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International Young Eagles Day,
A Zero Gravity Adventure
June 8, 2002
By Captain Dav1d 2002-06-08
Friday night was wet. Real wet. Plus thunder and lightning. Continued rain was forecast for Saturday, predicted at 40% for most of the day. Parents were calling me and asking if the Young Eagles Day events were still scheduled. I checked with JvL, who said that the weather would be just fine. "Tell 'em all to show up!”. So I did.
Saturday was a beautiful morning. The sun was bright, and the ground was dry. There was a gentle breeze (10 knots) from the south-west (suggesting Runway 21), but certainly good enough for flying. I questioned myself as to whether or not the winds would be too strong for Young Eagles. I like to take Young Eagles on the best weather days. If their first general aviation experience isn't great, we might lose the opportunity to ever get them into a small airplane again. I smiled all the way to the airport, prepared for yet another day with the pleasant task of introducing young children to the joys of general aviation.
I arrived at the airport at 08:45, a full 15 minutes before the scheduled pilot briefing. That gave me time to get some food into my system, and chat with some of the other pilots and ground crew who had already arrived.
Normally, the briefing consists of the current and projected weather conditions for the day, the flight path to be flown, and any additional last-minute instructions. Warren was Chief Pilot for the day, and he arrived in plenty of time to begin the meeting. In fact, he not only arrived in time, but he had printed and stapled instruction booklets for us! The booklets included descriptions of the flights for all four possible runways at Buttonville (including a diagram drawn on a map!), information about procedures, radio frequencies, and lots of other information. Warren began by thanking everyone who was contributing their time and (gas) money to this noble cause, and then he dove right into the procedures and instructions. It was at this time that we found out that Warren had even arranged for 10 discreet transponder codes that, once assigned to a Young Eagles airplane, would remain with that airplane for the entire day. Good going, Warren!
By 09:30, the kids started arriving. We normally tell the parents to bring the kids at 10:00, so the pilots and ground crew and registration teams have time to get set up. But the kids are always eager to get to the airport early, and to get into the air!
The registration team did an excellent job registering the kids, and passing them to the ground crew. The ground crew did an excellent job marshalling the kids into groups and out to the airplanes. The pilots did an excellent job flying. Flight services was very supportive with the tours. ATC did a fabulous job. Toronto Airways was very helpful. Everything worked like clockwork.
In hindsight, this was one of the smoothest Young Eagles events that I can remember. And, having given it some thought, I think I realize now why it went so smoothly.
First, we have a well-oiled crew. Everyone has done these jobs before, and we've rotated jobs, so pilots have done ground duty, ground crew have done pilot duty, so we know what every expects.
Second, we had waaa-aaa-aaa-y more airplanes per kid this time than at previous events. This is key to moving kids through the system. When the number of kids waiting to fly begins to back up, and they're all running around the terminal building and the "picnic area”, things begin to get out of hand. This issue was helped, too, by the fact that some kids were told not to show up until 11:00am (that's what I told my Boy Scouts), so the "logjam” never really happened. I think this is crucial for future events. Keep the number of "ready-to-fly” kids to a minimum.
Third, the new rules about having two escorts for every group of kids being taken to and from the airplanes worked well. I noticed (at least once) when a group started out with only a single escort, that suddenly, a second escort, who realized what was happening, rushed over to join the entourage! Good work. I personally have received many compliments (from the parents of the Boy Scouts that I brought, and other people) how professionally and safely the whole thing was handled.
Of course, there's always room for improvement, and in that area, I have a few suggestions. In particular, I think there should be a designated "ground handler”. The role has NOTHING to do with kids, it only has to do with airplanes. This person (or an alternate so the primary gets a break,) should be on the ramp at all times, making sure that airplanes have a place to stop to load and unload, without blocking in other airplanes. I saw a number of "potentially disastrous” parking jobs, and many others that prevented airplanes from getting out of the crowd. Sometimes, airplanes can be involved for a few hours, and then have other destinations, so they need to be given spots that are not packed together with the ones that are waiting, in sequence, for the next load of kids.
So, having said all of that, let me share with you the flight of one particular group of kids.
It was getting on into the afternoon, ... [Continued on Page 2]
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