Little Lamb's Airport Field Trip

Kara's class had an amazing field trip planned.  They were going to the airport to look at a corporate jet (Amway), AeroMed helicopter, the Air Traffic Control Tower, the Radar Room, and the Airport Fire & Rescue.  Danny would be coming with us, and I knew that Cole would love the trip as well.  So we decided to let Cole come along as well, and enjoy this unique (and educational, I was hoping) field trip.  We were there for almost three hours total, and Cole probably benefited from the outing more than any of the preschoolers.  In fact, in several instances, the adults looked at Cole and talked to him while answering questions, knowing that he was old enough to understand more in depth.  Everyone that we visited was a friend of the teacher, or a former Little Lamb's parent.  So while a lot of the information was too much for most of the kids, it really was a special trip that got them into several areas of the airport that they normally would not be able to go to, and they all enjoyed looking at the airplanes, helicopters, controls, etc. 


Exiting the Amway corporate jet.  All the kids really enjoyed this because it was something they understood.  They enjoyed sitting in the fancy chairs, seeing that each chair had it's own tv and phone, and other luxuries that they will never see in a plane again.  : )  

We then saw one of the three AeroMed helicopters that serves the Grand Rapids area.  The adults learned quite a bit and were able to ask questions while the kids waiting for their turn at the controls.

Then we walked up, up, up to the Air Traffic Control Tower.  Unfortunately there wasn't much plane activity while we were there - only one plane took off.  This picture is looking at the airport viewing area, where the kids and I spend quite a bit of time watching planes take off and land.  It was neat to see it from this vantage point.

The Radar Room is where they track planes within a 75 mile (I think) radius of the airport.  The round screens show the flight movements of planes, and we were shown how the controllers can find out information about the planes (speed, altitude, number of passengers, etc.).  Cole asked several pertinent questions, so one controller pretty much addressed him the entire time (which was fine because the younger kids weren't understanding what they did there).  Then, the controller renamed one of the planes 'Cole' and allowed him to use the controls to find out the information about his plane.  Very cool!  Kara and Danny later had planes named after them as well.

Lastly we went to the Airport Fire & Rescue.  We had a tour of their firehouse and saw their equipment before heading out to see one of the fire trucks in action.  They have three nozzles that can spray either water or foam, depending on the situation.  We didn't stay here long because it was the last stop and the kids were tired and hungry!

Cole wrote a thank you note to Kara's teachers for letting him come (he needn't know I never asked!), and then drew a picture of the Amway jet and wrote an informational piece to give to his teacher the next day (because he ended up missing the entire day because the trip was longer than I thought).  It was a neat trip and I'm glad we all had the opportunity to go.