Aviation Field Trip

A fourth grade study of the history of flight combined lessons in the subject areas of science, language arts, social studies, and math. This unit of study ended in a culminating field trip to the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte and Discovery Place to view the traveling exhibit entitled, "Flight Where Adventures Take Off." While at the Aviation Museum, students were given a guided tour of Charlotte's original airport hangar which now houses preserved aircraft such as the Piedmont Airlines DC-3, which was built in 1942, and the Thunder Jet, a fighter-bomber used in the Korean War. The highlight of the tour included the students sitting in the completely restored cockpit of an Air Force Boeing KC-97L, which was the first aerial refueling aircraft. While at the Discovery Place, students were able to view and interact with flight simulators, real aircraft, and listen to audio recordings about people who made history in flight, like Orville and Wilbur Wright. The students left this field trip with their "heads in the clouds" and their "feet barely touching the ground."