King County Executive Ron Sims and Seattle Public Schools Superintendent
Joseph Olchefske will welcome elite fighter pilots with the U.S. Navy Blue
Angels this Friday, in a meeting with teenage airplane builders and future
aviators taking part in a unique aviation education program at the King County
International Airport.
In a similar SEAFAIR visit last summer, the Blue Angels pilots so impressed
the students in "Opportunity Skyway" that the teenagers completed a Zenith
Zodiac, a two-seat, low-wing, all-metal monoplane by painting it in official
"Navy Blue Angel" blue with gold markings and logos and the number "1/2" on the
tail (above). The model took two years to complete. The students, from Sealth
High School, will present their work on:
Friday, August 2nd
8:30 to 9:30 a.m.
Opportunity Skyway assembly shop
6524 Ellis Ave. S.
(just off E. Marginal Way S. at the very north end of King County International
Airport)
Directions: From I-5 South, take the Swift/Albro exit #161. Turn right at
light onto Albro. Go through the light and Albro becomes Ellis Avenue. The
maintenance hangar is on the left, on Ellis Avenue at Warsaw Street. Look for
the large blue sign that says "King County Airport Maintenance, 6518 Ellis
Ave." Opportunity Skyway is in the middle of that building at 6524 Ellis
Avenue.
"Opportunity Skyway" is a unique aviation education program sponsored by
King County International Airport in which young people learn math, science and
real-life work skills while building kit aircraft and learning workplace skills
that have led several students to a career in aviation mechanics. The program
helps bridge the gap between the classroom and the world of work. Partners
include the Seattle and Highline School Districts, 4-H of King County, and the
King County Work Training Program, which runs a dropout retrieval program in
which young adults earn a GED while learning aircraft fabrication skills.
For more information
King County Airport Web site,
with Blue Angels flight schedule
