Leaving on a Jet Plane.....

Brody and I visited the local airfield with some friends for a tour of their jets, hangars, and fire station. He was in heaven. Planes and fire trucks are two of his most favorite things.

Maybe Santa will bring me this if I am very, very good!

We watched the mechanics taking an engine off an Embraer jet (which is the plane we take flying out of our airport) and saw a Beechnut Turbo Propeller plane, a Lear jet and a Falcon 10. They even allowed all of us to climb aboard the that holds 7-8 passengers. Brody thought the cockpit was especially cool. The other thing to hold the kid's interest was the selsom used hidden potty in a drawer.

Brody admiring the cockpit of the Falcon 10

We learned that one of the jets goes 548 mph and you could get to Florida and have lunch with Mickey Mouse in about an hour and a half. I think all of the kids were willing and ready to take our guide up on the trip! The tour was very educational and interesting. We learned that the field was a Fixed Base Operator or FBO and handled all the maintenance for the airport planes, provided pilots for private planes, and ran all the charters for the sports teams for university in town. The highlight for Brody was watching the little Cessnas take off and land with students who have class at the local flight school. Apparently we have novice fliers over our heads everyday from 8am until midnight.....didn't want to know that living so close to the airport!

Brody and Kacee with a Beechnut Turbo Prop

The firehouse was small, but had a one-man firetruck equipped with a "water-gun" hose that the driver can operate to douse a fuel fire with foam. We learned that airport firetrucks are a yellow-green color because it is more easily seen from a distance than the color red. They also still have their original truck which was essentially an ancient red military jeep with two extinguisher canisters strapped to the hood. I didn't catch the year, but it looked pretty antique.

Brody "driving" the one-man fire truck