September Young Eagles Rally

EAA119 Sept 2012 YE

Very nice day today to fly Young Eagle kids.  43 got into the air and Tina got a second flight as well.  44D is on the ground today because the annual inspection is due, so no flying for me today.  The only plane I could rent was taken.  That was ok, I was busy running the show.  :-)  When the Stearman showed up (yellow biplane) the drooling by all the pilots was embarrassing.  Everyone wants a ride in that, myself included!  I pointed at Tina who had been helping with registration and said "Tina, you're flying in that, ok?"  She jumped up and was ready to go in no time.  No grumbling by anyone!  Awesome day.

Field Trip

120 3rd graders from Calabasas Elementary School came to WVI on 20 May on a field trip.

Note to the organizing teacher and the volunteers I had with me:
Yasmin,
I got the thank you letters from the classes and have had a good time going
through them.

Your kids were very well behaved but more importantly were interested and asked
a lot of questions.  It was my pleasure to let them in my plane and to talk to
them about flying and the airport.  I am sure the other volunteers feel the
same.  I hope to see them again around the airport, because airports are cool!

To all the volunteers ("airport people") who helped out:
Chris, the loudspeaker worked great, thanks!
Theresa, thanks for the great ideas, display in the terminal and putting up with
us
Rob, thanks for getting power up and being Rayvon's mechanic
John, thanks for the airplane to show and bringing a great friend who got 120
kids through map reading exercises
Dennis, thanks for showing your plane and let the kids climb in
Mary, thanks for leading the crowds out to the compass rose and back, did you
get your walk in?
Juan Carlos, thanks for the models and ground school help
Jim, thanks for the help on the ramp and ground schools
Abby, thanks for showing Theresa's airport info in the terminal
Rayvon, thanks for the great intro speech and showing your beautiful Bonanza.

I hope I didn't forget anyone.

It was a good day.
Tom

Flying Kids

We flew about 55 kids today with about 10 pilots and planes. Very nice day at Watsonville, no fog, very warm (~80F), light winds. We always bring them back in one piece but sometimes a little scrambled.

Day in the Sky success!

DitS turned out well. I haven't blogged about the hours of frustration, anger, frustration, resignation, frustration and drama this has been since early in March. EAA suddenly decided that the risk to their Young Eagles program was too much and wanted out. DitS organizers couldn't understand the reasoning and was ready to claim discrimination against special needs kids. Most still don't understand the issues. The result was no flying by anyone. But a lot of kids got to hang out around airplanes, we had a bunch opened up for them to sit in, NASA had a cool display with solar telescopes out. It turned out very well. Not a lot of EAA 119 volunteers but that is ok. We got enough Cisco people to help set up. I ended up setting up the entire ramp myself in the morning because I dreamed about it all the night before. I was at the airport before 7am and before the ramp crew, so I just did it. I am paying for it today, I ache everywhere. I took no pictures during the day so these are from Mary and Dean.

4th of July Young Eagles

A very nice day for Young Eagles. 51 kids flown by about 6 planes and pilots. Good weather. Nobody hurt.


Nobody hurt much anyway...

Somebody (to remain nameless, not me!) taxied their airplane into a Porche. The plane is totalled, the Porche is probably fine.

Moffett Field Young Eagles Rally

Said and I flew over to Moffett Field in Mountain View on Saturday to participate in the EAA Chapter 62 Young Eagles Rally there. 258+ kids were given airplane rides by 29 pilots in their planes. Many happy faces. EAA 62 did a great job and I have to thank AOPA insurance for their help getting the insurance paperwork out for several of the pilots to be able to fly at this event on short notice. It went well for me and those I talked to. The appreciation from the parents was pretty gratifying. I usually tell them it is my pleasure and probably the only meaningful use I have for my expensive hobby. Showing kids the world from above and that someone like them can fly an airplane is very meaningful.

Day In The Sky 2009

Day in the Sky happened on the 18th. 451 people flew with 47 pilots and planes in 170 flights. It was quite a day! I got in five loads in between my hand wringing and coordinating with different groups. Several of Liz's students got rides and I saw mostly smiles and appreciation from parents/family. The air over Watsonville was filled with airplanes and NorCal air traffic control was amazed at what was happening. The pilots and ground crews did a great job keeping everyone safe. But next year... not so many planes/flights. Or somehow spread it out more evenly.

Holidays 2008

Holidays 2008

Fun and family togetherness was had by all.

Young Eagles August 08

My Young Eagles for August. Couldn't get the little girl to fly but the others did fine. I asked Laura to ride again with the last boys so that I wasn't alone with them. Tim and Brent did fine anyway. I asked Laura to keep us informed how she does at E-R in Arizona. She is going to the Engineering school there.

floating in the air

Liz and I finally got Abra into the airplane. It was much easier to get her in... just lift her up on the wing and she did the rest herself. Once we had her strapped in, off we went. Kept the windows open until just before takeoff to keep everyone cool. Once airbore she seemed very interested in what was outside the windows. After 20 minutes and a few turns over her home in Capitola she was "done", time to go back. Quick landing and back on the ground.

Her mom told me "Bob asked Abra on the ride home "did you like the airplane ride" and Abra said "floating in the air""

That made my day.