Southwest Airlines, that is. Why? Well, it’s definitely not because of the airline’s seating policy, which I find to be family-unfriendly. But my psyche smiles like a happy little emoticon when I discover places where technology is used to benefit kids. And today I stumbled on one of those places as I was meandering around the big blue sky of the Internet for my real job (as editor of a travel magazine you’ve probably never heard of unless you chalk up frequent flier miles in the six-digits annually).

Southwest Airlines has a program I think is pretty cool, a program that would not be possible without pervasive Internet access in schools. It’s called “Adopt-A-Pilot,” and is pretty much as it sounds: Fifth grade classes can adopt a pilot by tracking his/her trips and learning about aviation, an experience “made meaningful by their interaction with a real Pilot,” according to the Web site. The program was developed in conjunction with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and the National Association of Teachers of Math and Science. (Sorry to disappoint the thousands of fifth-grade-teacher visitors to this blog, but 2007 registration closed in November.) But, you and your kids can watch the amusing behind-the-scenes video, which includes lots of footage from the pilotcam. (Just last week on a flight, I was thinking, “I bet this takeoff looks pretty cool from the cockpit, where you have nothing to obscure your head-on view.” Sure enough, thanks to the pilotcam, I now know this to be true.) And be sure to check out the program blog, too, to see how classes have enjoyed the program.