If there is one constant with nearly all general aviation pilots, it’s that we love taking kids up for their first airplane ride. We tell them about our airplane, let them touch the controls, get them comfortable in the passenger seat, and then watch with elation when their smile grows bigger as the houses get smaller.
It is this very concept that has made the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) Young Eagles program so successful. Launched in 1992, volunteer pilots in the Young Eagles program have been giving youth ages 8 to 17 their first free ride in an airplane at EAA chapter events across the country. As of March 17, there had been 2,245,710 Young Eagles flown, and for Greg Bednark, a volunteer Young Eagles pilot in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, making those flights in his Flight Design CT, Rans S7, or Carbon Cub SS light sport airplanes has been a very gratifying endeavor.
