What do career goals, the Bernoulli Principle, and headwinds all have in common? Capt. Brett McDonald, a Southwest Airlines pilot and Bales parent has been visiting Sharon Dixon's 5th grade class at Bales as a part of the "Adopt-A-Pilot" program and talking to the students about these, as well as other topics. 

Aside from time in the class, Capt. McDonald called the class from the cockpit as he headed for his destinations and sent e-mails with pictures he took from his cell phone on some of his flights. In between visits, students tracked Capt. Brett's flights on a US map, discussed timezones, and calculated the distances Capt. Brett flew. The final piece of the program will be a visit Mrs. Dixon's class will make to Hobby Airport sometime in April which will include a tour of the airport facilities and a tour of a Southwest Airlines airplane.

The "Adopt-A-Pilot" program was started by Southwest in 1997 with just 50 classrooms in Southwest's destination cities. This year more than 800 classrooms nationwide take part in the program. Southwest Airlines developed the program in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education and the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. Pilots volunteer for the four week program in their communities.

Mrs. Dixon's class is very grateful to Capt. Brett for this fantastic opportunity and for volunteering his time. We may have a few more budding pilots in our class thanks to Capt. Brett's enthusiasm and generosity!