Badge: Take Flight

AGE LEVEL:   Juniors

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:    There are many different jobs in aviation. You might discover that you want a fun and rewarding career in aviation.

PATCH REQUIREMENTS:

Complete eight activities, including the four that are starred. 

1. Have an aviation word scavenger hunt. Break your troop up into teams of three or four. Using different sources such as the Yellow Pages, books, magazines, dictionaries, newspapers, etc., find all the words you can that have to do with aviation. Once you've found all that you can, put the words in alphabetical order. Make a time limit for both parts, such as 15 minutes to look at the books, and 5 minutes to alphabetize the words. See which group found the most, and which group found words that other groups didn't.
    
2. *** Learn the parts of an airplane using the activity sheets provided in your Take Flight workbook. Learn the layout of an airplane instrument panel by matching the instruments with their correct name, using the activities provided in your Take Flight workbook. You could practice by making a felt board and have a relay game with teams.
    
3. A phonetic alphabet is used by people in aviation to avoid confusion between letters that may sound alike. Learn the phonetic alphabet and complete the activities provided in your Take Flight workbook. Play the Air Traffic Controller game to see what it would be like to talk like people in aviation.
    
4. Airports have 3-letter identifiers, and one use for these is to identify airports on sectionals (a map for aviators). Read the list of 3-letter identifiers provided, then complete the activity provided in your Take Flight workbook.
    
5. *** Learn about the four forces of flight: lift, thrust, weight, and drag. Try some of the experiments that are included in your Take Flight workbook. Then complete the labeling activity provided.
    
6. Ask someone who is employed in the aviation field to talk with your troop about what their job is, what kind of requirements it takes, and when they became interested working in aviation.
   Learn about local aviation history. Share what you've learned with your troop.
    
7. Ask someone who is employed in the aviation field to talk with your troop about what their job is, what kind of requirements it takes, and when they became interested working in aviation.
    
8. Learn about local aviation history. Share what you've learned with your troop.

-OR-

1. Create an aviation game or puzzle (jigsaw, crossword, or word search) based on what you have learned. Share it with younger Girl Scouts.
     
2. Read a story about aviation history and share what you've learned with your troop.
     
3. Build a simple model airplane from a kit.
     
4. *** Read a book or watch a video about a female aviator. Share what you have learned with your troop.
     
5. Complete some activities that go along with the Flight Simulator program.
     
6. Write to aviation organizations, agencies, publications, or schools to get information on an aviation topic. (Some addresses provided on resource page.)
     
7. Visit an airport and arrange to take a tour. If possible, talk with pilots, mechanics, line personnel, aircraft schedulers, etc.
     
8. *** Have a timed race with a friend or your troop, and write down as many people as you can that work in the aviation field. Compare each other's lists. Then talk about the position(s) that you are interested in.

PURCHASE BADGES: Badges can be ordered through the GSWW store.

QUESTIONS: Contact your local regional office, or the Science Program Manager.