Microlighting: an aid to geography teaching
Published in Teaching Geography October 1995
Anthony Britton takes his own aerial photographs for use in lessons
Airspace always seems to have been close to my teaching experience. In my first post in Farnborough, you had to accept that the new aircraft taking off from the air show nearby and circling past your window would cause disruption to the lesson and excitement to some pupils. Later, as head of geography in Twickenham, my lessons had a commanding view of planes heading for Heathrow at two minute intervals. Now, ten years later, in a quieter location I am able to circle at 520metres (1,500 feet) above the grounds of my present school and make a contribution to airspace geography.
In June last year I embarked on a course of lessons in a microlight. With a 10 metre wingspan above and a two-seater trike below, it resembles a motorcycle side-car with a propeller mounted at the rear. I was eager to learn everything I could from my instructor Phil in his Mainair Alpha 582. My enthusiasm led to Phil to sit me at the controls from the start! Following the preflight checks which seem daunting to start with, we taxied on to the grass runway at Hunsdon near Harlow in Essex. Within less than 100 metres and at only 57kph (38mph) we were airborne! The sensation was thrilling and the views incredible. With an open cockpit and only a visor between you and the landscape, vision is virtually unrestricted.
As
a geography teacher, the subject now really is three dimensional! I have always enjoyed studying the detail on
NASA and good aerial photographs, and now I can examine the real world from
above at relatively slow speeds and low cost. Within the space of a few lessons
we had flown over the new towns of Welwyn, Harlow and Basildon, and major
arteries like the M25, M1 and M11, as well as new bypasses and old Roman roads
whose routes are only defined by minor tracks and hedgerows. I have
peered down the chimneys of the new gas fuelled power station being constructed
at Rye House and seen for myself the impact of a golf course construction boom
in south Hertfordshire. The oil refineries at Canvey and the Isle of Sheppey
ferry terminal adjacent to acres of new
cars on the dockside were only the first taste of how the geography of the
Thames Estuary is changing. Epping
Forest really does look like a green lung worth preserving, whilst the state of
industrial development in the Lea valley seen from the air not only provides
the most up-to-date but answers questions that print cannot. Climbing out from under a heat haze and up to
the underbelly of clouds provides drama for future meteorology lessons!
Dr Challoner’s Grammar
School, Amersham on the Hill, from 153m (500ft) above the ground, looking east.
The school playing field and buildings are on the left. Longfield Drive (middle right) is made up of
detached houses and gardens. The Metropolitan line railway is on the right.
Amersham on the Hill town centre is at the top of the picture. At 4pm on a
March day the trees cast long shadows.
Photo Anthony Britton
Six
months after going solo and passing the General Flying Test (GFT) the reality
of this new teaching aid is beginning to flourish. The department now possesses 35mm colour
slides of aerial views of the school site and the surrounding area which
complements our local geography resources.
The interest in aerial photography of the local from all age groups has
been tremendous! In several lessons
pupils exclaimed “Sir, that’s my hose there”!
Pupils are most impressed with the details that can be seen from 520
metres. Aerial photographs are now being used to study housing density and
patterns, transport networks, sites of industry and open spaces in conjunction
with conventional mapwork skills.
Local
colour aerial photographs also provide a stimulating resource for a “public
enquiry” role play exercise. Our local example is the widening of the M25.
Air views of the motorway with its intersections, adjacent housing and
industrial areas, and Green Belt, combined with very varies traffic flows at
different times of day, provide an informed illustration which has triggered
lively debate and discussion. The impact of such developments on our landscape
is best appreciated from above. Newspaper articles, maps and traffic statistics
are provided for follow-up work. Your own air photography of a local by-pass,
an out of town retail development or an industrial site could provide you with
a similarly original teaching aid. Other useful views are as varied as your
imagination and as broad as the National Curriculum!
GCSE
examination boards use aerial photographs as part of mapwork of data response
questions. The more familiar our pupils are with the interpretation of human
and physical geographical views, the better they will understand and enjoy the
subject.
Notes.
An
unrestricted microlight licence requires 25 hours of private tuition of which
at least 10 hours must be solo flying.
Ground school is required to get you through the five exams. A package
such as this would cost around £1,500.
The cost of an aircraft and its running costs approximate to those of a
family car.
Besides using the aircraft as a teaching resource, family and friends also came flying. My father, then in his 90's, was probably the oldest passenger who had ever taken off (and landed!) from Hunsdon airfield. Pat Foster, a neighbour was also a keen photographer! see
http://www.croxleygreenhistory.co.uk/croxley-from-above.html
Besides using the aircraft as a teaching resource, family and friends also came flying. My father, then in his 90's, was probably the oldest passenger who had ever taken off (and landed!) from Hunsdon airfield. Pat Foster, a neighbour was also a keen photographer! see
http://www.croxleygreenhistory.co.uk/croxley-from-above.html
