Learning the mechanics of flight: Cranbury girls experience the Aviation Challenge fun

By Mike Morsch, Executive editor
When Elaina Phillips returned from the Aviation Challenge last summer at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, her older sister Christy took notice.
“She was so excited about it that I decided I wanted to try it, too,” said Christy. “So when my parents signed her up for this year, I asked if I could also go and they agreed. But I was extra nervous when I went. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.”
Elaina Phillips, Christy Phillips and Victoria Pagano, all of Cranbury, attended the recent Aviation Challenge – Mach II at the space and rocket center in Huntsville, Alabama. Elaina and Victoria are incoming eighth-graders at Cranbury School and Christy is an incoming freshman at Princeton High School.
And the three came back with some great stories about what they did on their summer vacations.
The Aviation Challenge – Mach II is a weeklong educational program that promotes science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), while training students and adults with hands-on activities and missions based on teamwork, leadership and problem solving.
The girls were part of a program specifically designed for students who have an interest in military aviation and the mechanics of flight. They spent the week training with a team that flew a simulated F-18 fighter jet. The crew learned critical land- and water-survival skills and mastered Top Gun flying maneuvers. Their teams returned in time to graduate with honors.
“I decided to go to aviation camp because it sounded like a fun experience when my dad asked me if I wanted to go. I would learn how to use the flight simulators and things like that,” said Elaina.
But that wasn’t the only aspect of the program that she enjoyed. It turned out that Elaina not only liked her experiences in the flight simulators, she doesn’t mind the part of the program that gets her a little dirty and grimy, too.
“One of the most amusing things I did was that we went on patrol at night and I learned how to Army crawl 100 yards on my stomach, using my arms to slide myself along the ground,” said Elaina “It was done in the woods and the only thing you could see were the feet of person in front of you. We wore camouflage clothing and put charcoal on our exposed skin and didn’t talk so we wouldn’t be caught.”
That part of the experience appealed to Victoria as well.
“The night patrolling was my favorite part,” said Victoria. “It was the most realistic thing.”
Christy was more taken with the experiences in the flight simulators, particularly the helicopter one where a water crash was simulated and the team members on board had to extract all those aboard safely.
“We had to practice getting out the proper way. The second time that we did it, they assigned a different role to each person. One person would have a broken leg, another wouldn’t be able to see. So then the team would have to deal with that and try to get them out safely along with everyone else before we all drowned,” said Christy.
Elaina, who along with Victoria were members of Team Northrop-Grumman (a sponsor), also earned some “points” for her team after her squadron patch design was chosen the best in its division.
The Aviation Challenge opened in 1990 in Huntsville, and uses fighter pilot training techniques to engage trainees in real-world applications of STEM subjects. Students sleep in barracks designed to resemble military bays.
More than 750,000 trainees have graduated from Space Camp and its sister programs since its inception in 1982, including STS-131 astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Dr. Kate Rubins, who launched to the International Space Station this summer.
Last year, children and teachers from all 50 states and 69 international locations attended Space Camp.
“It was such an amazing experience,” said Christy. “Of course I’d do it again. I’m already annoying my parents about setting it up for next year.”
And Victoria, who had been to two previous aviation challenges, also wants to continue participating in the challenges again next year and has even considered making it part of a career.
“I want to get my pilot’s license, so it helps having this experience,” she said. “I’m probably going to do it again next year. I think I’m old enough to do Mach III, where there are more survival skills and more advanced simulators.” 