Thursday July 16, 2009 : Field Trip
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.