Im planning flyday activities to keep cadets occupied while they're not in the air, anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks.
I would try for some model rocketry. Or even just some Aerospace Ed activities such as the giant foam glider on a cable, try to land it on the numbers taped to a few long tables like an aircraft carrier. I know it sounds easy and hoakey but, some cadets really do enjoy that one.
Quote from: HGjunkie on August 19, 2010, 06:38:01 PM
Im planning flyday activities to keep cadets occupied while they're not in the air, anybody have any suggestions?
Teach them about basic flight planning (weather check, routes, etc.). Have a PC with some flight sim software available. Run them through the aircraft ground handling course. Teach flight line marshaling. Offer open testing (or restrict it to aerospace only). Run a comm shack to give your cadets (and seniors) some experience in a relatively stress-free environment.
If the opportunity exists, some sort of tour might be nice. For a couple of o-flight days, I had the FBO hook us up with some ground people to show the cadets around, show them aircraft being repaired, talk a little about aircraft maintenance, provide info on careers as A&P mechanics, etc. The idea here is to use resources you might not have at your squadron meeting.
We also did basic AE classes (hands-on) when possible like weather and such.
We combined some ES training in and offered classes like ROA-B for those who needed it as well as some ELT DFing training, including some ramp checks.
These are all great suggestions, but I don't have these kinds of resources AFAIK. :(
I was thinking of something more along the lines of Team-building activities.
Quote from: HGjunkie on August 19, 2010, 09:11:02 PM
These are all great suggestions, but I don't have these kinds of resources AFAIK. :(
I was thinking of something more along the lines of Team-building activities.
Get an FLS and a couple of FLMs and run a flight line. Usually goes over well when I've done it in the past. Except for that one parent that was ticked that I didn't personally tell that his son was going to be able to do optional training. Not that I ever met either of them before and I'm a group officer who sent dozens of emails to the unit CCs informing them of plans... ::)
Barring that you could always do some AE movies. Flyboys, Apollo 13, From the Earth to the Moon, Right Stuff, etc..
Quote from: davidsinn on August 20, 2010, 02:18:05 AM
Quote from: HGjunkie on August 19, 2010, 09:11:02 PM
These are all great suggestions, but I don't have these kinds of resources AFAIK. :(
I was thinking of something more along the lines of Team-building activities.
Barring that you could always do some AE movies. Flyboys, Apollo 13, From the Earth to the Moon, Right Stuff, etc..
12 O'Clock High! You get an AE/Military History lesson and a kick [fourth point of contact] leadership lesson all in one package.
Apollo 13 is also a good one that has applicability to leadership and AE. The Right Stuff is great too, but it's really long, some cadets won't have the attention span to sit through a 3+ hour movie.
If this is regarding Saturday, perhaps I'll see you there.
What do you have planned so far?
My issue is that all too often, the Cadets on the ground end up experiencing a day absent anything constructive with just a bit of this and a bit of that (whatever comes to mind) offered, rather than some sort of productive activity or program.
Even if low on resources, you might be able to ask your pilots for an extra sectional chart. Teach them how to read it, how to decipher what types of airports they are looking at, what frequencies to talk in the airspace and listen to information such as ATIS, how to get directions, runway lengths, elevations, how to figure out the various types of airspace. You get the idea.
Then have them plan a flight.
Quote from: DBlair on August 20, 2010, 06:03:41 AM
If this is regarding Saturday, perhaps I'll see you there.
What do you have planned so far?
My issue is that all too often, the Cadets on the ground end up experiencing a day absent anything constructive with just a bit of this and a bit of that (whatever comes to mind) offered, rather than some sort of productive activity or program.
Sir, All I have is a safety briefing, lunch break, and a Honor guard presentation.
EDIT- possibly an ES class.
All too often, this means HG members showing off for the other Cadets, rather than teaching them anything. It gets boring pretty fast to just sit there and watch someone show off and tell what they do at HG practice or how great their NCSA was this summer, or something of that nature. It seems whenever members are at a loss for ideas, they either drill or give a random ES class that usually doesn't actually teach/accomplish anything useful beyond saying how great it is to participate in ES, etc.
For those on the ground, there needs to be a constructive organized activity- preferably something associated with aerospace considering they are there to fly and most likely have an interest in flying/AE. A suggestion is to not do something just to kill time and fill the schedule, but rather make it something truly useful and interesting.
It is somewhat last minute at this point to start planning for tomorrow, but something perhaps you may want to look into is have someone teach the material for the RedStone phase of the Model Rocketry program so they will be prepared for the Model Rocketry bivouac currently being planned, or (as explained in other comments above) teaching something about flying such as charts, plotting a course, or something else flight-related- but make it something actually productive.
Are there going to be any SMs willing to give an aerospace class?
About the HG presentation- I was thinking of giving a short presentation of what we do, and then give them a hands on with the rifle drill.
Quote from: HGjunkie on August 20, 2010, 02:18:50 PM
Are there going to be any SMs willing to give an aerospace class?
About the HG presentation- I was thinking of giving a short presentation of what we do, and then give them a hands on with the rifle drill.
Re: SM - I'm not sure, I wasn't involved with the planning of this. As I heard you are planning the ground activities, perhaps you should see if any SMs are attending who are involved with Aerospace and can teach it. The problem is that it is very last minute- it is still possible, but may be somewhat difficult getting someone. What about Cadets? Do you know any Cadets who solidly know the material and can teach it?
Re: HG "Presentation" - This has been done over and over again and pretty much just ends up with HG Cadets showing off for the other Cadets. Realistically, the Cadets are not going to learn anything from that. You may have 30-50 (maybe more) Cadets there, and maybe a couple rifles, not very practical, not to mention this is something few Cadets will ever use. Think to yourself whether this is something they will actually ever use, or is this just to promote HG? We have a great HG program here in the Group, but having this "presentation" is not the best idea, nor the most productive use of that time.
^True. I'll schedule an AE class and try to find someone to teach it.
How about a DDR class with a focus on impairment while flying? You have the entire Wing DDR team in your group, you have a group DDRO (yeah, I know the issues there, working on it with your group commander), and the unit up in Clearwater has an excellent DDRO.
Edit-added some resources
Quote from: Tim Medeiros on August 20, 2010, 05:54:27 PM
How about a DDR class with a focus on impairment while flying? You have the entire Wing DDR team in your group, you have a group DDRO (yeah, I know the issues there, working on it with your group commander), and the unit up in Clearwater has an excellent DDRO.
Edit-added some resources
Excellent idea.
Tim
What? there are problems in Florida Wing??? shocking thought
I've done DF'ing at the airport before, too. Especially when I can arrange an aircraft to stash the training beacon in, or when there's cadets that don't know which aircraft is mine. That only works once. ;-)
Well, never mind. It's been cancelled last minute due to weather.
Quote from: HGjunkie on August 21, 2010, 11:11:48 AM
Well, never mind. It's been cancelled last minute due to weather.
Keep your ideas together for the next one. With some more planning time maybe you can line up more resources to do some of the cool things you might not have been able to do this time.
Thats the semi-flexible thing about planning an activity of broader participation in parallel.
In the event of a cancellation, mostly due to WX or MX - there is not a crapton of mass-disappointment.