Dropped off at school in an Oryx helicopter

Young EW Gordon (second from left) invited his sister and nine of his closest friends to join him for a helicopter ride in an 8 ton Oryx.

On Monday, 10 January the OFM Breakfast Club went to air asking children to SMS details about themselves and their school to the station. The idea behind the competition was to give a child the opportunity of a lifetime - choose 10 classmates to fly with him or her in a SANDF Oryx Helicopter and be a real superstar for a day or two. Wednesday morning, Tim announced EW as the winner and there is no doubt that he felt like a hero among his friends and community.

Early Friday morning, the eight (8) ton Oryx collected EW and his ten friends in Brandfort. They were then taken for an exhilarating 20 minute trip over the town and surrounding areas. On arrival back at the schools sporting grounds they were welcomed by their fellow learners, teachers and members from the community. The OFM Breakfast Club did regular crossings to the team in the Oryx and to the station's Hit Mobile, sharing EW's excitement with listeners.

The OFM/SANDF Back to School promotion was an idea that started last year on OFM. It was such an great success that in 2011, the Breakfast Club had the challenge of making the idea of flying a kid to school even bigger. They approached HELI FS with the idea of taking not just taking one child to school but a few. The company liked the idea and included the initiative under their "Siyandiza", project which encourages kids to join the SA Air Force when they leave school.

According to Tim and team it was an opportunity to do something really cool and wow for the children. "It nice to know we made a kid's day."