This year, Southwest Airlines again organized the Continuing the Legacy in Aviation Program. Eleven students and 14 parents and chaperones from seven non-profit and education organizations experienced a priceless and invaluable opportunity this fall. For the second year in a row Southwest Airlines invited these guests in to tour our facilities and to have the students see what we do as an airline.

  The Second Continuing the Legacy in Aviation participating organizations included:  The Bessie Coleman Foundation; National Tuskegee Airmen, Inc Youth Department; Northern Virginia Urban League; First Baptist Church of Glenarden Aviation Ministry; Claude R. Platte DFW Tuskegee Airmen Chapter; Aerospace Science Program at Western Hills High School in Fort Worth, Texas; and the AFJROTC Aerospace Science Program at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas. On the two-day venture, the students were joined by the legendary Tuskegee Airmen from the Claude R. Platte DFW Tuskegee Airmen Chapter; Mr. Claude Platte, Mr. Calvin Spann, and Mr. Robert T. McDaniel. Before the students made their way to Southwest Airlines, they stopped and visited the Dallas Love Field Control Tower. They observed how the air traffic controllers directed the planes by using mathematics and technical controls, while being mindful of the weather.  Next, the students visited the Frontiers of Flight Museum where they got the chance of a lifetime, by flying in an F-16 simulator. 

The learning continued the next day at the Southwest Airlines Flight Training Center.  Here, the students sat in the 737 simulator cockpits and asked lots of questions.  Without a minute to spare, the students boarded the Inflight simulator to experience the Flight Attendant training. 

Next, the students visited the Dallas Maintenance Hangar, where they got a chance to experience what we do as Mechanics on a daily basis.  They then visited our Dispatchers in Flight Dispatch, and lastly, the students put on headsets and listened to calls at the Customer Support and Services Department.

“Southwest Airlines understands how seeing, touching, hearing, and doing opens up a whole new world for students—they are teachable and impressionable moments,” said Karen Price-Ward, Corporate Community Affairs Manager for Southwest Airlines. We must continue to show our youth that they can do whatever they set out to do, if they work hard and believe in themselves.