Coolest Field Trip, ever!

A couple of weeks back, Eli got to go on the coolest field trip to date! And I got to go too! Yay! His class was invited to the NC Highway Patrol Training Center which is a closed facility. I am not sure how his class got the invitation, but I think there must be a 4 year old whose parent is a Highway Patrolman. Either way, this was a cool afternoon. We got to see patrol cars going around a speedway at speeds up over 100mph. They were simulating a high speed chase & learning how to handle their cars without rolling over, etc on the turns. It was cool. I didn't get any photos because they were going so fast & all I had was my phone camera which has a delay to it. Bummer. I did however get some photos of the other thing they demonstrated for us (which was way cooler anyhow!). They simulated a helicopter rescue of a man in a high tree.
First, they flew in from behind....And then they landed in the road so they could drop their rescue gear out of the helicopter. Then they attached a rescuer to the bottom of the gear & flew back up & over to the tree. (Look closely... the yellow spot on the picture is the man hanging from underneath the helicopter).Then they had to maneuver the rescuer into the tree just based off of a second person in the helicopter telling the "driver" where to go because he can't see underneath him. It was pretty crazy to watch them rescue this guy from the tree.
Then they landed the guys & they switched off so the rescuer was the one in the tree being rescued. (So they each had the practice). It was hot, but awesome to watch!
The Highway Patrolman who was talking to us was telling us how it takes years of training elsewhere before they are even brought here to even get into a helicopter. Then it takes them about 4 years of practicing simulated events before they are ready. Apparently flying a helicopter is way harder than a plane just based of off the fact that you have to use controls to keep the tail steady, the helicopter going side to side, front to back, & up and down. I thought men couldn't multi-task!? Ha ha! But seriously, that is a LOT of training!

I enjoyed my afternoon with my little E!