On Saturday, May 19th, the Red-Tailed Hawks were hosted by Glacier Aviation, Inc. at Olympia Regional Airport (OLM), Olympia, WA. We were also blessed with a visit to the Olympic Flight Museum next door. We are so very grateful for the generosity of these businesses during our first meeting in the capital city of Washington. Many thanks to Sherman Robinson and Sanders Pratt for making early trips to the airport and coordinating arrangements for our meeting.
We first gathered in a hangar for discovery flight registration, opening prayer and introduction of students that are entering flight training this summer. Bella Capuano, London Holmes, Pascal Butler and Carlos Roundtree are going to the BPA “Les Morris” Summer Flight Academy. Keely Noel, Joshua Villarino, Diego Lemus, Julian Dorsey, Tre’Von Chambers, David Benton III, Mervyn Crawford, and Shabazz Abdulkadir will experience Red-Tailed Hawks FLY.
We went on to cover a couple of chapters in the RTH PHAK Activities Workbook: Aerodynamics of Flight and Principles of Flight. The students engaged in discussing Newton’s Laws of Motion, forces on an aircraft, axis of an aircraft and motion around them, flight control surfaces, gyroscopic forces, angle of attack, stalls, the radius of turn calculations, and airplane stability.
Afterward, Sherman Robinson shared the story of Lieutenant General Frank Petersen, US Marine Corps, who was the first black Marine aviator and the first lack Marine General. We listen to an online interview and Sherman provided a handout that summarized his story of success.
Next, Kimberly Scott shared a little of her aviation career and related the previous PHAK discussion to actual experiences. This Red-Tailed Hawk pilot is a US Air Force Academy graduate, retired Lieutenant Colonel with C-17 combat experience, and an Alaska Airlines first officer.
After the pilot/ground crew briefing, eighteen students received discovery flights in two Cessna airplanes. They were all shown the airplane traffic pattern and some even landed the airplane. Hats off to our guest pilot, Jim Robertson, who helped me fly our students.
After flying, we ate lunch and toured the Olympic Flight Museum.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. RTH is facilitating an after-school camp at the Renton/Skyway Boys and Girls Club, June 11-14. The subject matter will be Environmental Science in support of our NESSP partnership. We will have an experimental learning experience sampling soil, water, and air. We are going to get dirty outside and launch weather balloons. If your student is interested in participating, contact Martin Brazier. See the attached. Space is limited.
2. The selection process for the OBAP Seattle Solo Flight Academy is still underway for a few of our RTH students. If not selected, another opportunity is the USAF ACE Flight Program. Apply by June 1st http://www.123formbuilder.com/
3. Operation Skyhook is this weekend. Spencer Brashears, Torrance Hollis, and Jesse Hayes will compete. We are looking for others to make plans for next year. Competitors and judges are needed. It would be cool for RTH to bring home the Team trophy in 2019. Operation Skyhook is always Memorial Weekend.
4. The next fly-in meeting is June 9th at Paine Field. RSVP toflywa.bpa@gmail.com by June 4th. Students who have not done so, turn in your CTLA essay if you want to fly.
5. We are going to Gray Army Airfield June 30th. You may invite guest students for this exposure to helicopter operations.
6. RTH Aviation Day Camp is July 28th at the Museum of Flight. In addition to our membership, we are looking for 20-25 new students entering grades 6-11 that have not had the experience. See the attached. Space is limited. Get folks to sign up now. Roland Bradley is the camp coordin