The fifth grade Enrichment Students of Braelinn Elementary led by Dr. Mary Lou Goehring and Nance Hudson in Peachtree City have joined over 48,000 students in more than 1,500 classrooms across the country who have “adopted” Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways pilots, giving the aviators opportunity to mentor students in and around the fifth grade level.
As part of the Adopt-A-Pilot program they have “adopted” two pilots of AirTran Airways, First Officer Joe McKamey and Captain Kevin Ellis who have been coming into their class to teach aviation-themed activities related to science, geography, math, writing, world history and other core subjects.
As part of the Adopt-A-Pilot program, the students will also research careers and further develop life skills while the importance of staying in school is reinforced. Southwest Airlines offers this opportunity at no cost to the participating schools.
The class went to the AirTran Airways pilot training facility run by Boeing and Flight Attendant Training Center to learn about how flight crews are trained. The highlight for most of the kids was the time they spent in the multi-million dollar Boeing 737 simulator. Each student actually did get to fly the Boeing 737 simulator under the instruction for a highly trained instructor.
