Can you remember back to the time when you were first intrigued by the mystery of aviation…?
Having a model car that could go fast or slow, left or right - or a combination of these, kept many of us amused.
A model boat that floated (or sank), could get blown by the wind with various sails (or carried downstream by the current until it sank) could also keep you busy for a while.
A bike was fun (until you fell off or went over the handlebars) but required a whole lot of effort to go uphill - the downhills were great, though. I kept hoping we could move to a place where we could go downhill everywhere, but Dad never seemed to get that part right - we always seem to live in proximity to an airfield (model or full-size, depending on how the family fortunes were doing…)
Aahh - aeroplanes.
You could lob a rock through the air with a fairly predictable trajectory. Your homemade bow and arrow could generally be relied on to hit the side of a barn (with some concentration - if you were inside the barn).
The carefully whittled homemade spear could produce predictably lousy results on a regular basis.
But that darned little gadget of balsa wood bits could do the craziest things if hurled skywards, even crazier still when a bit of twisted elastic and a cheap plastic prop got involved. The results were nonsensical, magically unpredictable (and if the family hound got involved there were usually tears
and recriminations all round).
The sessions of aero-D and basic physics over the kitchen table as the next assault on the mystical world of aviation were plotted, are still with me today.
Is that where my spark was ignited?
Was I one of the fortunate few who got exposed to the Genie early on?
How about you?
Look at the people at the next meeting/fly-in around you? How many youngsters are out there, hanging onto the pearls of wisdom that flow from the bards? Aren't the bards supposed have grey hair, wrinkles and a profound knowledge of the secret society's rules and etiquette? Are you not seeing those tell-tale bard-like features in the mirror every morning? Are the youngsters gathering around you to lap-up all of that store of incredible knowledge and advice?
Or alternatively, are those youngsters that are around, generally falling into two categories, the very young and still curios, or the older black screen-addicted head-down variety? The ones that can out-Google/snapscan /Tik Tok/ or 'whateva' for instant answers to everything, rendering the bards to evolutionary dinosaurs?
The due-process of finding out about Isaac Newton and the real effects of THE RULES can never be easily or effectively transferred via a glowing touchscreen.
In theory, yes, in practice - Ha bloody Ha.
Nothing like a bit of skin-in-the game (or smeared off your personal airframe) to gather the focus and stray thoughts into a loose formation of knowledge that may allow you to venture forth into the real world of aviation or similar.
So,
How do we try and expose the all-seeing/all-knowing youth of today to what's actually REAL in the aviation and engineering world? (Disclaimer: I have a pair of post-school grandchildren that can out-Google (or Whateva) anybody faster than you can blink. They can fly fighter jets, race Indy cars and cull a hundred heathens before breakfast.)
Stick them on a real mountain bike (on a mountain) and we will be needing the Aspro-mechanic's and Band-Aid blokes for sure before we reach the bottom…..
So many youngsters today are growing up in households where Dad never did National Service (or sometimes didn't even finish high schooling). Those who went through that oft-unpleasant dose of reality were exposed to a broader spectrum of life's challenges and realities.
How many people had their first experience of aviation in the back of a military transport aircraft? A HUGE amount of people, I'll bet. Even if you never went through that, the friends, family and colleagues that did certainly passed on that experience, both good and bad.
Even if you never experienced the privilege of having a supersonic fighter jet strapped to your ass, you could well have been one of millions who saw them at work, or at an airshow or display.
But where to today?
No Air Force to speak of, no effective programs in place by our National regulator, nothing cohesive to attract kids to STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) to encourage them to develop abilities to enter tertiary education…?
Despite huge protestations to the contrary, the regulator's own numbers tell the tale.
How do we get a little dose of reality (i.e. not generated by an electronically massaged image) to the kids and enquiring minds over the entire country?
We need to operate in parallel with the educational system, but be able to get the message to kids BEFORE they are sucked into the hole of SCREEN ADDICTION!
We need to find and intrigue the active hearts-and-minds that the industry (and other similar related industries) will need to maintain and grow the sector.
Not just aircrew, but the massive hidden 'army' of discipline's that keeps things turning and burning.
There are many 'diamonds-in-the-rough' out there that just need the spark of inspiration and a means of showing their desire to achieve a meaningful life.
Are YOU willing to be part of the solution, or are you going to continue complaining and allowing things to rot away before your eyes?
