This week has been a blast. The highlight of the week for me was being able to finish up being an "adopted pilot" for Madison's 5th grade class. Each year, Southwest puts a program together for pilots to volunteer to go to 5th grade classrooms to talk to the kids about being a pilot, working to achieve your dreams and basically going through a four-week program that runs together with the 5th grade corriculum.
The kids keep track of my trips, adding up the mileage and learning about the different places I go. They e-mail me and ask me questions while I am away as well. Some of the highlights of the program (according to Madison) was when I brought in my flight suits and helmet (one desert and one regular) and had a race with two students to put everything on. The winner got the prize of holding their arms out while I held a lighter under their arms and hands (the suits are made out of nomex and are fire resistant). Another week I brought in a ping pong ball with a hair drier to demonstrate how the air flow will keep the ping pong ball hovering in the air, even at a 45 degree angle from the nozzle opening. Then we took it up a notch and did it with a leaf blower and a beach ball. It's crazy to imagine a ball just hovering in the air, but that's what happens. We played games and had contests about geography, the phonetic alphabet, flying, etc. The final day I came we all had a graduation ceremony and a pizza party. It was a fun experience. I can't wait to be able to do it with Gabrielle's class.
The kids keep track of my trips, adding up the mileage and learning about the different places I go. They e-mail me and ask me questions while I am away as well. Some of the highlights of the program (according to Madison) was when I brought in my flight suits and helmet (one desert and one regular) and had a race with two students to put everything on. The winner got the prize of holding their arms out while I held a lighter under their arms and hands (the suits are made out of nomex and are fire resistant). Another week I brought in a ping pong ball with a hair drier to demonstrate how the air flow will keep the ping pong ball hovering in the air, even at a 45 degree angle from the nozzle opening. Then we took it up a notch and did it with a leaf blower and a beach ball. It's crazy to imagine a ball just hovering in the air, but that's what happens. We played games and had contests about geography, the phonetic alphabet, flying, etc. The final day I came we all had a graduation ceremony and a pizza party. It was a fun experience. I can't wait to be able to do it with Gabrielle's class. 
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