The Graduates

FLYING COLORS: Monday was a momentous one, as it marked the end of the kids' experience in private pilot ground school.

Unfortunately, Christian and I weren't there for it (we were winging back from Vegas, where we had been dog sitting). However, Kennedy was on hand, and took lots of photos for us, fortunately.

The kids had their final tests in the morning. At noon, they gathered in The Museum of Flight's Aviation Pavilion for a celebratory barbecue lunch.

After lunch, everyone made their way to the theater in the museum for the graduation ceremony.

There were 104 learners at the beginning of class. Not sure how many made it all the way through to the end, but this graphic shows they certainly did come from all over the state of Washington.

There was a short slideshow of ground school highlights. A familiar face showed up at one point.

CJ and Annabelle's 'home room' instructor was pilot Sara Baer. Their class was awarded their certificates first.

The kids worked super hard and learned so much in the three weeks of school. It felt weird not going there the past couple of days, as it had become such a big part of our weekday routine.

Following are a few photos CJ snapped during his ground school adventure. The one below is from The Museum of Flight's "control tower," overlooking the museum's front and Boeing Field to its east.

Below are empty flight simulators. The kids spent a fair amount of time in these machines, practicing principles of flight.

Below is not a simulator. It's the real thing, that "thing" being the controls of one of the jets n the museum's aviation pavilion. 

Some of the tools of the flight planning trade.

Pictured below is "Fat Albert," a short, kind of stocky jet Boeing made for NASA's Langley operation.

All in all, ground school was a ton of work for all involved, but it definitely was a worthwhile endeavor. The kids learned so much about aviation and the airline industry, they met lots of kids from all over, they learned valuable study habits, and they earned college credit, which is terrific.