Young Eagles Flights
Every since Sandi and I started on the RV project, I've looked forward to giving YE rides. (For those of you who don't know what the Young Eagles program is, you can visit the website at www.youngeagles.org). With the seat configuration on the passenger side for Sandi, it made the perfect setup for flying kids.
This weekend was my first opportunity to do some YE flights and it was looking like I'd be busy was we had 40 kids and only 4 planes committed to flying. Sandi and I departed Ottawa at 7:30 and headed north 25 miles to Johnson County Executive (OJC). The rest of the group was already there, so we held a pilot briefing and talked about where we'd be flying. Several kids arrived early and were ready to go, so we got started after we did our briefing. Sandi was great... she did the paperwork on the kids while I was up flying and spoke with the parents during and after the flights. A reporter from the Kansas City Star was also there taking some photo's, sounds like I'll be in the paper on Wednesday.
For airplanes we had 2 RV-9A's, Cessna 152, and a Bonnanza. Later we added a Tripacer and Super Decathalon. I'll note here that I got harrassed about my arrival for using the entire runway length. My landing was fine and in the first 500 feet of the runway but if I'm in no hurry, I'll keep the nosewheel off the ground and not use any brakes at all, which means I'll use up a good portion of the runway.. that and there was no wind and if you miss the third turn-off you have to go another 1,000 feet to the next one. Oh well.. the rest of my landings that day were all shorter, making the 3rd turnoff. Nathan had to show-off in his RV-9A by making the 2nd turnoff on all except one.
I flew 6 kids from 8:00 - 12:00. I had one young lady back out after getting in and starting up. I certainly wasn't going to force her to go fly.. that's no way to introduce them to aviation. Rick, our Bonnanza pilot, spent some time with her later but to no avail. All of the kids did really well. I seemed to get the quiet ones. I had two young boys who really got a kick out of it and asked a lot of questions.
I personally had a blast giving these rides. It was fun to share the flying experience with young people and just enjoy the flying. I look forward to doing this again. The other chapter I belong to (91) does YE flights almost every month.
Flight time total was 3.7 hours.
This weekend was my first opportunity to do some YE flights and it was looking like I'd be busy was we had 40 kids and only 4 planes committed to flying. Sandi and I departed Ottawa at 7:30 and headed north 25 miles to Johnson County Executive (OJC). The rest of the group was already there, so we held a pilot briefing and talked about where we'd be flying. Several kids arrived early and were ready to go, so we got started after we did our briefing. Sandi was great... she did the paperwork on the kids while I was up flying and spoke with the parents during and after the flights. A reporter from the Kansas City Star was also there taking some photo's, sounds like I'll be in the paper on Wednesday.
For airplanes we had 2 RV-9A's, Cessna 152, and a Bonnanza. Later we added a Tripacer and Super Decathalon. I'll note here that I got harrassed about my arrival for using the entire runway length. My landing was fine and in the first 500 feet of the runway but if I'm in no hurry, I'll keep the nosewheel off the ground and not use any brakes at all, which means I'll use up a good portion of the runway.. that and there was no wind and if you miss the third turn-off you have to go another 1,000 feet to the next one. Oh well.. the rest of my landings that day were all shorter, making the 3rd turnoff. Nathan had to show-off in his RV-9A by making the 2nd turnoff on all except one.
I flew 6 kids from 8:00 - 12:00. I had one young lady back out after getting in and starting up. I certainly wasn't going to force her to go fly.. that's no way to introduce them to aviation. Rick, our Bonnanza pilot, spent some time with her later but to no avail. All of the kids did really well. I seemed to get the quiet ones. I had two young boys who really got a kick out of it and asked a lot of questions.
I personally had a blast giving these rides. It was fun to share the flying experience with young people and just enjoy the flying. I look forward to doing this again. The other chapter I belong to (91) does YE flights almost every month.
Flight time total was 3.7 hours.
posted by Matthew at 8:47 PM
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