CHINA LAKE, Calif. - School was in session at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., when Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 31 hosted a visit for approximately 60 Faller Elementary School kindergarten students April 14.

“The children were extremely excited and thrilled to get an up-close look at the aircraft, talk to actual SAR aircrew, and watch the morning take-offs and landings,” said Maj. Robert “Famine” Leonard, VX-31 Advanced Weapons Laboratory project officer. “They made a positive impression on those young children, some who, I am sure, will one day be our future sailors and Marines.”

The students, escorted by teachers Andrea Miller and Jennifer Brown, along with several volunteer chaperones, got a hands-on experience with the MH-60S Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopter, the Centennial of Naval Aviation retro-painted F/A-18 Legacy Hornet, and an F/A-18 Super Hornet.

SAR crew members helped the children strap in to prepare for flight, gear up in a rescue retrieval system, man the controls and witness a back-brace stretcher demonstration. The “Nighthawk” helicopter is the helicopter used for rescue operations in the Death Valley National Park Service and Indian Wells Valley regions.

SAR members are on call 24/7 and train daily for high-risk rescue missions. Within the past 12 months, VX-31’s SAR team successfully completed eight rescue missions and saved the lives of nine civilians.