Eighth graders from the Teen Center recently evacuated a Southwest Airlines airplane by sliding down the emergency slides.
But don’t worry—there was no actual emergency. It was all part of the students’ visit to Southwest’s Atlanta training facility in April. The students also had the opportunity to experience one of the airline’s flight training simulators.
“It was very realistic,” says Brandon Woodard, program manager. “We were ‘flying’ during the day, then the simulator turned to night. The students also got a pilot’s view of what it’s like to land in New York.”
During another part of the visit to the airline’s facility, Southwest chief flight instructor Rob Amsler and flight attendant Erica Carson spoke with College 4 Careers students about careers in the airline industry.
Back at the Teen Center, students have launched an “Adopt a Pilot” program, in which a Southwest Airlines pilot visits the Teen Center weekly for four weeks to talk with the students about becoming and working as a pilot.