During term two, St Brendan’s Catholic Primary School booked an incursion experience provided by the Royal Flying Doctors Service Simulator.
The students not only experienced the simulator but learnt many fun facts about the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).
Did you know? On the back of a 20 dollar note is John Flynn, the founder of the RFDS. There are also 2191 workers for the RFDS and it has been around for 97 years.
The RFDS is an aeromedical organisation that provides emergency help and primary healthcare services to people in rural and remote areas of Australia.
It helps and provides emergency evacuations and primary healthcare services to people in rural and remote areas, where access to healthcare is limited.
The RFDS is good for people in remote areas of Australia because it provides access to a lot of healthcare services for people who need it.
“It is fair to say they loved the experience,” principal Matt Hamer said.
The following are students’ accounts of
their experiences:
“On Wednesday, June 11, it was the year sixes’ turn to go to the RFDS flight simulator (which was available to years 3-6). The first thing that happened is we lined up and walked to the health room, where we met Tom. He answered a few of our questions and shared with us some of his stories, which were really intriguing. After he did that, we walked up to his flight simulator. The first thing I did was put on some virtual reality goggles, which taught us about what the RFDS did. Then I hopped in their plane, where we then got to play with some medical equipment. From there we got to talk to each other using headsets, like real pilots use. I made a situation where we were skydiving. Finally, we got to do the simulator, where it seemed like we were in a real cockpit, with a real plane steering wheel (which is known as a ‘yoke’). After that, we all got humongous stickers. Overall, it was really fun and enjoyable. We would like to thank Tom for being the best teacher ever.”
Another student wrote: “I was one of the first people to get inside, in the middle of the plane. Leanne and I got to put these headphones with mics on, so we could hear and communicate with each other. Then at the front of the plane I got to play this simulator game of flying a plane. I crashed mine. Next, on the outside of the plane two other people and I got to put these VR headsets on and watch this simulator of flying and helping somebody on the plane. Next, in the very back of the plane, me and my best friend Charlie got to check each other’s blood pressure. After we did all that, we got out and did this flying competition with paper planes, whoever got theirs the furthest won a prize. Overall, I had a great time, if I were to rate it, I’d rate it a 10/10. I wish it could come back.”
Other student comments were:
– Maddie from year four: “My favourite part was the Virtual Reality (VR) and the feeling of being six feet up in the air.”
– Zari from year four: “I enjoyed when my friends and I played around with the defibrillator and other medical equipment.”
– Ari from year three: “I loved learning about all the medicine and its use.”
– Willow W from year five: “I loved the Virtual Reality (VR) because it felt super weird and realistic.”
– Anton from year six: “The pressure of
keeping the plane from flying in the air was so fun.”
