The Flight Deck

A few days ago I took a trip with my daughter’s Grade 6 class to the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum. Thought it would be a fun and interesting little adventure. Which it was.  Apparently they have this Flight Education Program for the past few years. There are six sections to the tour:

1. 60 year history of CFB Greenwood
2. Helicopters, parachutes and Search and Rescue
3. Engines and Jets
4. Aircraft Tactical Crew Procedures
5. Spitfire, T33 Ejection Seat and Torpedoes
6. Computer Flight Simulation

Generally, two volunteers are responsible for each area. All volunteers are military aircrew, either retired or currently serving members of the Base. This mix covers a broad spectrum of expertise that not only benefits the students but also has a positive effect on the team concept of instruction.

So I thought this would be a breeze, after all I’ve successfully navigated Rhythms, Lex’s sea stories and the Flight Deck. Well, maybe not exactly a breeze but it was definitely interesting. From the wooden Mosquito (which apparently made a great little airplane due to its light weight, resulting in the type of poplar used being designated a protected war time product) to a lesson in the history of parachutes, fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft…….

Then we hit the engines. Four different aircraft egines sitting on blocks which the volunteer attempted to explain to the students. How they worked. Now look, I can drive my car without having to know exactly how the engine works and without needing detailed instructions on what to do when it stops. I can just pull over, take out my cell and call either my significant other or the CAA (the Canadian equivalent of AAA).

But what in the world was this all about? It was way over the students’ head and I struggled hard and unsuccessfully to keep up. The other parent with our group, a father……… I think he must have been struggling too. But there were a few things that made sense to me and at one point when the gentleman made some comment about ‘speed’, I had to bite my tongue real hard not to blurt out “Speed is life. Altitude is life insurance”. Somehow I managed to control myself.

We toured an Argus, an aircraft used a lot for ASW. Hey, at least some of that I understood. Went inside a life-size model of a portion of the aircraft with mannequins showing where all the different crew positions were. What made the tour nice was that for each section the volunteer conducting that portion actually worked in that area. So in this case, our tour guide had been a tactical navigator.

My favourite part – the ejection seat. I admit I might have been somewhat like a kid in a candy store at times. But I did try to look like I was doing the “parent thing”.  They put one of the kids in the seat, showed him all the steps he would take to eject, how the canopy would blow and the seat pack would stay with him. The kids did a pretty good job of guessing what might have been in this seat pack which was so important that it just wasn’t going to leave you. Although they did get a chuckle out of the red toilet paper. Then torpedoes and a lesson on the Spitfire – both complete with some pretty cool models.

The last part was the computer flight simulator. It would have been nice to have seen the actual simulator (which I have on good authority other groups had) but we watched the more basic,  use on your computer at home version.

All in all, I would say a nice little program they have going there.

In the past four years, 1,249 students/escorts have participated in the Museum’s Flt Ed Program, and the 2007 Program has begun and will run weekly from mid-January to April. This program has become a truly community team activity that would not be possible without the cooperation and interest of the school staff and the enthusiastic support

Since I first read Rhythms, I have respected (and dare I say it, been a little… maybe a lot…. jealous of) what you aviator types do. But I got a much larger appreciation of that after touring the museum. Cuz, wow, there was a lot to learn! We were only there about 2.5 hrs but I walked out feeling totally overwhelmed. Like I must have been there all day. There was so much information to keep up with.
But yeah, it was cool!