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Tales of flight

Explore and share amazing stories of survival from aircraft emergencies.

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You’ll need

  • Access to the internet
  • Camera or phone
  • Pens or pencils
  • A4 paper
  • Tables
  • Chairs
A dog dressed as a pilot stands next to an excited Buddy the dog in a field.

Before you begin 

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Take a look at our guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.   
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely. 
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help

Planning and setting up this activity 

  • In the weeks before the session, ask everyone to research and bring a real or fictional aircraft survival story that includes accurate emergency procedures. They should cover how to respond to situations like engine failure, cable break, or autorotation.
  • If time or resources allow, this research can be done at the start of the session using phones or computers. Leaders could also provide printed scenarios to explore.
  • A good example to share is US Airways Flight 1549, which successfully landed on the Hudson River in 2009 after a dual engine failure. All passengers and crew survived, and the crew was recognised for their actions.
  • You could also explore an overview of emergency flight procedures from AOPA's Emergency Procedures Safety Spotlight. 

Run the activity

  1. Start by checking that everyone has brought a survival scenario to share. If anyone hasn’t, give them a scenario to explore before moving on.
  2. Split everyone into small groups.
  3. Ask each group to compare their scenarios to make sure they’re all different. If there are duplicates, mix people around or have those with the same story work together to present it.
  4. Each person should take turns telling their story to their group. Encourage them to include key details—like what emergency procedures were followed and how safety protocols were applied.
  5. Storytellers may share visual aids, like photographs and news clippings.
  6. After each story, groups could reflect on how the incident was reviewed afterwards, what the authorities should take away from near-misses for the future and how the bravery of crew members and passengers is acknowledged. The storyteller should note down the best of these to share with everyone else later.
  7. Finish by bringing everyone back together. Each storyteller can briefly share the highlights of their story and what their group discussed.

Reflection

Groups should already have reflected on the lessons learned in these stories when they fed back their thoughts and opinions. Was there a consensus that most incidents of a serious nature were responded to and reviewed in a way that was positive? Do emergency landings and other scenarios always lead to changes to safety procedures?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

Online safety

Supervise young people when they’re online and give them advice about staying safe. Take a look at our online safety or bullying guidance. The NSPCC offers more advice and guidance, too. If you want to know more about specific social networks and games, Childnet has information and safety tips for apps. You can also report anything that’s worried you online to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command. As always, if you’ve got concerns about a young person’s welfare, including their online experiences, follow the Yellow Card to make a report.

  • Presentations to groups and everyone else could be more or less detailed, depending on the breadth of research done.
  • Encourage storytellers to bring along visual aids to their stories, if this makes them easier to tell and listen to.
  • Explain any technical terms and avoid jargon where possible.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Air Activities Stage 5

If you know any pilots, or can get in touch with an experienced flyer, invite them along to the session to share their own experiences and opinions of the scenarios discussed.

Young people were free to select their own scenarios to research and discuss.