High Flying Homeschool

Her Daddy's Mohawk

Our mechanic was in the Army long before we met.  That's where he had his first hands on training with aircraft.  He was a crew chief for the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk.  If your not familiar with this slightly awkward looking plane, it was used for photo observation and electronic reconnaissance.  Created to meet requirements of the Army Equipment Development Guide of 1954, it was the first turboprop plane to be used by the US Army.  They took their first flight in April of 1959 and continued to fly missions until 1996.  They were used in Vietnam and during Operation Desert Storm as well as peace time missions around the world.  Currently they are being flown by Argentine Army Aviation.  At a recent airshow we were able to see this one.  After checking the numbers, we found out it was one our mechanic had worked on while in the service.

 

{Mohawk's have a very recogniseable silloette}

 

{It's great to have an expert give you the tour} 

 

 

{Talking about hydraulics}  

 

 

{Checking out the de-icer system on the wing}

  

 {A peak in the cockpit.  The man beside them was a Mohawk test pilot.}

 

{Two of my mechanic's favorite things}

 

They spent about an hour covering every inch of that airplane.  Between the pilot we met and our mechanic, every possible question my future pilot had was answered.  The best part was seeing our baby got hands on time with part of her daddy's history.  She had seen the pictures and heard the stories,  but I think being able to walk around it and touch each part as it was explained  created memories that will stick forever.

 

 

Happy Weekend

{With rain and clouds on the schedule for tomorrow, we're headed for some outside fun today.  Grant Seafood Festival - Here we come!!!}

Trapped outside the boundaries of time and space...

I usually create/schedule all the lesson plans and educational experiences, but sometimes the mechanic surprises me (like how my new vacuum cleaner can lead to a discussion about turbine engines).  After a long hot bath with my kindle I found my future pilot watching a movie instead of headed for bed.  My mechanic informed me that this was an educational movie and I needed to watch too.  After the movie intro and accompanying pop quiz on aircraft make and models I settled in to see what I could learn from The Final Countdown.  One hundred three minutes and a little google later, here's what I've got:

• Nets can be used to catch an airplane on the deck of an aircraft carrier during adverse conditions (i.e. sailing into a giant electric blue swirly thing)
• The Navy had a liberal policy on facial hair during the '80s.
• Someone was intelligent enough to invent a "helmet dispenser." Not sure if this is an actual device, but it looked nifty in the movie.
•  The photo said to have just been taken by the recon plane was an actual photo taken by the Japanese during their attack on Pearl Harbor.
• The board game the sailors are playing is Squad Leader.  You can still find it on ebay and it's been turned into a computer game.
• "Uncommon valor was a common virtue." Statement after the battle of Iwo Jima by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (whom the aircraft carrier is named after)
• The black and white attack footage was reused from Tora, Tora, Tora!

It's not one that I had heard of before and overall it was a good movie. Lots of flight scenes and a variety of aircraft (great views of in flight refueling).  If watched with an aircraft enthusiast or two there is definitely educational potential.  We talked about nuclear powered ships, aircraft carrier launches and landings, and the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Seeing Japanese Zeros (actually AT-6 Texans) interact with F-14s showed the drastic leap technology made from the 1940s to the 1980s.  The theory of time travel and the evolution of special effects could also be good topic spin-offs from this film.  I just have to remember learning opportunities are everywhere, even in slightly corny sci-fi movies watched past bed time.

 




***A little foul language and some fake blood give it a PG rating.

A Helicopter?!?

Last July while the mechanic was busy fixing airplanes someplace sandy, my future pilot and I were driving back and forth from our home on the Space Coast to national dance competition in Orlando.  If you're not familiar with the scheduling of dance competitions it is a requirement that they will always be the same weekend as the Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and 4th of July.  Driving back to the house on the 4th we were having a very unfair discussion about "because your call time is very early we won't be going to see fireworks."  I offered a special treat of her choice to make up for missing the fireworks and going to bed early.  She was amazingly mature in her response and even slept in the recliner so we wouldn't have to get up extra early and re-braid her hair.

After competition was finished the next day, we headed over to I Drive for lunch.  She immediately noticed the air traffic in the area and asked why there were so many helicopters.  Just then we were passing the building where the helicopter tours were leaving from and I was told "I think I want to do that.  It scares me but I have to do it."

So, the mom that had at that point never left the ground in anything other than a commercial plane walked into the helicopter office, booked 2 tickets and stood on a scale in public! 

After an hour and a half wait and a free tour of the model train museum we were off.

{Notice my almost believable smile}



{My baby chose to sit up front with the pilot instead of in the back holding her momma's hand}

I new it wasn't going to feel like my commercial flight to Seattle, but I wasn't quite prepared for how it did feel.  Helicopters don't want to fly, they can't glide like a fixed wing and instead beat the air into submission.  This does not make for a smooth and reassuring experience.  I quickly realized that I could pretend I wasn't there if I looked only thru the little screen on my camera. 

My baby wasn't so sure about it either.  I did some quick talking over the headsets and pointed out that you could see the dolphins at Seaworld.  (All future career talk lately has been a combination of aviation and animals.)

 

After seeing the dolphins she was all smiles and was already planning another flight for when our mechanic came home.

That smile makes any anxiety worth every moment. (but it doesn't make me comfortable enough to let go of her arm, why did I think that was helping!?!)