Can aviation still attract young enthusiasts?

Inspire them through school visits!

I do. I take my tutor group to Duxford to go flying every year (on Classic Wings’ Rapide).

I can’t say the boys are really that interested like I was at their age, but it’s a good day out at any rate and I might inspire a few of them.

[QUOTE=trumper;2023044.In the 50’s ,60’s and 70’s there were personalities ,test pilots things that captured the imaginations,who can name a world famous aviation character today.
.[/QUOTE]

Yes that is of course true. But then the early post-war years were full of British made aircraft and a multiplicity of types protecting our territories across the globe. Now there is little or no indigenous industry to galvanise the interest in the current aviation scene. There has been much posting of the history and I am sure some of that lingers with some of the schoolchildren but it needs to be interesting and arresting NOW not then. As a youngster in the fifties I knew little or nothing of WW1 or inter-war aviation, it was the aircraft and the pilots of the time which fascinated and excited and awakened my interest because they were relevant to a growing lad.

Its not only Aviation that is suffering …..Teenagers , both in UK & USA , have also lost interest in Cars & Motoring . They no longer look at having a driving licence & buying / driving their first car , a ” Holy Grail “experience . My generation couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel , meet/take out girls , explore the country , look for jobs farther afield , get to disco’s & pubs with mates . Kids today have more interest in On-Line , games , communication, cyber friends . The thrill of a big bore exhaust, taking off the hub caps & go – faster stripes & a wood rim steering wheel , have long gone !!!( Bring back lost youth, bid time return ! )

Aviation is seen as a rich mans hobby which in this day and age with the recession,mortgages being very hard to save for takes it further away from everyday folk.In the 50’s ,60’s and 70’s there were personalities ,test pilots things that captured the imaginations,who can name a world famous aviation character today.
I remember growing up with comics that were full of war stories,biggles, everything is changed today although with a good computer you can virtually fly computer sims without leaving your bedroom.
I think education is quite stringent in it’s approach and the practical side of mechanics ,woodwork,metal work seems almost a dying art.

I’ve got to be honest, although I had some good teachers in my school days they didn’t really nurture anyone’s interest in becoming anything.

Back about 13yrs ago when I was 16 I bumped in to a teacher that worked in the nursery that I went to when I was little, when she asked me what it was that I wanted to do I said ‘Airline pilot’ She smiled and said ‘You still want to do that? Brilliant, I remember when you was 3 and you was so keen back then too’ I think that nursery/playgroup was the only time when the teachers were really supportive. Infact back in those days one of the teachers even let me borrow her sons aviation books for the weekend and I always brought them back without a scratch.

All my friends, teachers etc have always known me for my aviation interest and ambition to fly. When I was younger it was almost inconceivable to think of a life away from flying and aviation. However all that has changed since I’ve been in my twenties. I learned to fly at aged 19 (almost 10yrs ago now) and have watched the aviation industry change so much over the years, the cost of flying and training has increased and the task almost seems like a mountain. Moan about it and the airline pilots think you’re being lazy. Far from it when you know you’ve got to raise over 70K nowadays with little chance of a flying job. It’s just very unattractive to young people. What other job out there states ‘Pay anywhere from 50 – 100K and you MIGHT get a job’ I have come from an average family, no one does anything particularly exciting work-wise and so I knew it was always going to be hard for me personally but I gave the flying a go anyway because although it’s not worked out quite as well as I had hoped I do also feel glad I tried. I’ll continue to fly for fun but nearing 30 I confess that I want to leave home, find a partner and have a family. This is why I decided to study criminology and join the police in the future. When I was a kid I thought if I ever had to give up flying or working in aviation it would be the end of the world but I realised that it isn’t. Flying and its cost holds you back from a lot of other things, especially money related things. I’ve had a good time flying, make no mistake about it and I will continue to fly for fun. However looking at all the new airliners coming out, they just never appealed to me as much as old B732’s, B757’s etc
A relative of mine worked at LHR back in the 90’s. He was 19 and got me work experience when I was 15 with British Midland. He also wanted to be an airline pilot. A few years ago he gave up on the idea and left aviation. Now he’s a Police Constable with the Metropolitan Police Service. I told him that I was aiming for the same job as him recently and asked him what he thought of it. His response ‘It’s the best job in the world, you’ll love it’
There is life after aviation!

I also think the other problem is that most people with an interest are so centered on ‘airliners’ I grew up by Heathrow and was much the same until I learned to fly and then I realised that, even now, I can visit or fly in to small airfields and see aircraft types I never knew exist. 2 Wednesday’s ago I did some formation flying, Moggy came along in his lovely RV4 and there was another 2 aircraft, an Acro Sport and a CAP231EX, both of which I had never heard of before. It makes a nice change from the usual EasyJet airbus, Ryanair B737 etc
Speaking of the formation flying, that is a great experience. On May 1st we did our flying out of Little Gransden and then Top Farm before returning to Cranfield. I must say Top Farm is a lovely little grass airstrip and it was so nice and relaxing to just sit out on the grass next to our planes and just chat aviation, take to the sky again, land again, relax on the grass next to the planes, eat and drink a bottle of water, fly again, that’s what flying is all about. The community spirit amongst pilots (and others involved in aviation) enjoying the fun side of flying. Unfortunately not many experience this as they are so centered and focused on the airlines.

CH, as for the scope of the project it’s worth scrolling to the bottom of this page http://www.ahleducation.org.uk/frequently_asked_qestions.html to see the project’s supporters / mentors!

As for uptake, I am aware that the combined pupil participation targets that have been set for the sites are well in to 5 figures!!

Andy,

Inspirational teachers ? What a rarity to-day. Here’s a little something I’ve noticed of recent date. We go to three or four airshows most years. Usualy Eastbourne, Bournemouth, Shoreham and Duxford. When historic aircraft are flying or, for that matter almost anything, pause and have a look around at the ‘spectators’. The numbers looking every where but at the sky are astonishing. We look at each other and say: ‘Why have they bothered to come?’ Is it the case that they genuinely do not know what they are seeing?

Charlie,

What an inestimable blessing ! If you have to move Heaven and Earth, do so, to keep him there

Regarding teachers, In the sixties and seventies when I was at school, the male teachers were often like something from Pink Floyd’s, ‘The Wall’ – damaged veterans of WW2. I grew up losing a lot of respect for the older generation, in some measure due to those teachers. Having spoken to my grandchildrens teachers, although I don’t like the parameters they have to work within, I don’t recall many of my own teachers having the empathy with kids that they seem to have now. Perhaps we’re just lucky living in this area (N.E. Scotland). I do agree that there isn’t enough technical nuts and bolts experience taught though but surely parents and grandparents can help with this. I certainly do and my grandkids are easily persuaded to leave the electronic boxes to help me build a garage, apply some spanners to the bike etc.

As for airshows, the ones I’ve attended in the last few years are teeming with families who seem to be there for a diversion, another day out surrounded by fairgound rides and other kids attractions. The aircraft appear to be of secondary or no importance to them. I recall watching a Jet Provost doing a solo display just after the ‘big attraction’ of the Red Arrows. The crowds turned away and had absolutely no appreciation of the skill involved in flying a JP inverted with the undercarriage extended.

Still, I suppose the ‘family attractions’ are worthwhile if it kindles an interest in a few of the kids who wouldn’t attend otherwise.

Good stuff, TO and well deserved all round I am sure but simply not enough, nationally, perhaps. In any case that success does not necessarily answer the OP’s question. The fact that facilities are available does not necessarily mean they are being taken advantage of by children. And the fact the schools do so, as you have mentioned, does not mean that the parents support or build on that experience.

But certainly not enough inspirational teachers, many of whom are female, as previously mentioned.

Others perhaps ought to take a leaf out of Lincolnshire’s book – successful at all levels and funded for another two and a half years!

Guess what there’re still lots of inspirational teachers around and many of them are female!! :rolleyes:

Inspirational teachers – now there’s a thread in itself. I was SO fortunate! I thank those who were – you know who you are, not that many of you are still alive, sadly.

John – we will!

Yes John.
He gave me my love of words.
Whenever I write anything now–even my little asides for the SVAS journal, I try to view them as I think he would–somewhat dimly I imagine.

Sadly to me at least, The Collection used to have an annual schools day, this was eventually abandoned because of a lack of interest by schools.
Teachers sitting about on the grass, no doubt pouring scorn on the efforts of engineers and brave men while pushing some pseudo Trotskyist agenda or other seemed to be where it ended up.
Sadly also, and it’s probably a largely unfashionable view in the modern World, I reckon you can’t teach anyone very much, if don’t know much yourself.
But then again, I know nothing.

Andy,

Inspirational teachers ? What a rarity to-day. Here’s a little something I’ve noticed of recent date. We go to three or four airshows most years. Usualy Eastbourne, Bournemouth, Shoreham and Duxford. When historic aircraft are flying or, for that matter almost anything, pause and have a look around at the ‘spectators’. The numbers looking every where but at the sky are astonishing. We look at each other and say: ‘Why have they bothered to come?’ Is it the case that they genuinely do not know what they are seeing?

Charlie,

What an inestimable blessing ! If you have to move Heaven and Earth, do so, to keep him there

Your last paragraph is a pretty good summation of the flawed basis for today’s education policy.
Thanks to a very unexpected legacy my grandson has moved from the state to the private sector. The difference in every aspect is astonishing. State education has so much to learn from the private sector about how to educate well.

John.
I doubt this will ever happen in an English classroom again–or anywhere for that matter.

My old English teacher Mr Brian Hulme was reading from Shakespeare one day to a class of Norfolk teenagers–itself, I imagine a somewhat depressing task, when the BBMF Lancaster roared overhead quite low–they were based at Coltishall in those days.
Brian stopped mid-sentence, and watched the Lanc in silence as it flew into the distance and disappeared. He then then turned to a class of upturned faces and said: ‘My brother used to fly those you know’.

Almost twenty years later I met him and almost my first question was, ‘I know your brother flew with Bomber Command, did he get through alright?’ Happily he did, and Brian said how did I know, and I repeated the story. ‘My goodness Jones, you have a good memory, my memory of you is of a pupil who I gave rare A’s to but you never cared enough about your studies’, was his response.
We still exchange Christnas cards.

A.

There is to my mind another influence – a very pronounced influence, on the interests of children especially boys. State primary schools are almost exclusively staffed by female teachers. Being female, their recreational teaching preoccupations are with ‘soft’ subjects such as needlework, cooking, knitting, skipping and group sporting activities such as rounders, netball and the like.

What these teachers won’t be doing is encouraging young boys in what should be their natural preoccupations such as using a bag of tools and their imaginations to make things like crude aeroplanes, sledges, wheeled wooden carts, sail boats, all of which were commonplace when I was a boy. As a consequence I had – in keeping with my friends, a ready facility with tools of most descriptions and as I grew up could translate that into necessary DIY aound my house.

Instead of all that, I get an impression that the boys are included in the ‘soft’ activities of the girls. I don’t think that that is very good for the boys and their advancement into adulthood when they will be expected to provide the nation’s workforce to get their hands dirty in doing all the jobs that are so necessary to every day life and the very ones that the girls by natural inclination shy away from.

My wife and I were driving into Chichester yesterday and we passed a large expanse of ‘green’ on our left side. Children, in their whites were playing cricket and my wife pointed out the presence of girls in mixed teams with the boys. Having played the game for umpteen numbers of years, I know that cricket is not that robust a game requiring physicality in the way that rugby does. However, boys and girls play games in very different ways. I write that having witnessed many displays of feminine brutality in hockey and lacrosse. My mind wandered to the possibility that boys playing in mixed teams may well – even unconsciously – modify their natural sporting aggression with potentially dire effect on our international efforts.

The explanation that lies behind most of the above is the insane and muddleheaded preoccupation with equal opportunities that demands that the sexes are treated equally in all respects and makes no allowance for the permanent and natural differences between the genders.

They already do that at a certain little airfield in Bedfordshire–up to 16 years free with an adult.
A.

Then that still sets a good example – my son went free whenever we visited.

That’s a helluva good point. Free up to 13 perhaps.

Or even up to school leaving age?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Andy, Perchance not a lot of people know that. There ought to be a list from other members as to where kids can go free.
Anyone car to post any?.The Shuttleworth Collection is one, (Just a plug for you Andy,:))
Jim.
Lincoln .7

They already do that at a certain little airfield in Bedfordshire–up to 16 years free with an adult.
A.

That’s a helluva good point. Free up to 13 perhaps.