6/24/2013
MEDIA ADVISORY: Video/photo/interview opportunities at ITD's ACE Academy Wednesday
MEDIA ADVISORY
BOISE —The annual Aviation Career Exploration (ACE) Academy will provide exciting opportunities for photographs, video and interviews on Wednesday (June 26). Twenty-eight high school students from throughout Idaho are participating in the three-day event, June 24-26.
The ACE Academy will culminate with a full schedule of media-friendly activities Wednesday. The day starts with a launch of the balloon satellites built by students, with the goal of reaching an altitude of 100,000 feet. Students also will accompany local volunteer pilots on flights to remote backcountry areas early Wednesday morning, and be given an opportunity to take the controls briefly to experience the role of a pilot. The day will end with students touring the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa and watching their handcrafted rockets shoot 400 feet into the air.
The first two days of the ACE Academy feature seminars, balloon satellite and rocket building and launches, tours of the Idaho Army and Air National Guard, National Interagency Fire Center and the Boise airport.
The schedule for Wednesday's media opportunities is as follows:
- 7 a.m: Satellite Balloon launch, location to be decided per weather conditions. Landing expected around 2 hours later, location announced day of.
- 7:45 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.: Navigational Flights to Garden Valley, Idaho City, and Smith Prairie navigated by volunteer seasoned pilots. Flights land in Nampa at the Warhawk Air Museum.
- 10:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m: Tour of Warhawk Air Museum
- 12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.: Lunch and speech by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University representative
- 1:15 p.m. - 2 p.m.: Tour of EAA hangar
- 2 p.m.: Transit to location of rocket launch, Columbia High School in Nampa (subject to change; see ITD contact phone numbers below for location information)
- 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.: Rocket launch
- 4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m.: Closing picnic
For more information regarding Wednesday's event, to RSVP for set up and interviews, or to confirm activity locations, contact ITD's Office of Communications at (208) 334-8005, or Tammy Shoen of the Division of Aeronautics at (208) 334-8776.