Aviation Merit Badge

Web Resources

It's just amazing how much aviation material is readily available on the World Wide Web.

The Aviation Merit Badge

Starting right close to home, a group called MeritBadge.com has a site dedicated to helping Scouts like you earn merit badges. Also, Troop 509, Hulburt Field, FL, has put lots of helpful info about the aviation merit badge out there.

The Science of Flight

I've found other great sites where you can learn about the Science of Flight from NASA and WebWings.
The Wright Experience has a fascinating site devoted to the early Science of Flight,
in which they explain some of what we know about
how Wilbur and Orville Wright did it.

Places to Go

OK, you've gone to some of these neat aviation places on the World Wide Web.
Now where can you go in person to learn more?
How about Newark Airport?
Have you ever been there when you didn't have a flight to catch and weren't in a hurry?
Closer to home, you're welcome to visit Princeton Airport.  Lots of General Aviation activity there.
I love the airshows at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome every weekend during flying season.
Speaking of Newark Airport, my Fairchild KR-21 biplane was winning air races there
way back in 1930.  The pilot, a lady named Elinor Smith, was a test pilot for Fairchild at the time.
And while we're following this line of trivia,
aviatrix Elinor Smith was the first female pictured on the back of the Wheaties
    box in 1934.

Camps

Day trips are great.  Perhaps you're interested in something that's a bigger adventure.
How about a week or so at a camp with a great aviation program?
There's the Aviation Challenge.
You may have heard of Space Camp.
EAA has a great program called the EAA Air Academy.
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is not really a camp, although you can camp there;
and what you'll find is about 10,000 aircraft and more aviation in a week than you could ever imagine.

Organizations

You say, "Great!  Give me more.  Where can I find regular aviation activies all year around?
Our own Boy Scouts of America has Aviation Explorers.
The Civil Air Patrol is also an organization you could check out.

Be a Pilot

Now you're really serious.  You've decided that you want to be a pilot.
Here's one of several web sites that can help you find a flight school anywhere in the USA.
If I were you, I'd check the ones in New Jersey first.
Then there are sites like this one to help you with the ground school part of your pilot training.
At the age of 16 in New Jersey you can't drive a car by yourself,
but you can fly solo in an airplane!
If you visit Princeton Airport, you'll find a plaque on the wall with the names of
students who flew solo on their 16th birthdays.

Higher Education

You're even more serious -- pretty sure you want to find a career in aviation.
Many colleges have aviation departments, or perhaps aeronautics or aero/astro departments.
There are schools like the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University dedicated to preparing you for an aviation career.
ERAU is very much available online as well, so their students are all over the world.
Much closer to home, Middlesex County Community College has aviation courses as well.

United States Air Force

Of course no discussion of aviation would be complete without mentioning the United States Air Force.
One very special way to prepare for a flying career is the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO.
While the Air Force is dedicated to flying, aviation is important to all our armed services today.
By the way, the Thunderbirds precision aerobatic team is coming to Millville Airport on May 4-5.
It's a fantastic show.

Air Carriers

As you know, there are many airlines of different sorts and sizes.
American Airlines carries people all over the world.
Federal Express (FedEx) carries millions of packages, not just by air.
Wings of Alaska is quite a different airline.  Check out the terrain!

Manufacturers

Maybe you'd like to see a bit more about some of the aviation manufacturers.
You probably know that Boeing makes very large aircraft.
You may also know that Cessna makes smaller ones.
Scaled Composites in involved in many fascinating projects looking to the future.

All those airplanes need engines, of course, and the folks above do not make their own.
Teledyne Continental Motors, Textron Lycoming, and Pratt & Whitney
are a few major engine manufacturers.

Those planes also need instruments, communications radios, and radio navigation equipment.
Altogether we call that "avionics," short for aviation electronics.
Garmin, UPS Aviation Technologies, and Raytheon are a few in that business.

Aviation Writers

As we do our aviation events and earn the merit badge, you'll certainly see that
pilots are not the only ones with fascinating aviation careers.
Here are the web sites of Greg Brown, Steve Coonts, Rod Machado, and Barry Schiff.
These fellows are all great aviation authors,
doing all kinds of writing, from maganize articles to text books to novels.

Aerial Photography

Aerial photography has many uses today.  It has both a business side and an art side.
You'll see this in the web sites of Richard Eller, Allan Goldstein, and Lynn Marvin.
And speaking of aerial photography, I came across a site called "Terraserver"
that seems to have aerial photographs of just about the whole USA.
See if you can recognize this one!

And More...

There's ever so much more out there.  As I get a chance I'll add lots more to this page.

Please understand that these are just some sites that are really fascinating to me personally.
Do not take any of these as an official endorsement by the
Boy Scouts of America.