see some cool things at the fire department and did get to sit in some very cool planes. The kids had many questions about the airplanes so they were very excited. Unfortunately, I was unable to have a CFI speak with the kids which would have made the day more interesting. The CFI’s that I spoke with had commitments which pulled them away. One was standing by for his student who was taking an exam. The student pilot passed everything except one part on the practical test so the CFI had to spend time with the examiner and the student. A bummer for us. Fortunately, student will not have a hard time demonstrating to the examiner the needed level of skill.

The pictures are at http://uniqueeducationalexperiences.com/ASC/2009Images/index.html .

Take care,

Hello All,

I wanted to send an update on today and some of what is planned for tomorrow. I’ve included some images from today. The kids played slightly different roles today than they have so far during the camp. After watching a few short videos on air traffic control they assumed the role of an air traffic controller. We also put on our aeronautical engineering hats and designed a water bottle rocket which we launched in the afternoon. Initial designs will be revised for Friday. Friday we will redesign using some principles and experiences that they obtained through trial and error. We also worked on changing several variables on a simulated rocket to observe the range of results. I have a little video from the rocket launching and included some images on the web site. Check them out at:

http://uniqueeducationalexperiences.com/ASC/2009Images/index.html

Included here are directions to the California Flight Center for tomorrows field trip. They are located at 2830 E. Wardlow Road, Long Beach, CA 90807 (Phone: (562) 490-2662). Most of you have indicated you can drive so I will plan to meet you at 9am at the CFC. If you would like me to drive from Millikan I am happy to do so. I will leave Millikan at 8:35 for the 15 minute drive to the CFC. The days schedule does have some flexibility. It is my understanding that the large room is being used for a check ride so we may use a general area to have our discussions. It is still very usable. The plan is to meet for a short period between 9 and 10 before we make the short walk to the fire department for a demo which should last about 1.5 hours. We will have lunch after their presentation. After lunch we will have another short presentation before we walk out to the planes. I anticipate that we will probably finish the formal presentations around 3. I will continue to share information and show the kids around until 3:30. There is a pilot shop with some neat things for kids so we will probably find ourselves there for a short while. You may or may not want to have a few extra dollars available

Blue Skies,

Hello Again,

We are finished with day two. I’ve included a few more pictures this time and edited those on the web site. If there is an image that you would like a higher quality original please let me know. The link to the images is here.

Today we spent a lot of time on using the X-Plane sim to practice take offs and landings. The kids worked hard at developing the skills of attitude control, airspeed control while coordinating turns in the pattern. While this is quite an advanced skill, some of the simulator work on the game and practice sim showed much improvement over yesterday. Today three participants actually flew the pattern very close to private pilot standards. I was quite impressed with their discipline and effort in accomplishing this. While I worked with two at a time the others rotated between the RC sim, game sim and another xplane sim. They had a good time playing the networked game sim. The morning went so fast we broke for lunch around 1pm. We enjoyed a video about bush pilots during lunch and in the afternoon we worked on aeronautical maps, reviewed and worked on a brain teaser. I did not get to weather today but anticipating beginning that conversation tomorrow. Another great day.

I wanted to see if you would be able to drop off and pick up the kids at the California Flight Center. If I have not already spoken with you please let me know. It would save some time and as parents, you would get a chance to walk around the flight center a little and see some of the presentations. Click here for the directions to the California Flight Center. Their phone number is 562-490-2662. They are located on the Boeing side of the airport off of Cherry Ave.

Each day I share an aviation related article with the kids so that we make some historical connection. The article that I shared with the kids on Monday was an article about Butch O’Hare and his father Eddie O’Hare AKA ‘Easy Eddie’. Easy Eddie was a mob lawyer. It is at least an interesting story that highlights doing the right thing. Click here for the article.

I wanted to share some information with you about aviation camps that I found recently from the Associated press. This article was written on April 12, 2009 so it is fairly recent. It goes through several reasons why aviation camp is “good for a child or young person”. Please follow the link for the complete article titled “Five Reasons Aviation Camp is good for a Child or Young Person” if you’d like to read more. The readers Digest version is as follows:
“It’s fun. ”
“There’s a lot of interesting history in aviation, which means there are a lot of good stories. You’re never too young to enjoy a good story.”
“There are a lot of diverse career opportunities available in aviation-related fields. ”
“Flight training may make your child or young person a safer driver. ”
“Learning about aviation gives a child or young person a new perspective on weather, physics, geography and the world.”

I do agree with what the article has to say and its value to young people. I would add to this list by pointing out that most of the people interested in aviation tend to be high achieving and motivated individuals. That is not a bad group for young people to be associated with.

Greetings All,

I wanted to share some images from today’s activities. Here is the direct link to larger images. http://uniqueeducationalexperiences.com/ASC/2009Images/index.html There are a few videos on the site as well. In the mean time check out some of the snap shots below.

I think that they had a good time today building their model and going through the other activities including a story about Butch O’Hare.

Model Building

Flight Sim