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EAA’s Young Eagles Program on Quest for 2026

Goal set of reaching 2.5 million total participants in time for AirVenture in July.

Friday, January 16, 2026 at 09:00 AM ET

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Gordon Davis (left) of Kentucky was named the 2024 EAA Young Eagles Leadership Award winner. [Credit: David Leiting/EAA]

Key Takeaways:

The EAA's Young Eagles program, established in 1992, provides free airplane rides to children aged 8-17 to spark their interest in aviation, having flown over 2.4 million youth.
Operated by volunteer pilots and local EAA chapters, the program hosts "rallies" offering educational experiences and pathways for continued engagement, like the Young Eagles Flight Plan.
This initiative is highly rewarding for both participants, who frequently transform apprehension into excitement for flight, and the dedicated volunteers who facilitate these life-changing introductions to aviation.

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How many of you pilots got your first taste of aviation through the Experimental Aircraft Association‘s Young Eagles program?

Created in 1992, Young Eagles offers free airplane rides to children between the ages of 8 and 17 as a means of sharing the joy of flight. As of January 14, some 2,466,603 Young Eagles have taken to the skies, and the organization wants to see that number grow, aiming for 2.5 million Young Eagles being flown by EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in July.

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.