I’m learning to fly, but I ain’t got wings. Coming down is the hardest thing.
~ Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne
How do eagles learn to fly? Do they start by reading ‘The Three Chapters of Flying: Take Off, Flying and Landing?’ Maybe they start with a preflight check. Local Young Eagles have it easy: all they have to do is show up at the Truckee Tahoe Airport on the second Saturday of the month to soar into the blue.
The local Chapter 1073 of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) offers free airplane rides for kids 8 through 17. Young Eagle Volunteer Pilots take the kids (weather permitting) for a local flight where they’ll get an eagle’s eye view of their community. Sometimes the kids go to the hangar with the pilots and watch them get the plane onto the tarmac. They receive a basic introduction to the parts of the airplane and aerodynamics. Once in the plane, they fasten their seatbelts, put on their headphones and receive a blow-by-blow commentary during flight check – then it’s up and away!
After their flight, the kids receive a packet of information regarding opportunities in aviation, a personal logbook and a certificate noting that they are now ‘Young Eagles.’ Their names are added to the world’s largest electronic logbook, which is in the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, Michigan. To date over 10 million kids have registered first flights flown in the Young Eagles Program.
‘The most rewarding thing about this is watching the kids’ smiles as they get off the airplane,’ said Charlie White who has been the Young Eagles Coordinator for about 10 years.
‘One flight will get them so excited, they’ll become pilots or get into something having to do with being in the air,’ said Peg Frieson, Young Eagles Volunteer and mother of Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Cadet, Jon.
Now 14, Jon took his first flight with Young Eagles when he was 11, joined the CAP at 12 and plans to be a pilot in the Navy. As a Cadet under Deputy Commander Charlie White, he receives air and space education, participates in search and rescue training exercises and prepares for emergency services. ‘He learns self-discipline, leadership, responsibility and earns community service pins through his activities. He also gets to travel,’ said Peg.
If you are interested in learning more about the program, do not miss the next EAA pancake breakfast. You might get to sit next to Triple Ace Charlie Koontz and hear his stories about Midway and his near miss with death when he was shot down over the South Pacific.
Registration for the airplane rides and the $5 pancake breakfast begins at 8 a.m. The next flight/breakfast dates are August 15, September 12 and October 10. Take the Truckee Airport Road off Highway 267, turn right at the Terminal Building and follow the signs to the last building on the left. youngeagles.org, 530-587-4811.
~ Kira Yannetta, kira@moonshienink.com.
