… you know that it takes aero seriously. Cue Purdue University Airport, an airport within the campus of West Lafayette itself! It wasn’t my first time at the airport, but I hadn’t gone into the hanger of the private light aircraft and out into the open where Purdue keeps a fleet of retired commercial jets. All aero students have to take the airport tour during their time as Sophomores and as much as I want to say I couldn’t wait to go for it, I can’t. During my years in Singapore Polytechnic, I saw almost everything I needed to see: from cross sections of gas turbines to the smallest rivets that hold each piece of the aircraft skin together. This then, would be a tour I would relish for the experience, but not so for the content.
I pulled myself out of my room on a lazy Wednesday morning to hitch a ride on John’s brand new Subaru WRX (non STI, but hey, it costs 20 grand, who’s complaining right?). Another reason I dread going to the airport on campus is the extreme distance from my dormitory, ughh. That said, the 2010 Subaru WRX is quite a beast in itself, but I digress.
We arrived shortly at AVTech (Aviation Technology), were split into groups and set off to find out how gas turbines work. Surprisingly though I didn’t feel it the least bit boring or monotonous, in fact, it was a good refresher from the days passed. I scribbled notes, took down details and listen intently, as the Professor rattled on with flawless precision about the internal workings of turbine engines. We were just about finished with the briefing and were told to walk around and explore the work area when two of our teaching assistants marched in bringing along a horde of eager students. That was our cue. Sheesh, that was quick.
We went to the light aircraft section next, which was pretty uneventful. I was finally allowed to appreciate the size of light aircraft and their inner workings, which is sort of sad given the fact that I’m in aero and my limited knowledge on light aircraft but hey, remember I’m from sunny Singapore – a place that has only a handful of planes. Time seemed to fly by for some reason (probably cos I was at the airport) and before we knew it we were out in an area of open space looking at this huge HUGE Boeing 727. This was the eye opener of the day. Whipping out my iPhone, I took a quick shot of this beauty before I went back to scribbling notes about the intricacies of this once majestic freighter.
The first and last man on the moon was from Purdue, and even right now, our aero/astro program is ranked amongst the nation’s top 5 constantly. But just standing underneath the towering 727 left me feeling so small and inept to be standing on the shoulders of pioneers in space, the final frontier. There is so much to learn, so much to know. Yet there is even more to learn how to learn and know what to know.
I left the airport pondering why we always have certain preconceptions or notions of events yet to happen, or of destinations yet to reach; why we tend to let our past experiences get the better of us and pre-judge the outcome of such a dynamic world we live in. We have experiences to learn from them, yes, but why do we pride ourselves when we pre-judge and allow those three glib words “told you so” spill from our lips?
Interesting, how very interesting.
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