By MICKEY CUSHINE
On July 26, the Bakersfield Flying Club in Bakersfield, California, provided a club tour and free simulator rides to more than 20 children from the Society of Disabled Children as part of that group’s STEM program.
All of the children and their families were able to tour the Meadows Airport in the vicinity of the Atlantic FBO. Many loved sitting in the club planes and others loved flying in the club’s new full-motion flight simulator.
A few weeks after the tour, I was given the opportunity to volunteer at the Society and teach the kids about flight and the different aspects of aviation. Their program is called STEM, which allows for the kids to learn new curriculum. That week just so happened to be focused on flight at my request to their executive director.
I was able to teach these kids the phonetic alphabet and many learned quick enough to spell their names using the alphabet only five minutes into the lesson. The next day, I brought a desktop flight simulator and gave each child the opportunity to fly any plane they wanted. I could not keep count of the numerous smiles and happy expressions that each child showed as they flew their respective planes.