Young Eagles Never Cease to Amaze…
There’s few things more rewarding than offering a youngster his or her first flight experience through the EAA’s Young Eagles Program. The kids show up at the airport with a sense of wonder, often having dreamed of flying for years. During the preflight briefing, that wonder gives way to curiosity, as they launch a barrage of questions, some thoughtful, some practical, some zany. Then, curiosity crisply morphs into excitement as you ask them to yell “Clear prop!” and we fire up the engine.
EAA Young Eagle Jonathan at the controls of the Beechcraft Bonanza A-36, south of Houston Southwest Airport (KAXH), steady at 2000’.
The takeoff roll is usually giddiness (and occasionally some not-well-hidden white knuckles), but by the time we clear the runway, there’s almost always a “Woah, look at that!” as the ground starts to fall away beneath us. Then, despite the roar of the engine, it’s quiet for a spell, taking it all in. “It looks so different from up here….”
There’s obvious concentration as the simple how-to tutorial gets under way. And some trepidation follows when it’s their turn to fly. “Ready, you have the controls.” “OK, I have the controls.” Some kids just want to check the “I’ve flown an airplane” box, and they make a turn or two, I snap a photo, and they offer the controls back. That said, maybe I’ve just been lucky, but more often than not, after the kids have flown for a while, to get my hands back on the yoke I have to jokingly suggest maybe they should plan to land the plane….
As we land, there’s an acknowledgement, often express, that they have more to learn — this isn’t just driving in three dimensions. Any nascent self-doubt soon ebbs on the taxi back to the hangar though, replaced by the wide grin of a kid who’s just flown a plane, for goodness sakes! Then, as we shut the engine down, “What’s next?”
Today’s EAA Young Eagle flight with Jonathan followed that pattern and was a delight. Lots of kids say they want to be a pilot and join the U.S. Air Force when they grow up. But not a lot of 10-year-olds (i.e. none that I’ve seen before today) — especially those who’ve never been in a plane before — show up at the airport and, during the preflight while I’m explaining what an aileron is, casually point out that when you want to turn left, the left aileron goes up and the right one goes down to create more lift on the right side and help the plane turn left. Wow! As we sit in the cockpit before start-up discussing the instruments, they’ve never (until today) asked why the co-pilot heading indicator reads differently than the HSI (so this was the first time I’ve found myself explaining how a gyro works on a Young Eagle flight!). And once airborne, kids rarely call out traffic before I see it (Jonathan earned a dollar under my standing rule that passengers get paid if they see traffic before I do). Even if they do, they rarely have the presence to say, “that plane’s to the northeast.”
To give you an idea of how well Jonathan was doing on his first flight, on the return to the field he had the controls until we were abeam the numbers in the pattern, and then, after he’d begrudgingly given them up, made an impromptu base-to-final radio call that was better than most of what I hear on a daily basis at our uncontrolled field…. The Air Force should keep its eye on this fellow!
Perhaps Jonathan and I were having too much fun, but I didn’t even notice his dad filming some fun video (below). EAA doesn’t recommend that parents ride along on Young Eagle flights, so that the ride isn’t about the adults. But my experience (so far) has been the opposite. Unobtrusive but interested parents (like Jonathan’s dad) can document their child’s flight so the Young Eagle can enjoy it again and again, remember and prompt their child for details the youngsters might have forgotten in the whirlwind experience, and informatively encourage them long after they’ve left the airport. A big thanks to Jonathan’s dad Ricardo for the fun video!
If you know a boy or girl age 8-17 that’s interested in aviation, have them explore the Young Eagles program. They won’t regret it!
And, I highly encourage all you pilots out there to volunteer to fly Young Eagle flights through EAA. It’s a worthwhile and gratifying experience.
Big grin from our future pilot!
