# What do Cub Scouts want to know about an airplane? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 2, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cub-scouts-want-to-know-about-an-airplane/620681 "2012-05-02T20:43:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cub-scouts-want-to-know-about-an-airplane/620681/21 "2012-05-03T02:39:02Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > 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. [actually we do](http://www.sportys.com/source/features/search/search.cfm?catalog=PilotShop&keywords=urine%20bags). If you’re at altitude and no airport in sight… The military use to have relief tubes. you weren’t very popular in a bomber if you used it because it would freeze on the gun turrets in the back making visibility piss poor. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cub-scouts-want-to-know-about-an-airplane/620681/22 "2012-05-03T03:01:09Z")
If you can let them hear aircraft radio chatter on a loudspeaker, it’ll help them understand how the aircraft that are flying overhead have actual people piloting them and how careful everyone has to be for everything to work right. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cub-scouts-want-to-know-about-an-airplane/620681/23 "2012-05-03T03:15:35Z")
If it’s on the ground, why doesn’t the altimeter read zero? (I actually asked this question the first time I flew in a buddy’s 172.) How much does a fillup of gas cost? Do you have to use special fuel? (Again, remembering my times flying in my friend’s aircraft, I recall the fuel being different colors, according to the octane level. Draw some out of the wing tank–my buddy used to do this, to check for water in the tank–and show them the fuel color.) If you own it, can you really go flying any time you want? (Good chance to explain about filing flight plans, checking weather reports, etc. before you go anywhere.) Could you land this in our schoolyard? (Dunno–how big is the schoolyard?) ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cub-scouts-want-to-know-about-an-airplane/620681/24 "2012-05-03T11:43:02Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > … don’t expect them to readily grasp the aerodynamics of it. Certainly not all of them. But in showing a sailplane to a group of 4th-graders, I’ve got into a discussion of adverse yaw that several were following closely. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cub-scouts-want-to-know-about-an-airplane/620681/25 "2012-05-03T15:31:35Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Certainly not all of them. But in showing a sailplane to a group of 4th-graders, I’ve got into a discussion of adverse yaw that several were following closely. Well that’s great because I know some pilots who don’t understand adverse yaw! ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cub-scouts-want-to-know-about-an-airplane/620681/26 "2012-05-03T21:24:13Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > [actually we do](http://www.sportys.com/source/features/search/search.cfm?catalog=PilotShop&keywords=urine%20bags). If you’re at altitude and no airport in sight… Yeah, as a perpetual student pilot I know about those things. I was alluding to a little out-the-door bombing… ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cub-scouts-want-to-know-about-an-airplane/620681/27 "2012-05-03T23:29:22Z")
As a Scout Leader the things that kids remembered after our trip to the airport to look at planes were: Have you ever crashed? Playing with the controls. What do you do if a plane is going to crash. How do you poop? I would also speak to the SL, we were doing some badge work and there were some specific things that the kids needed to understand. Don’t dumb it down too much, these are scouts and generally they want to learn. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cub-scouts-want-to-know-about-an-airplane/620681.md?page=1)