5th Grade Field Trip to an Airport?

jollyroger

jollyroger

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jollyroger
Hoping to see if anyone has ever successfully tried to organize something like this. My oldest is in the 5th grade and is really into aviation. There seems to be some interest in his friends when he tells them he goes flying so I had the quick thought that we should organize a school field trip to our local airport.

However this is probably not as easy as it sounds. I reached out to the local EAA chapter to see if they would be interested in setting up rides. They were not opposed but said the school would probably not like that due to insurance. Also it wasn't clear to me if they could do that on some day other than a Saturday which I still need to clarify, however I'm pretty sure a field trip without rides would not have the impact we may hope for young impressional children to try and keep the number of pilots up.

I think my biggest obstacle is how would I even present something like this to teachers and school administrators so that we at least have the potential of getting something like this off the ground (Pun intended :) ). Googling field trips and flights have only hit on very sparse scheduling websites so I don't have much precedent to work with.

Any help is appreciated.
 
Take his friends yourself. Going to have to be sexist for minute, the ladies that run the schools see no educational value in going to an airport. Just the way they are.
 
Rides are going to be hard for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the number of students. Given that you'd probably have to let the whole grade visit, not just one class, you could be looking at 60-90 students for a typical elementary school. Even a smaller group of 30 kids is going to be tough unless you can coordinate a bunch of pilots to get it done in an hour so they're not waiting around all day.

On the other hand, I have definitely seen school groups visit my airport on school days just to look around and see how an airport works. They might enjoy just sitting in a plane and moving the yoke around for a minute each, seeing a couple jets land and get refueled. A tower tour would be cool too if you have one and the tower is onboard with it.

Maybe if that goes over well for a few years you can start talking about giving rides, but I think it's going to be way harder to arrange than a simple "airport visit" which is more of a group activity. Maybe you can mention Young Eagles and try to get some kids to bug their parents into letting them come back for a ride at a later date?
 
I would suggest contacting the manager and arranging an airfield tour. Perhaps coordinate with an FBO to let the kids have a seat in the plane. I would try to arrange flights though...too much hassle for obvious reasons.
 
I've seen groups of kids getting a tour of our hangar and even getting a tour of some of the airplanes. I don't know who organizes it though, if they just call up and ask or if it's someone who has a connection with the company.
 
It is usual to bring a class to visit the airport ,that way the airport authority ,the FBO and the eaa change involved. I would introduce those interested in a flight,after the visit,to the EAA young eagles program.
 
I've taken younger kids, but I don't see ANY school allowing rides, just ain't gonna happen, you'd have just as much luck taking them to a gun range! :mad2::mad2:
I would certainly talk to the FBO and arrange a tour, get someone from each department to talk about what they do, mechanic, dispatcher, line person, etc maybe 5-10 minutes each to kill some time. Have them sit in an airplane with the BATTERY DISCONNECTED. Long story, but hearing the master switch come on while you're standing next to a dash-10 powered Garrett engine will cause you to move quickly towards the cockpit! :yikes:
The younger kids liked the potty the best! :yes:
 
Something the soaring club does is give a ride to the top ten students from a science and math program at one of the elementary schools. Last year I flew a student and one of the teachers.
 
I've entertained the thought of taking a SMALL group of local kids to the tower at PAO or NUQ. I suspect the controllers may be very nervous about more than a couple of kids, but they have surprised me before.

At WVI, I don't think there is much they will be able to do, except perhaps look at pretty airplanes.
 
We have "bring your kid" to work days here. No rides of course (hard to do at a CAT X airport), but the kids seem to enjoy the airfield tours. And FWIW, most 5th graders are taller than the JAL pilots :)
 
We have hosted airport visits by school and daycare groups. What we do with them depends on the age of the group. For a fifth grade group, I normally arrange for some static displays of various types of aircraft. I can usually find cooperative owners. I, and the owners, then just field questions as long as it seems productive. It is amazing how many questions they can come up with. Then, under supervision (mainly to protect the planes so they don't bang the controls around), the kids get to sit in the front seat, 2 at a time. Get to move the controls and observe the control surface movement and get a few more questions answered that may arise from being in the plane.
 
I hosted my daughter's 6th grade class when at Barber's Point. The hoops were minor, ( being Operations Officer helped a little ), and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I hope the educational industry in this nation hasn't got to the point where real world experiences don't count any more.
 
When we were at the CT Fly-In at Page, AZ last year we did a side trip to Monument Valley.

There was a field trip with what I think were Navajo children:

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In any case, they each got to sit in the Sky Arrow - maybe some seeds were planted.

As far as flying school children - I think that's pretty unlikely. Best you might hope for is to refer them to an EAA Young Eagles event and let them take on the liability.

Still, a noble endeavor - thanks for thinking of it.
 
Try the STEM angle. Ask if the science curriculum has anything flight related.
 
Fast eddy does great work! Great experience for those kids! I was about 10 when a pal of my dads took me for a ride in ( get this! ) a gull wing stinson Right after WW2. He had just returned from the war flying B25's. He flew this plane for a local company. It made a BIG impression on me. Never forgot it. They don't have to fly...just being there and seeing some planes will be great!
 
Hi-

My husband and I host upwards of a dozen field trips per year at our airport, and have for the last 20 years or so. We'll do it for Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, homeschool groups, public school groups of various ages, Young Eagle rallies, and a few other groups that I can't think of off the top of my head. One bigger one that I used to do was for 10th graders on a special program for kids who were economically disadvantaged but got excellent grades, and I'd discuss General Aviation, Professional (Corporate and Airline) Aviation, and Military Aviation, and we would fly the group of kids to various places in several different airplanes of course and have experts talk about their areas. Grissom Air Reserve Base, before it was open to the public, would allow me to fly in (with a ton of paperwork) this group of kids and do a tour of some of the base for Military Day. Purdue University would give the kids a tour of the sims and such for that area, and I would take the kids out to our little grass strip for General Aviation day, etc. One by one the local schools started balking at the ride giving part. Even in the middle of quiet Indiana the schools here at least are no longer willing to allow that. So these days the kids come out, we let them crawl into several different types of airplanes and get their pictures taken in them, give an age-appropriate talk about flying, careers, or just what makes them go, hand out balsa wood airplanes to the little ones, etc. Now days, the only way we give rides is either personally, one on one with permission from parents, or through doing a Young Eagles event and passing out info to the school kids about it...
 
Jolly, your idea is commendable. The chance of it happening with rides does not stand a snowball's chance in **** . First, who would give the rides? Private pilot owners? You really think a parent would give permission for their little darling to go up with a private pilot they do not know in a little dangerous airplane? I sure wouldn't. What private pilot even close to being in his right mind would take on that responsibility?
You would stand a better chance of getting a field trip to the local Harley dealer and giving rides on the Harleys. Sorry, just ain't going to happen.
Maybe what Graueradler suggested, maybe.
 
Thanks everyone for the pointers and experience. It's pretty disappointing that the ride part is looking so bad.

I was hoping to use the young eagles rally because they already have the pilot population for the monthly event and being a national program would instill some confidence in the schools. Alas if schools that were allowing that before are now refusing I pretty sure that would be an awful long road to travel to get the school to agree to something like that in this day and age.

The local school here usually takes field trips with two classes so the number of kids is a little more manageable. According to the local chapter president the airport manager loves to have kids check out the airport. So the airport side of things looks pretty positive. The FBO where I rent is known for letting people and kids look inside of planes.

I think my plan of action now is to try and get things squared away for when the rally starts up again in May. I shouldn't have a problem with finding planes that the kids can sit in

What do you guys think of having a field trip done the Friday before the first rally of the season. I like the idea but I'm concerned that parents would be less likely to drive up to the airport the day after the kids were just there. (We are pretty dependent on parent volunteers for field trips here).

@FlightofTwo what kind of program did you find worked well for 5th graders. I want to make sure whatever I do is keeping them engaged.
 
Actually, I think most of the kids would just love going to the airport. When I was about that age, our most thrilling FT trip was walking the farrows in some Salinas lettuce field. :wink:
 
jollyroger said:
I was hoping to use the young eagles rally because they already have the pilot population for the monthly event and being a national program would instill some confidence in the schools. Alas if schools that were allowing that before are now refusing I pretty sure that would be an awful long road to travel to get the school to agree to something like that in this day and age.
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Maybe Murphey will chime in. I recently asked her where all the kids come from for the Young Eagles flights. She mentioned various organizations and I'm almost sure one of them was a public school system around here.
 
Find a way to get fliers advertising a Young Eagles rally into the hands of the kids. The ones that want to get a ride will show up. The ones that don't, won't. Not sure how other YE events are managed, but our organizer requests that people RSVP by emailing/calling to say that they are coming ahead of time. That way we know how many planes to beg to show up.

We had a YE event here last weekend and had over 30 kids show up. It took 6 planes about 2 hours to cycle through that many kids.
 
Rides are awesome, but thinking back to when I was 10, just an excuse to go see airplanes up close, touch them, and maybe even sit in one would have been extremely cool. I think there is a lot that can be done without firing up any engines. Wigglle the controls, wear headsets, make airplane noise, maybe get on a discrete frequency and let them make a couple radio calls to each other from one plane to another, how cool is that?
 
A recent YE event I did ground crew for had over 130 kids show up and fly.

The organizer was able to get the announcement into the local utility bill and a few mom's group newsletters.

Both the kids and the attending parents were very interested in what was possible with aviation. Many parents were so surprised how easy it is to get started.
 
Any access to a simulator at your airport? Not quite as impressive as the real thing, but could be fun to see 5th graders try to land.
 
dperez said:
Any access to a simulator at your airport? Not quite as impressive as the real thing, but could be fun to see 5th graders try to land.
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Not that impressive....

Kids on a simulator get satisfied with hitting the ground. Even if they do it at 300 knots nose first in a 172.

The museum next to KSQL has a bunch of sims (including a somewhat wonky Elite BATD), and I see this constantly there. The staff routinely sets up 172SPs for a VFR straight-in to KSFO with the VASI in sight and a checklist, and the kids still like to try unintentional aerobatics.

It's a game to them.
 
MAKG1 said:
Not that impressive....

Kids on a simulator get satisfied with hitting the ground. Even if they do it at 300 knots nose first in a 172.

The museum next to KSQL has a bunch of sims (including a somewhat wonky Elite BATD), and I see this constantly there. The staff routinely sets up 172SPs for a VFR straight-in to KSFO with the VASI in sight and a checklist, and the kids still like to try unintentional aerobatics.

It's a game to them.
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I'm an adult and I do the same thing when I try a sim.
 
I was a B-52 instructor at Castle AFB in the 1970's. They have a great museum not far from you. (Atwater, CA). What a cool field trip that would be.
 
When I was a kid, my school class took a trip to Palo Alto airport and one parent gave the whole class rides, 3 kids at a time. That event was what turned me into a pilot 10 years later. Sure, that first flight was 40 years ago in a much less cowardly society, but there are still a few adults who support real child development (they just don't normally work at the school district).

I encourage my kids to invite their friends to go fly with us, but only with written parental permission.
 
Hawker800 said:
I was a B-52 instructor at Castle AFB in the 1970's. They have a great museum not far from you. (Atwater, CA). What a cool field trip that would be.
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That's MUCH too far for a field trip unless it's in one of the C-130s at NUQ. The OP lives in Santa Cruz.
 
Minshall said:
When I was a kid, my school class took a trip to Palo Alto airport and one parent gave the whole class rides, 3 kids at a time. That event was what turned me into a pilot 10 years later. Sure, that first flight was 40 years ago in a much less cowardly society, but there are still a few adults who support real child development (they just don't normally work at the school district).
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When I was a very small kid I remember going on a class trip to Newark Airport. I think one of the fathers was a pilot for some airline. I vaguely remember walking across the ramp to the airplane. We got in and he started it up and taxied in a circle. My friend was terrified we were going to take off. We also got to sit in the cockpit. This was a larger prop airplane but I couldn't tell you what it was or even what the airline was. At that point I was one of the few kids who had ever taken an airline flight as it was not common back then. Yes, I guess times have changed. That was probably close to 50 years ago.
 
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