Camp Edge, New Jersey, 2004
by Michael

Brigade Air is a week long summer camp for 14 to 18-year-olds. The focus is toward missionary aviation but many aspects are presented.

The first day started off strong. After arriving at Camp Edge, the place where we would be staying, we signed in and set up camp in lean-tos. Then, we went to the lodge for an introductory course and to meet the pilots. Afterwards, we took a low-ropes course where we learned teamwork, that is, to trust our fellows. This included falling backward off a five foot platform into our companion’s arms! After dinner and a campfire, we readily fell asleep, eagerly anticipating the next day.

We awoke the next morning to the sound of rain, and the day’s schedule was changed to suit the weather. In the morning, we had an hour of ground school, and in the afternoon, after church, we had 5 more. Lessons on aerodynamics, control surfaces, forces affecting flight, wings, lift and much more would have left anyone but an airplane lover like me bored stiff!

The next day we went out to Emmanuel airfield for our first flight. While we were waiting we had more ground school about the aircraft’s instruments. We also went through a pre-flight check during which we kicked tires, wiggled control surfaces and checked the fuel and oil levels. When it was finally my turn to fly, I removed the wheel chocks and went through a pre-takeoff check. The flight plan was to do five take off and landing patterns. Emmanuel is a 3600 foot long grass strip, so when you take off there is a sudden cease of bumping and you are airborne. During those five way-too-short patterns I learned about coordinated turns, descents, landings and navigation. After the final landing, I went back to the lodge for more ground school until 4:00. Then we went to the archery range until dusk. After another campfire, we went up to our lean-tos, our heads filled with thoughts about airspeeds, instruments, controls and the next day’s flight.

Tuesday was practically a repeat of Monday. I stayed in ground school until it was my turn to go flying. Today I worked on climbs, steady altitude and heading, and more coordinated turns. Back in ground school, I learned trim, climb, turns and stalls. After dinner, we went out to the high ropes course. Here, I put on a harness and belaying cable and climbed all sorts of obstacles at least thirty feet in the air. The best part was rappelling back down at terrific speeds and getting yanked to a stop a few feet off the ground.

On Wednesday we did more ground school and put what we had learned into practice. In the air, I tried a few stalls. With the throttle all the way out, I pulled the nose up as far as it would go. As the airspeed indicator moved backwards toward stall speed and the stall warning horn went off, I just pulled harder. Suddenly, the nose sickeningly dipped down into a dive and I pushed the throttle all the way in and slowly pulled back on the yoke. One stall done!

On Thursday, we took a field trip to Millville Air Museum. After fully exploring the museum we ate our lunch and then went to a nearby building to plan our cross-country flight. Here we plotted flight routes, computed gas usage and figured flight time. Then we went to Emmanuel airfield to watch a fifty-hour check on one of the two Cessna 172 Skyhawks. As we watched, the pilots changed the oil, checked the spark plugs and did a thousand other things. The press also stopped by to interview and take some photographs. Since I was the lightest, I went aloft for a free ride with the photographer!

When I got back to Camp Edge, we played a night game. We were supposed to be Russian Christians and smuggle pieces of the “Bible” to a “Freedom Fire” where we would all meet and have a campfire. “KBG agents” patrolled the woods and roads and if we were caught we had to go to “Siberia”. For us, that meant starting over. My team was the only one to make it. The fire went out just before we arrived and the game was called off.

Friday dawned cloudy and foggy with scattered rain, not good for cross-country flights. I did, however, get up for a few patterns. Back in the lodge, I flew the whole route on the flight simulator and killed time until parent pick-up time. When I finally left Camp Edge at 7:30 Friday afternoon, I could, for once, truly say, “Been there, done that and have the T-shirt to show for it.”