Pavement Project: Bringing Flight Lessons Down to Earth

Third-generation pilot and CFI literally paints a solution for kinetic learners at Seattle-area airport.

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, August 05, 2025 at 09:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

An approximately 10-by-15 diagram of the traffic pattern at Auburn Municipal Airport in Washington state is large enough for kinetic learners to walk it as if they are the airplane. [Courtesy: Abbie Weir]

Key Takeaways:

Flight instructors are increasingly using creative, large-scale, and kinetic teaching methods to help students, particularly kinetic learners, grasp complex aviation concepts like traffic patterns and VOR navigation.
One innovative example is flight instructor Abbie Weir's project to paint a 10x15-foot interactive traffic pattern diagram on the pavement at Auburn Municipal Airport.
This "airmarking" initiative, completed by the Seattle Ninety-Nines, provides a practical, walk-through tool for students to visualize and understand airport procedures and landmarks, especially beneficial for navigating busy non-towered airports.

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One of the more challenging aspects of teaching flight lessons is taking a two-dimensional diagram from a textbook or slide from a computer screen and translating it into three dimensions for the kinetic learners who need physical interaction for best results.

Flight instructors frequently use desktop aircraft models to illustrate the traffic pattern at the airport—and this works. But there are times you need to go bigger.