I had the expressed pleasure of flying Young Eagles flights in my 6A for the first time this weekend. It was something that I had been looking forward to during the duration of the building process. That and giving my son his first ride in the RV, which we accomplished last week as well, was right up there at the top of the to do list.
It was gratifying to hear my passengers say that they were hoping to get a ride in my airplane as opposed to the others present at our EAA chapter's event. Of course my telling them that they were about to get a ride in the coolest airplane out there didn't hurt either!
I flew 5 kids that day, and each of them were pretty fired up about their rides. One kid said that he was going to use his new favorite word to describe his experience....."Epic!!!" This from a 9 year old! He said, "This is the greatest thing I have ever done in my whole life!"
My favorite passenger, however, was a 79 year old patient of mine. Ok, so she is not quite a "Young" Eagle. More like a Golden Eagle. I had told her on a recent visit to my office that my EAA chapter was going to have a Young Eagles event, and she expressed how much she would like to have a ride. So I told her to come to the airport during our event and I would happily oblige her.
She was just as excited, if not more, as the kids were. She loved being able to see where she had lived all her life from a different perspective, pointing out all the landmarks as we flew. I told her she could fly with me and be my navigator ANY time. She made the comment that if she were younger she knows what she would do.....Take flying lessons. Even though she is 79, she is in great health and I told her it is never too late.
It was just so gratifying to have such an enthusiastic passenger who obviously enjoyed flying as much as I do.
I highly recommend that once you get your airplanes airborne and through phase I, that you get involved with the Young Eagles program through your local EAA chapter. Its one of those things that make all the effort we put into first learning to fly and then building our RV's all worthwhile.
The cool thing is that there are 5 kids and one kid at heart out there that had as much fun yesterday as I did.
Keep your eyes on the prize and keep pounding those rivets folks.
