It’s been awhile since my last post. Logan has been busy finishing 2nd grade and is now enjoying his summer. The reason for this post is to let everyone know Logan continues to do great but to also share about a very special day Logan had yesterday.
Logan was Pilot for the Day at McChord AFB in Tacoma, WA. The program is for children who have suffered and/or are suffering life threatening illnesses.
WOW it was amazing. Logan, Dad, Papa (from N.Y.), and Scott Caufield (Dad’s best friend) were in attendance. Logan was treated like a four star general!
Day prior Logan met with members of the 4th Airlift Squadron to receive his orders for the next day as well as his flight suit, jacket, and helmet bag. I had to pry it off of him that night because he wanted to sleep in it.
Day of:
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0530 – “Dad is it time to go yet?” “No Logan not until 0700 go back to sleep. We will get up at 0630”.
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0600 – “Dad is is 0630 yet?” “No!”
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0626 – “Dad it’s 0630!”
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0800 – reported to main gate of McChord AFB, Washington
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0815 – Trip to SFS working dog compound where we witnessed highly trained, combat ready dogs. We watched a military working dog demonstration. Here is also where Logan volunteered Scott to be a part of the demonstration. Scott was placed in a somewhat protective suit and was attacked by a military dog…..Logan laughed the whole time.
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0900 – Toured some of the retired planes that have served at McChord AFB.
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0945 – Go up in the 14 story flight tower. Here Logan was able to watch as the air traffic controllers monitored planes that were near McChord air space. He also was able to look through binoculars that were almost his size.
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1030 – Tour the flight line Fire Department. Logan was greeted by Sparky the fire dog and crew. From there he was able to get on trucks, sound sirens, and spray water. Then came a very special treat Logan was able to go on a live training fire. He assisted in putting out the fire on a large mock cargo plane! After successfully extinguishing the fire Logan was awarded honorary fire fighter and presented with a badge & certificate.
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1130 – LIVE EXPLOSIVES! Logan was able to detonate a bunch of C-4. Very large fireball followed by loud explosion. He was then able to drive around a high tech robot that is used by bomb squad to check suspicious packages.
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1200 – Lunch at the 4th Airlift Squadron. Here Logan was served his favorite pepperoni & sausage pizza with a side of hot wings. Of course Logan ate very fast so he could play Foosball on the table located in the lunch room.
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1300 – Parachute simulator. Here Logan was strapped into a real parachute harness (couple feet off ground). He then put on a virtual reality helmet moved/looked everywhere his head moved. Once ready he jumped from aircraft and was required to land on a beach. He had full control of pull cords and all. He nailed it! (we were able to watch all his head movements on an external monitor). He was so excited he wanted to try again….this time his target was to land on an aircraft carrier. Yes once again perfect landing. Those video games he plays really do help;)
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1330 – Tour a real C17 Globemaster III Aircraft. These planes are awesome! Logan lowered & raised the doors in the back of the aircraft, sat in the cockpit and went over instruments as well as do a radio check with flight tower and learned about many other amazing things about the plane.
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1445 – Logan was debriefed on a mission with all fellow pilots and loadmasters in the room. The mission was all catered to Logan’s house and the surrounding park. He loved it! There Logan was also presented with a model C17 Globemaster III with his name engraved on a plaque.
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1530 – Report to Boeing C17 flight simulator to fly his mission! This was amazing! Once inside simulator it fealt like you were in the cockpit of a C17 looking out onto the flightline of McChord. Logan, with the assistance of a pilot, took off and proceeded to fly over his house, circle around from there and flew under the Narrows Bridge, then turned and headed through the valleys up toward Mt. Rainier and the back to base. With every move the simulator moved just like a real plane. We had turbulence, we shook when plane landed, shifted forward when plane came to quick stop. Also while in simulator a representative from Boeing was behind us and he would change sky line to night, we had lighting, snow, fog….it was truly amazing. As Logan’s papa said this morning he laid in bed last night and just kept thinking about how amazing the simulator was.
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1730 – MISSION COMPLETE!
This day ranks right up there as probably one of the best ever for me. To see the excitement in Logan was awesome. I can also speak on behalf of Papa & Scott that we truly were kids all day as well. Just amazed at everything.
Thank you to the 4th Airlift Squadron!
Over 500 picture were taken yesterday! We of course will try to display they as soon as we can.
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