Ambassadors to the National Flight Academy ,Pensacola

Aviator of the Future Programme

12 Galway students travel to the National Flight Academy in Pensacola in Florida, in partnership with Galway Education Centre, Ireland.

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Aviator Gathering October 2013

The Aviators of the Future from 2012 and 2013 have met over the past two days. On Tuesday the Aviators met in Galway Education Centre. There we met Edite Amorim of Thinking Big, from Portugal. Edite worked with a group of Transition Year students last year and was extremely popular. We were thrilled to bring Edite back to work with the Aviators. The day was most enjoyable, interesting and a time to catch up with old friends and meet the Aviators from both years. Learn about Edite’s work here: http://www.thinking-big.com/

On Wednesday we had a guided tour of The Casement Aerodrome and Museum in Baldonnel. Thanks to Conor Furey from Naas who helped us organise our visit: http://conorfurey.ie/mobile/

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Also, much thanks to Captain Brendan O’ Dowd in the Press Office and John McCormick, Regimental Sergeant Major who set up our visit.

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We were delighted to get a guided tour of the Garda Helicopter thanks to Brian Coade of the Garda Air Support Unit.

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Following Baldonnel we visited the Science Gallery in Trinity College to tour the exhibition Grow Your Own which looks at Synthetic Biology.

https://dublin.sciencegallery.com/

There we met Joe Roche, the resident astrophysicist in the Science Gallery, who provided us with a guided tour and spoke to us about his research, passion and love for Science! Follow him on Twitter on @joeboating

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Operation Leprechaun Parts 1&2

Operation Leprechaun
Part I

August third, the day we had been dreading since our arrival 9 days earlier.
We were fortunate enough to have a little sleep in this morning and wake up call was at 8am. Usually 12 teenagers would be screeching to get out of bed at 8am but after our week of early mornings and busy days it was definitely nothing to complain about. We all knew today was the day we had to depart from our new home of Ambition and everyone’s emotions were running high.

After the hectic last minute packing this morning, we headed down to the Mess deck for breakfast where we were thrilled to see 60 Krispy Kreme doughnuts waiting for us. Each AXP was eligible for 5 doughnuts but only the very brave AXPs managed to eat all 5.

After our heavenly breakfast we went back up to our staterooms to say goodbye to our beds and grabbed our luggage to bring downstairs to the lobby. Our time schedule was running smoothly so we were able to go across the road to the Museum of Naval Aviation one last time. All 12 AXPs made a pit stop to the gift shop at the museum to buy some last minute presents for our friends and family back home.

We browsed around the museum for a little while to look at our favourite exhibits one more time before we would have to leave. At 11.45 we met back at Ambition and the thought of having to leave became a reality. The car was packed, the people were crying and the experience was about to end. The last 9 days were unforgettable but the
main thing we learned was that once you know how to fly, the sky is no longer the limit. All 12 AXPs really treasured our time aboard Ambition and were so thankful for the time we spent, friends we met and the people who had invested in us.

-Sinead Bohan

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Operation Leprechaun
Part II

Memories are special, they last forever in your mind. When we stepped into the NFA minivan for the last time this morning, our biggest fear was forgetting what it feels like to be there, in the strong humid air of Pensacola with these 11 other people we can now call our bestfriends. Every other time we were in the van together we were laughing and singing, sharing stories of the silly things our room mates had done the night before. This time was different though, there was a sad vibe in the air. We have had the most amazing, once in a lifetime experience this week and we will never forget it.

When we reached the airport everyone stepped out of the van and gathered their luggage. Masterchief and Melody then walked us to the check in desks. That’s when it became real that we were actually leaving. We checked in, got our boarding cards and said our last minute thank you’s.

We then made our way through security and up to the gates. We thought we weren’t going to have any time to eat anything or look in the one shop in the airport but thankfully we had just over an hour. We sat down at a small restaurant and had lunch. At about 1410, Domhnall came down to tell us the gates were open and we had to board.

The flight to Charlotte was only one hour long but as soon as we stepped off the plane we were rushed over to the gate for boarding to Dublin. The airport was absolutely packed. We had about five minutes to make a head call (go to the bathroom) and get some snacks for the plane.

We got on the plane, put our bags overhead and found our seats. After a little while we were told by the captain that the plane was delayed. Nobody really minded this because we were all spread around the plane and we got to spend more time together. From then on we cherished every second we could get to spend together. It’s not going to be as simple as that very soon.

When we first met up in Galway Education Centre, we met 11 other girls and guys from around Galway. It was very awkward and we were scared that that wouldn’t change. Now, almost one month later, after meetings, a trip to Shannon and an amazing trip to Florida, we have made life long friends. I can honestly say that we are some of the luckiest people to have been chosen and invested in by Galway Education Centre.

On behalf of all the Irish AXP’s I would like to say a massive thank you to Kate, Paddy, Maeve, all the staff at NFA, Galway Education Centre and everyone who had any part to play in sending us on this once in a life time opportunity.

I heart Roadrunner
Louise Hosty(AKA Cabbage)

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Highlights from Days 5 and 6

Check out the highlights from our last two days on board Ambition as Aviator of the Future Ambassadors for Galway Education Centre, Ireland for 2013.

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Graduation Day!

Today was our last full day in America! Most importantly it was our graduation. We woke up at 6:30 for the last time for a while! Well after our last breakfast with our squadrons it was time say good-bye.
Of course the Irish did this uniquely by performing our own performance of River Dance! Luckily the Americansdid not know what the real River Dance performance is, so they were not let down by our atrocious dancing skills!
With that, it was time to head on over to our first American Graduation! It was so exciting!
With all our certificates and our wings it was time to say our final goodbyes and return to an all Irish squadron. After a beautiful lunch out in a local restaurant we came back to Ambition and got ready to go to the beach!
Well after 3 hours of non stop swimming, body boarding and fun it was time to head home. We may have been upset, other than the fact that we had more shopping to attend to!
After another 2 hours of going through Hollister, Aeropostale, and many other shops picking up last minute presents for family members (and for ourselves!) we went for more food!
After 2 hours of going through memories from the week it was time to go to bed. The girls are now are trying to fit all their clothes in their suitcases! We will let everyone known if this is possible when we touch down in Ireland on Sunday!

Amy Forde

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Final Mission

This morning was our last full day on Ambition and what an exciting one it was too! We woke up to blue skies and a shining sun… just kidding it was actually stormy and raining but we didn’t let that put us off (after all we do come from the land of rain!) We had a busy schedule planned out for the day and our first stop was in the Mess Deck for breakfast. When we arrived we were thrilled and delighted to see some Blue Angel pilots and crew sitting at our squadron tables. After sharing our morning meal with us the Blue Angels then talked to us about their different jobs, being in the U.S. Navy and pursuing dreams. It was a truly inspiring speech and we’re all in awe of what they do!

After breakfast all twelve of the Irish Ambassadors plus some American students headed up to the Ready Room to be interviewed. Everybody else on Ambition took a look around the Naval Aviation Museum until about 12:00. While we were waiting to be interviewed we went over our next mission.
The day before we had been instructed to plan out a cross country route anywhere within a 500nm radius of Ambition. Everybody had it all planned out until we got to the Ready Room where the Irish Ambassadors decided that it yould be absolutely amazing if we could fly to Ireland! After getting the all clear from OPSO O’ Rear we started planning it all out with some help from other Chiefs.

By lunchtime we were all psyched for our exciting mission, until we were hit with devastating news. A cruise liner named Tropicana had crashed into an oil tanker on the Gulf of Mexico and 2317 peoples’ lives were in danger. We ran to our work stations and immediately began planning our rescue mission. There were people to save, pumps to deliver, fires to put out, chemicals to be neutralised and injuries to be treated so we were on the go all day long. I enjoyed every minute of the mission but the most rewarding part was when we were informed at 21:30 that every single person onboard the Tropicana had been rescued! It has been a really great experience here so far and I’m looking forward to tomorrows graduation!!

by Erin Shimizu

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Highlights Day 3 & 4 on Ambition

Days three and four have been fun! Check out all of hard work in this video! The Irish Aviator of the Future Ambassadors have been busy!

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Ambassadors make it to 4 days!!

Today marked the AXPs 4th day aboard the USS Ambition. It was also our second last full day before graduation and was a very exciting and eventful day which was obviously to the AXP’s delight. Our day started as usual with the daily morning call at 0630, which some of us still haven’t gotten used to, and our breakfast on the Mess Deck with the other squadrons.

Following breakfast each squadron had squadron time where we talked with our chiefs and discussed some basics of skills of land survival. This subject was further discussed in detail when we went to the Land Survival Centre on the naval base in Pensacola. Here, Master Chief Curley explained to us about the various requirements we should adhere to in the misfortunate situation of finding ourselves deserted! He also showed us how to light fires in the wild and find water. It was so much more complex than I thought!!

After this trip to the Land Survival centre we returned to base on Ambition. Unfortunately the bus on the way home did not have air-conditioning! When we arrived back onboard the Ambition we crossed the gangway where we met Kate, Paddy and Maeve. We had a short “catch up” before we left again.

This time we went to a class on the importance of the weather to aviation. We had meteorologist John O’Hara brief us about this. We also predicted what tomorrows’s weather will be like. The team who got it right got to eat first at lunch so the pressure was on! After that we went to the JIC where we planned the Eglin fly-by mission with IO Wilson before lunch.

It was time for another off-shore trip after lunch, this time it was to the Blue Angel’s hangar on base. This was such an amazing experience. Here we met with all of the crew in the world renowned Blue Angel’s squadron. We met with everyone from the engineers to the administration team and even saw a few pilots!! At the end of the tour we got the chance to come face to face with the F-18 jets. It was amazing to see them all at work!

We resumed our usual positions after that on ambition, flying the Triads, planning missions and working in ATC. At first we were controlling the Argonauts in the JOC before we took the reigns ourselves in the triads!! This mission was one of our toughest missions to date. It involved flying in formation, and not just normally!! We did it in front of cameras! However in the end the Maces came out on top!

We got up from dinner and immediately headed for the JIC where we planned one of our last missions, a cross country flight to anywhere within 500 miles of Ambition! Our next task was to control and fly another mission, the Tampa air rally! This was a competition between all squadrons and we are currently awaiting results!!

It was then time for freetime!! AXPs could then play a game of air hockey or stay in their staterooms before lights out at 2300!!

Slán go fóill!
Eoin Corcoran (AKA Spud)

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Day Three on Ambition

Today is our third day on Ambition. It was a bright, warm, lovely day. The sky was clear and blue.

We are beginning to get used to waking up at 6:30. We headed down to the mess deck with our A.M. Chiefs. This morning we had French toast, cheese grits, scrambled eggs, sausages and bread roles. The food continues to be exceedingly good.

After that we headed to the J.I.C. My squadron was about to play a game of Jeopardy when suddenly the fire alarm went off. We had to walk outside to complete a very professionally done fire drill. After this my squadron returned to the J.I.C. Other squadrons went to Air Traffic Control (ATC) and were completing various activities or were having squadron time in the ready rooms.

After, we headed over to the Naval Aviation Museum on base. We were going to go to Hangar Bay 1, but sadly it is closed on Tuesdays. We went back to the main museum, which all of us from Ireland had been to it before but we did not see all of it, and it was still as impressive as it ever was. Everybody was amazed by the small (and large) things we missed before. A nice employee informed us of what life was like many years ago. It was very interesting. We use the max flight simulators. They are a 4D flight simulator. We got to move around in a Blue Angel’s FA-18 Hornet and show off our skills!

After the museum we proceeded to the J.I.C. Here we planned out a formation flying mission. The IO (Intelligence Officer) gave us some good tips on flying in formation and let us practice. After this we went to the mess deck for lunch.

After a delicious lunch we headed back to the museum for an IMAX movie. It was called ‘The Magic Of Flight’. After this we returned to Ambition and competed various missions and had some Squadron time. We then went to dinner. We are served dinner in order of how clean our staterooms are. Today Stateroom 23 (which has myself and Eoin in it) won. We had help from some flying friends.

After dinner we proceeded to plan and complete missions. We also were in the J.O.C. to help the other squadrons whose planes we were watching on the radar. We all had great fun and are looking forward to tomorrow!!

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Highlights Day 1&2 on board Ambition

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Check out the highlights of our first two days sailing on Ambition

Day 2 on Ambition

Day 2 on Ambition

After waking up at 06:30 we headed down to the mess deck for breakfast which was bacon, pancakes, eggs, grits and home fries.

After we had land survival where we learned how to survive in the wild by making fires using various methods.

Next was the scavenger hunt where we searched Ambition for various rooms and objects.

Whilst in the the JIC ( Joint Intelligence Centre) we practised hovering on the simulators as we would need this skill for our missions.

For lunch we had hamburgers with beans and a cookie for dessert.

After this we went to the JOC (Joint Operations Centre) and gave the AXPs flying the triads headings and directions. Then we flew the triads ourselves.

For dinner we had southern fried chicken with pasta and a brownie for dessert.

At the end of the day we completed a mission helping the coast guard find and film illegal vessels and aircraft.

– Michael Murphy