Countywide : Youngsters Visit Airport to Get Feel of Flying

John Wayne has probably never been studied as comprehensively as he was Friday morning when 10 blind preschoolers climbed onto his boots.

The brass statue of the actor was the first stop on an unusual tour of John Wayne Airport for pupils of The Blind Children’s Learning Center.

Maudette Ball, the airport’s community relations chief, guides about 6,000 schoolchildren through the airport every year, but she had to stop and think about how to structure this trip.

“This is a first for us,” she said. “We’re learning too.”

By using the senses of hearing and touch, she and the center’s teachers helped the 5-year-olds get some sense of travel by plane.

The teachers decided to take them to the airport because they were discussing transportation, aide Rosario Sanchez said. The group has already ridden on buses and cars, but planes presented a challenge.

“We’re not clear if they have the concept of the size and form” of planes, teacher Patty Salcedo said. “We have to be real hands-on.”

The airport even waived its policy for the day and allowed the children to stand out on a flight deck so they could fully appreciate the volume of the plane engines as they took off.

Most of the children had never flown, but all of them grabbed seats in first-class when they entered an American Airlines 757 and quickly buckled up.

Each of them had a chance to sit in the pilot’s seat and feel the extensive instrument panels, although 5-year-old Aldo was more interested in who the pilot was and what he looked like.

But his friend Steven had little trouble grasping the concept of the exercise. “I drive it,” Steven said on his way out. “It was real big.”