Holy Spirit Parish Acorn School visits Piper Aviation Museum
Air aviation news – LOCK HAVEN — If you are looking for something that is family friendly and local to Lock Haven, the Pre-K class at Holy Spirit Parish Acorn School highly recommends you visit the Piper Aviation Museum!
As the school year is just getting underway, HSP Acorn School — led by Malinda Heaton, Director of Education — had their first field trip on Oct. 11. And what a fantastic day they had!
The students and staff had the opportunity to visit the Piper Aviation Museum and learn about some of our local history and the different airplanes that had been built in Lock Haven over the years.
Everyone was surprised to learn that Smokey the Bear was rescued in 1950 from a forest fire in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico by a Piper Cub, flown by Bill Piper, owner of Piper Aircraft.
After all, Smokey the Bear had already scheduled a visit to the pre-k class to teach the students about fire safety when in the forest. Smokey the Bear came out to the school only two days after their trip to the Piper Aviation Museum.
PHOTO PROVIDED Students at Holy Spirit Parish’s Acorn School are pictured with local pilot Nils Mantzoros who performed an airshow for the little ones. The air show was a surprise part of the students’ trip to the Piper Aviation Museum, where they learned about the history of the plane and its connection to Lock Haven.
The students at Acorn School were able to sit in the pilot seat of the Tomahawk flight simulator, where they learned about the controls needed to fly the plane in different directions.
Ed Watson, museum president, took the students on a tour of the museum as well as made each of the student’s a paper airplane.
They stood at the top of the second-floor landing to fly their paper planes that landed on the first floor of the museum.
Classmate Anna had a great flight experience. Her paper airplane flew the farthest and for her excellent flight Ed Watson and Nick Mantzoros, parent chaperone and a local/commercial pilot, rewarded Anna with her very own Piper Cub keychain.
Of course, the experience didn’t end there as Nick and his father, Nils Mantzoros, planned a private air show for the students.
PHOTO PROVIDED
Nils, local Piper Cub owner and pilot, had been waiting on the runway for the students to complete their tour before he lifted his Piper Cub into the clear blue sky.
Nils made a few passes for the students to enjoy and after landing his plane, invited the students on to the runway for an up close and personal look at his Piper Cub.
