Kidzania Flight School
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#7 in a series on our visit to KidZania in Nishinomiya, Japan. Anthony's day so far: gas-station attendant, banking, construction, driver's ed, and journalism. Next it was time for a bit of flight training.

Kidzania's flight-training area also had a plane mockup for flight-attendant training, as well as for kids to take part as customers, giving the flight attendants people to train with...

Flight School -- KidZania Koshien -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/250 sec, f/3.5, ISO 5000 — map & image datanearby photos
Flight School

Anthony was interested in pilot training. That area of the “school” had six mock cockpits, so 12 kids could “train” at once...

Cockpit Simulator with pilot hats waiting for kids -- KidZania Koshien -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/160 sec, f/3.5, ISO 6400 — map & image datanearby photos
Cockpit Simulator
with pilot hats waiting for kids

When it was time for a new group, the kids got flight jackets and the hair nets, but didn't get to put on the hats until after a minute or two of basic instruction.

Ground School -- KidZania Koshien -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 5600 — map & image datanearby photos
Ground School

Then it was time for some on-the-job flight training in a jumbo jet. Upon push back from the gate, they waved goodbye to the ground staff that apparently appeared on the video monitors of the flight simulator...

Gate-Push-back Salutation -- KidZania Koshien -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image datanearby photos
Gate-Push-back Salutation

Then it was time to take off and fly....

Concentration -- KidZania Koshien -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 82 mm — 1/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image datanearby photos
Concentration

As they flew, computer-generated rings of dots floated in air, which provided targets for the kids to aim at and fly through. You can sort of see one in the left-hand monitor of this next shot. (Since adults weren't allowed in the training area, and the lighting was totally ridiculous, it was a difficult stretch to get a reasonable picture.)

Mid-Flight Maneuvers -- KidZania Koshien -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2200 — map & image datanearby photos
Mid-Flight Maneuvers

Landing was on autopilot (they were still not totally experienced pilots, you know)....

Landing the red text on the screen says “auto-pilot engaged” -- KidZania Koshien -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1400 — map & image datanearby photos
Landing
the red text on the screen says “auto-pilot engaged”
Thumbs Up to the Flight-School Photographer -- KidZania Koshien -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image datanearby photos
Thumbs Up to the Flight-School Photographer

We later picked up the $10 copy of the photo they took, and it's not much better than the one above, except that it doesn't have the photographer and other kid in it. 🙂

Continued here...


All 5 comments so far, oldest first...

So my guess was right ..sort of! Not Astronaut but a pilot is close. Very cute pictures.

— comment by Sonal, MN on July 22nd, 2009 at 12:22am JST (14 years, 8 months ago) comment permalink

I love the last pic. But why none of Anthony pumping gas or working at the bank?

Because this post is about his flight-school experience. His gas/bank experiences are on other posts. (He was a customer at a bank; didn’t work there.) —Jeffrey

— comment by Michael on July 23rd, 2009 at 4:22pm JST (14 years, 8 months ago) comment permalink

As air traffic control is done in English world-wide, Anthony should have been well ahead of the curve 🙂

–Bill

— comment by Bill on July 23rd, 2009 at 5:53pm JST (14 years, 8 months ago) comment permalink

Hi Jeffrey

I would like to bring my 6 year old son to Kidzania Koshien on our next visit to Japan in Aug. We do not speak Japanese, do you think it will be an issue for him to understand what is going on and enjoy himself?

Thank you.

Regards
Apple

A number of “businesses” have explicit “English okay” marks on the signs, but in most cases they can probably make due with hand signs and such. Definitely visit on a schoolday.. it’s much nicer when it’s not jammed packed. Reservations required. —Jeffrey

— comment by Apple on June 16th, 2010 at 1:56am JST (13 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink

Hi Jeffrey

Thank you for replying! I plan to go on a Friday on 27 Aug, do you happen to know if that week is school holiday in Japan? And would it make a difference if we go on Thursday instead of Friday?

Regards
Apple

I would guess that’s a holiday for everyone… school starts the next week for most, I’d think. That being the case, I don’t know which might be better, but I’d guess Thursday. Probably it doesn’t matter… both will likely be sold out weeks in advance. —Jeffrey

— comment by Apple on June 16th, 2010 at 12:54pm JST (13 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink
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