For more than 100 fourth graders, an interest in general aviation takes flight.
My Dad said, “Go get that kid hanging on the fence – bring him in here for a tour.” This is one of my earliest memories of him. It was the early 1980s in a small hangar at a small airfield in the Midwest. My Dad was working in that hangar, getting a 172 ready for a ferry flight, when he spotted a kid and his Dad on the airport perimeter fence, looking toward the hangar. I let them both in, took them to Dad, and he gave them a tour of the airport, even letting them sit in a few of the airplanes in the hangar.
After they left, I also remember Dad saying, “You gotta share aviation all you can, buddy. Don’t forget. It’s important.” The number of tours he gave, first flights, and invitations to aviation events he extended and followed through on was the stuff of legend. And he was right about most things in the aviation world, so I’ve done my best to share our industry with anyone who will listen, just as he said.
So when my daughter’s fourth-grade teacher asked for a class tour, I readily agreed. Then she told me three things – the date of the tour, the time of the tour, and that it would be just over 100 kids.
Days spent at an airport are almost always good days. Daunting as giving 100+ fourth-graders an airport tour sounded, it wasn’t just a good day—it was a great day.
Our team at CHD did amazing work, giving each student a behind-the-scenes tour of the entire airfield and even holding a very competitive paper airplane contest, which we think may have extended back to their classrooms and depleted the schools paper supply for the foreseeable future. Everyone, including staff, had a wonderful time hangar flying and watching the local flights with them.
But if I had to describe the best part of that day, I’d be hard-pressed to focus on just one thing. We were able to help over 100 kids experience aviation up-close for the first time. We pondered and tried to answer all their amazing questions, honestly some of the best I’ve heard lately. We saw the smiles all of them had seeing an airplane take off or a helicopter landing. And more than anything, we saw that every kid who waived to a pilot taxiing by had their wave returned by that pilot with a smile just as big as their own.
After the kids had been gone for just a couple of hours, I had several pilots approach me simply to let us know how happy they were to see so many kids at the airport. One of our tenants put it perfectly when he said, “It was great to see all those kids out here today. Good on you guys. Do it more.” And he said it with a huge smile.
Aviation is universal in that way—it produces the same smiles whether you have 20,000 hours, worked at airports for decades, or you’re watching your first takeoff. It produces a particular kind of joy, happiness, whatever you want to call it – that is best experienced with others. (Call out quote: “Aviation is universal in that way —it produces the same smiles whether you have 20,000 hours, worked at airports for decades, or you’re watching your first takeoff.”)
So if you see one kid, or a 100 kids, hanging on your airport fence, peering in to get a better look at an airplane, go talk to them and their families. Bring them into the airport. Share it with them. It’s important.
This article also appeared in the Arizona Airports Association Newsletter.
