As part of the 50th Anniversary of Aviation celebrations local pilots, Air Traffic Controllers and others in the aviation industry have spent time in the schools talking to students about this fascinating subject.

The anniversary being celebrated is the first airstrip landing in the Cayman Islands, which happened on November 28th 1952. There are many activities planned and local schools are playing a major part. "Cayman has such a rich aviation history that we felt it was vital to involve the youth of our islands in the plans," explained Director of Civil Aviation Richard Smith.

25 talks in a total of 20 schools took place during the week of October 14th -18th in both Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. Javier Thompson, a First Officer with Cayman Airways assisted with organising some of the members of the Cayman Airlines Pilots Association (CAPA) to take part and did many of the talks himself. "It was great to see how interested the young people in Cayman are in aviation. I thoroughly enjoyed being part of this and am sure many of our young people are more aware of how important aviation is to Cayman because of these talks," Javier stated.

The students in Cayman are also involved in contests that give them the opportunity to win trips for them and their family to Florida and visits to attractions courtesy of Disney and Flight of Fantasy. The contests are aviation themed and include an art contest for younger children and essay and short story contests for older students.

The First Class sponsors of the 50th Anniversary of Aviation events are Cayman Airways, Aviation Communications, Flowers Air Dispatch Services and Texaco Caribbean. Business Class sponsors include Cable & Wireless, Tortuga Rum Company and Fosters Food Fair.

Photo Caption: Director of Civil Aviation, Richard Smith talks to students at John Gray High School about aviation and its history in one of the 25 talks that took place in island schools last week.