2/23/2005
Rocket launches, hands-on activities offered at Aviation Festival for aspiring aviators
BOISE - Aspiring astronauts, pilots and rocket scientists can create their own pop bottle rockets and paper airplanes at the Idaho Aviation Festival, March 10-12. The festival will be at the Boise Centre on the Grove in downtown Boise and is sponsored by the Idaho Transportation Departments Division of Aeronautics.
Activities tailored for budding aviators include:
Aviation Career Forum
Thursday, March 10
6 8
p.m.
Anyone interested in aviation can learn about a wide range of career opportunities within the industry. A panel of presenters will include pilots, an air traffic controller, a flight attendant, and flight school and military representatives. All panel members will be available for a question-and-answer session. Door prizes, such as flights with Jared Aicher of the Eagle Flight, will be awarded. Aicher, 33, hopes next year to become the youngest solo pilot to circumnavigate the globe. He also will participate on the panel. Parents are invited to attend the session.
Family and Childrens Workshop
Saturday, March 12
10
a.m. 2 p.m.
Kids and their parents are invited to work their way through five hands-on activity stations. Activities include building Kimoto flyers, paper airplanes, pop-bottle rockets, straw rockets and Goddard Rockets. All materials will be supplied and children are encouraged to take their finished projects home. The workshop is sponsored by ITDs Division of Aeronautics and the Discovery Center of Idaho.
The Real Rocket Man
Saturday, March 12
10 11 a.m.
and 1 - 2 p.m.
Dr. Ali Siahpush, a mechanical engineer from the Idaho National Laboratory, will launch small rockets and talk about the environment of space, micro-gravity and Pocatello students involvement in the Starshine project. The Starshine spacecraft was launched by NASA and covered with 1,500 small mirrors, making it visible from earth.
The three events are free and open to the public. Canned food donations to
the Idaho Food Bank are encouraged for admission.
More than 500 aviation
enthusiasts are expected to gather for the festival. The three-day event will
include presentations on ballooning, the new Sport Pilot ruling, pilot
nutrition, new technologies, current trends within the industry, pilot training
seminars, certification credits for mechanics, the AvSwap (a chance to buy and
sell aviation parts and supplies) and much more.
Full festival registration is $99 and includes admission to all training seminars and workshops; a Thursday kick-off luncheon featuring Jared Aicher with the Eagle Flight and Cirrus Design CEO Alan Klapmeier; and a Saturday closing banquet highlighting Retired Lt. Col. Steve Edgars experiences as a Stealth 117A pilot. Tickets to the luncheon ($17) and banquet ($35) can be purchased separately.
For more information on attending, exhibiting or sponsoring the festival, visit http://itd.idaho.gov/aero/aviationfestival , or call Becky Funston at (208) 288-0290 or (800) 345-8793.