{"id":2692,"date":"2014-02-28T06:23:52","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T14:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=2692"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:57","slug":"98-sisters-young-eagles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/98-sisters-young-eagles\/","title":{"rendered":"#98 Sisters’ Young Eagles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written 11-10-13<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not one of those guys who feels he \u201cowes\u201d something to aviation. \u00a0I believe more in helping the human race. But those who do feel that way, usually try to pay back the debt by doing something for aviation.\u00a0 It often takes the form of helping out kids, usually in the form of the Young Eagles Program.<\/p>\n

Those who have listened to my audio book \u201cNuts from a Blind Squirrel\u201d, know how I feel about \u201cthe airport kid\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the most beloved artifacts of the flying game.\u00a0 The airport kid is fascinated by flight and rides his bike to the airport in order to stare at the planes. Maybe he earns some precious flight time by washing some of those planes or performing grunt work for some grumpy flying codger with a soft spot in his black heart.\u00a0 My friend, Bill Warren, was an airport kid.\u00a0 The memories of his airport kidhood were so strong that he worked with me to make a movie based on the concept.\u00a0 He and I labored over a short subject called, \u201cThe Magic Sky\u201d.\u00a0 We never finished it and have little to show for it.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve never forgotten Bill\u2019s airport kid and maybe that\u2019s why I look at the ongoing process of fencing airports with such dismay.\u00a0 Civic leaders probably think that their airports are of greater value if they have to protect them with fences.\u00a0 Those terrorists they fence against are laughing up the sleeves of their caftans as thousands of airport kids have their dreams crushed by the chain link and barbed wire.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN2535\"<\/a>
Jay Haldeman fills out a student’s first logbook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But in the meantime, the EAA’s Young Eagles program gives hundreds of pilots the chance to \u201cgive back\u201d and introduce thousands of youngsters to aviation.\u00a0 It\u2019s a nice idea.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s been perverted by those pilots who crank out hundreds of such flights and point with pride at the number of kids they\u2019ve flown.\u00a0 Like a gunfighter pointing at the notches on his pistol grip, they take pride in having flown all those kids.\u00a0 But is it about numbers? How many of the kids they flew have ever flown again?\u00a0 I like to think that what it\u2019s really about is enabling.\u00a0 And enabling can be done without a huge program like Young Eagles.\u00a0 It can be done by a single pilot simply making his aircraft, his skill and knowledge available to any kid who takes the trouble to ride that bike to the airport and make his dreams known.<\/p>\n

A group of people in Sisters, Oregon have recognized the trouble with which an airport kid might pursue that elusive dream.\u00a0 They\u2019ve created a \u201cscience of flight\u201d class in their own high school.\u00a0 Kids can take the class and take that step toward a career in aviation.\u00a0 The class will prepare them to take the written.\u00a0 Guest speakers will share their own experiences as they entered the world of aviation.\u00a0 The kids can take advantage of the Young Eagles Program and qualify to take Sporty\u2019s on-line course.\u00a0 Hooray for Sporty\u2019s for making this course available to these kids.\u00a0 I hope those kids become aviators and buy thousands of dollars worth of stuff from Sporty\u2019s!<\/p>\n

\"DSCN2719\"<\/a>
Pilot Jim Hamilton briefs a group of Sisters High School students before their flights.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the meantime they can thank people like airport owners Benny and Julie Benson, pilots Jim Hamilton, Tara Hackler, Karen Cardin, Jay Haldeman and Steve Harris, organizers, Rob and Tracy Berg and educators, Jon Renner, John Miller , Karl Baldessari, John Creason, CFI, \u00a0and lots of others, whose work helps make this effort possible.<\/p>\n

Many people complete their life cycle and never once do a thing to improve the world for those who will follow.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure I have done as much as I could.\u00a0 But I think it\u2019s something we should all pursue.<\/p>\n

Darren Pleasance certainly feels like doing something to improve the life of others.\u00a0 He made it possible for teacher Jon Renner to take four of those science of flight students to the Paramount Pictures studio to participate in honors for legendary aviator, Bob Hoover.\u00a0 The kids had a chance to meet Hoover, airshow star Sean Tucker, astronaut Gene Cernan and many other aviation greats.\u00a0 Gee, I wish I was an airport kid!<\/p>\n

\"DSCN2806\"<\/a>
Three young future fliers proudly display their Young Eagles certificates.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s not about \u201cgiving back\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s about \u201chelping out\u201d. And it doesn\u2019t have to be aviation.\u00a0 There are tons of opportunities to give a kid a leg up in any of thousands of pursuits.<\/p>\n

Nah, I feel absolutely no need to \u201cgive back\u201d to aviation.\u00a0 I do, however, feel a need to give a hand to any kid with a dream.\u00a0 It just so happens that I am an aviator, so I can help a kid who dreams of flying.\u00a0 If I were a doctor, I\u2019d feel the same way toward a kid with a dream of learning medicine.\u00a0 And I\u2019d probably be \u00a0better able to afford it!<\/p>\n

Happy Swooping!<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Brian \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

” Those terrorists they fence against are laughing up the sleeves of their caftans as thousands of airport kids have their dreams crushed by the chain link and barbed wire.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[69,200],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}