Fifth-grader Tyler Dick learned details of human flight Thursday at Quail Run School that some people don't encounter until college.
It was compliments of Ken Oliver, a Southwest Airlines and Kansas Air National Guard pilot. He volunteers to lead Quail Run fifth-graders through the school's flight unit.
"I really enjoy doing it," said Oliver, who works with all fifth-graders in the school on a study of flight.
On Thursday, Oliver delved into research by 18th-century Swiss scientist Daniel Bernoulli. The Bernoulli Principle explains why an airplane stays in the air, Oliver said.
The principle has to do with aerodynamics and lift. It helps explain how air traveling across the top and bottom of a wing with a flat bottom and a curved top creates lift.
Interesting, Dick said, but not the highlight.
"My favorite part is when he brings snacks," he said.
Yes, Oliver gives a "byte-sized" Southwest package of dry roasted peanuts to each child on each visit.
He appeared in his Southwest uniform with a tie touting the program that brought him to Quail Run. The Adopt-A-Pilot project is a four-week curriculum that packs math, science, geography, history and creative writing into a sky-high educational adventure.
Fifth-grader Megan Bracciano listens as Ken Oliver, Lawrence, a pilot with Southwest Airlines, works with a model airplane at Quail Run School. Oliver was explaining how a plane works Thursday, as part of a program called Adopt-a-Pilot. The program puts a pilot in a classroom to teach math, science, history and other subjects using aviation models.
Students track Oliver's journeys around the country and complete study materials created by the Smithsonian Institute and the National Association of Teachers of Math.
Since the program was launched in 1997, more than 20,000 U.S. students and more than 200 Southwest pilots have participated.
"It certainly will make our pencil-and-paper activities more meaningful," said Christine Valcich, a fifth-grade teacher at Quail Run.
Oliver grew up in Leavenworth and lives in Lawrence. He has a son, Sam, in kindergarten at Quail Run.
Despite living in Lawrence, Oliver is based in Chicago with Southwest.
"When I go to work, I drive to Kansas City and commute to Chicago," Oliver said. "I love it. It's the only job for me."
In the next few days, he'll be flying a huge Air Force tanker out of Edwards Air Force Base in California. His mission is to perform air refueling for test flights of the F-22 Raptor, the Air Force's new stealth fighter.
Normally, Oliver would send pictures from work to the students at Quail Run. Not the F-22.
"They won't let us take pictures of it when doing the testing," he said.
Quail Run students will have to make do with another installment of travel photos of Quincy Quail. Oliver regularly sends images of Quincy, the school mascot, during flights to Nevada, Kentucky, Utah and California.
How does the foam-and-cloth mascot get past security?
"He hides in my professional publications bag," Oliver joked.
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