Article and Photos by Ted Luebbers
The Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 534 at the Leesburg International Airport in Florida held a Young Eagles Rally on Saturday, December 17, 2022.
These flights are designed to give young people their first experience in the air in a small single-engine aircraft.
The chapter’s Young Eagle Chief Pilot, Joel Hargis, gave the pilots an orientation on weather, what air traffic to expect, and special Young Eagle call signs he has worked out with the tower so they can easily be distinguished from other traffic calling in.
He gives them some latitude as to where and for how long they should fly, generally 15 to 20 minutes. If the child lives close to the airport, pilots will try to give them the chance to see their neighborhood from the air.
After the pilot briefing, Joel gave an orientation about the Young Eagles program to the young people and their parents. Here he pointed out that the first consideration is safety.
On run up if anything looks questionable about the plane, it will return to the ramp and the young person will be assigned to another aircraft.
Each Young Eagle wore a seat belt and a headset so that they could talk to the pilot. During the takeoff and landing they were asked to maintain a “sterile cockpit”. That means no talking while the pilot concentrates on takeoff and landing and is talking to the tower.
If the young person is asked if he or she would like to try flying the plane once it is in the air, they are instructed what to say when taking the controls and relinquishing them. That would be the standard, “my airplane, your airplane “shoutout.
He stressed the danger of spinning propellers and to follow the instructions of the chapter guides when on the ramp.
Joel then concluded his talk to the kids and their parents by pointing out that once all the safety considerations are met, the main thing is to have fun.
All the aircraft that fly on rally day have been pre-flighted by their pilot owners beforehand. However, all the kids will be taken to one airplane on the ramp and shown how to properly do a complete pre-flight inspection of that aircraft, including the effect of the control surfaces during flight.
At this point all young people return to the chapter hangar to be assigned to an EAA chapter pilot and plane. On this day there were seven single-engine fixed-wing aircraft waiting on the ramp for their young crew members.
The EAA Young Eagles program is available free to youngsters ages 8 to 17. EAA Chapter 534 pilots volunteer their time, aircraft, and fuel for the flights.
Young Eagle, Mason McClintock and his EAA pilot, Marc Morel, are ready for takeoff.
The motivation for doing this is to acquaint young people with the enjoyment of flying. Generally, this will be the first time they will fly in a single-engine general aviation airplane.
It is hoped that this experience will inspire some of them to become licensed Private Pilots someday or expose a latent interest in some other aspect of aerospace.
On a national basis, EAA has flown almost 2.3 million of these flights. They are done at local airports where there are affiliated EAA chapters.
EAA Chapter 534 runs Young Eagle Rallies once a month at the Leesburg International Airport. Other chapters may have a different schedule.
If you are interested in finding out more about this program, drive out to your local airport to find out if there is an EAA chapter there or go to the following website, < www.YoungEagles.org/join >.
If you want more information about the Experimental Aircraft Association, go to, < www.eaa.org >. If you want to learn more about EAA Chapter 534 and their aviation youth program, Squadron 534, go to, < www.chapter534.org >.
If you have a young person in your family who has ever expressed an interest in aviation, talk to EAA!
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