I’m a pilot and I’ll be meeting with about 10 or so Cub Scouts at our local airport with my Cessna 172. I’ll discuss the outside and inside of the plane, let them sit in the pilot seat, and some basics of flight.
So… what kind of talk should I give? What would 8-year-old boys want to know, and what would they ask? What are the topics I should definitely cover? How should it be structured?
What an 8 year old wants to know: What happens to you if you fall out of the plane up in the sky without a parachute?
Tell exciting stories. Let them play with things (safely, obviously).
I’ve done a lot of these talks. As the previous poster said, tell some good stories. Let them put their hands on the controls and move them around (carefully). Show them how moving the yoke side to side moves the ailerons, but don’t expect them to readily grasp the aerodynamics of it.
Some people have been interested to see how the plane is taxied using rudder pedals. Kids understand cars and steering wheels, and are often intrigued by the idea of steering with your feet. They also may assume that the wheels retract, so you can tell them how planes like yours have fixed gear.
Kids and others often ask about how dangerous it is, and be careful how you answer. Most peoples’ aviation experience will be limited to commercial airliners, so I always make the distinction between that and general aviation. I say that it’s not very dangerous if you’re being careful, especially about weather. But airliners are a different enterprise altogether. Not only do they have the best equipment, they are careful about every little thing. I finish by saying I have no fears whatsoever when I get on an airliner because I know I’m a good pilot, but the two pilots in that cockpit are way better than me and trained to a ridiculously high standard.
How high can you go?
How fast can you go?
Can you fly all the way to wherever?
What happens when something breaks while you’re flying?
Have you ever (insert whatever unbelievable scenario from movies of TV)?
Tell 'em how you go to the bathroom while flying. I know you don’t, but they don’t know that. Make up a disgusting story. They’ll love it.
As a Girl Scout leader and Mom…the boys probably won’t be too interested but when we took the girls to learn about horses I appreciated:
What work is involved in owning a horse (plane)
How much does it cost to own a horse (plane)
What education is required to fly a plane (horses any idiot can buy and ride, and I understand that’s a problem - but you actually need to pass tests to get a pilots license, I think).
These things are cool, but there are responsibilities. Scouts should be a LITTLE about learning about the responsibilities.
What keeps them up in the air (some of them probably think they stay up just because the engine is running, and don’t understand lift)?
How far could you glide if the engine stopped?
(googles Cessna 172)
How come it’s not a jet?
Why is the wing is on top of the plane, rather than the middle?
It looks like a boat. If it landed in the water, would it float?
(after speed is explained) What’s a knot? Why do they call it that?
Can this do a loop?
How does the ejection seat work?
How come it has two steering wheels?
What happens when you put an airplane on a treadmill.
I’m a scout leader and have taken the boys to a fire house and a tv station (thanks to my wonderful parents). Our boys are young so you adjust it depending on whether they are Tigers or Webelos. For our Tigers (1st graders) don’t get too technical. Remember that a lot of this stuff is super cool to the parents too, but the kids may not be ready for a lesson in aerodynamics. How tos like mentioned before are great. How fast do you go compared to a car? Where’s the coolest place you’ve been? How many people are involved with getting the plane ready? Do you hve anything the boys can try on like headphones or a parachute backpack? The parents can take pics and everyone loves that.
How old are the scouts? I might could aim you a little better. And you wanna come to Bham? 
Can I go too? The 8(plus 30 or more) year old in me really wants to. They are going to have a blast, have fun with them. IMO…
Do the pre flight with them and explain what/why
Turn on the engine, boys and men love loud
Tell stories about your flight adventures both good and bad. Why you became a pilot as well
Tell them about other pilots and movies/books they should see/read(The Right Stuff/ Red Tails etc)
Tell them about the treadmill, because U.C. would want it that way
IMHO
Capt Kirk
Just off the top of my head:
Let them try fueling the plane (does the fuel go in the wing like in big planes?)
Let them start the prop by hand like they see on TV.
Let them taxi or take off on their own (you can watch from the ground).
See if they’re willing to stop the prop by hand.
How much further before you realize I’m joking
Ok, seriously.
If the fuel is filled via the wings, point that out to them.
Run through the basic controls. The ones where you can do something on the inside and something on the outside moves. Imitate the control surface with your hand and say something like “When this goes like this, the plane goes up/down/left/right” That’s probably about as detailed as you need to get before you lose them. Half of them are going to be staring at other planes in the hanger anyways.
If there’s anyway you can (cleared ahead of time probably) make some sort of quick communication with the tower, that would be neat. I don’t know what airport you’re at, but if it’s a quiet one, maybe you could get them to flash one of their spot lights at you or blink some of the ground lights.
I’m not sure if it’s possible post 9/11, but if you can get the kids 2 minutes in the control tower (assuming you have one) you’d be their hero forever. My dad somehow finagled a visit for me into Mitchel International’s (MKE) Control Tower when I was about that age and 20+ years later I still remember every bit of it.
Something else to keep in mind. More then likely, a lot of the dads are going to tag along. You might want to see if you can come up with something to keep the kids occupied for 10 minutes so the dads can ask questions and poke at the plane and you don’t have to talk like an 8 year old. If the kids are well behaved you might be able to say “Okay, you can look around for a few minutes, but you can’t touch anything and if you have any questions come back and ask me” and they can wander around and look at the tools and the other planes in the hanger etc.
OTOH, if you don’t want kids wandering around in the hanger, you might want to pull the plane out ahead of time so they don’t have any reason to be in there.
Something else I just thought of. If this is a nearby airport, one that the kids live near or drive by on a regular basis, especially if it’s a large one where commercial planes take off and land, point out interesting things around the area. The control tower (duh), the different runways and what they’re used for. What some of the different lights mean. Point out the military planes if there’s an Air Force base. Stuff they can see when they drive by and can tell their parents about “Hey mom, it’s foggy out and these strobes just turned on so a plane is about to land” or “Did ya know control tower is empty at night and the airport is controlled from the tower at [major city]” or “That FedEx depot is connected to the airport so the FedEx planes always (try to) land on that runway so they can drive/taxi right into their area” etc…
Oh, and one more thing I just thought of as I was reading the posts that came in while I was typing. Someone is going to say “How fast do you fly?” He’s 8 years old so don’t say “Relative to what?” Just through a number at him. Wiki says (for a 172R) 140mph. That’s all you need to say. Don’t need to add anything about the tail/head wind.
Also, point out the gauges they would expect to see. This is how high/fast/level I’m going. They might not be interested in some of the more obscure ones.
You obviously answered my question in your OP. will go back and read for comprehension and answer later. Except there are so many good ideas here!
CAn you fly this plane upside down?
8 year olds well understand technical things if you can give them a demonstration.
Get a few pieces of cardboard about a foot long and six inches wide. Give each kid one and get them to whirl it around at the end of their straight arm while holding it flat and then angled up or down. Get them to notice how when angled it pushes their arm up or down. Now move the control surfaces up and down and tell them they act like the pieces of cardboard to make the plane turn and tilt. They’ll get it. Well the average to smart ones who are actually listening will.
You can probably count on questions about which knobs and buttons they can touch.
I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 17 posts without anyone listing what the cub scouts really want to know.
Can you strap bombs to the wings and drop them on the school?
The same thing that God wants with a starship.
If they start to glaze over at all, bring it back.
Say something like, “…and while its not like school where you have to raise your hand, its not like Steam either. You can’t exactly put the flight on pause when you have to go potty…”
let them laugh
“…Its more like the WWF, where you have to tag-in your co-pilot.”
high-five your copilot
“…And on the brightside, there’s almost Always a nice selection of water & chips on the walk back.” 