EAA Chapter 631 is very pleased to announce that Logan Henning, 17, of Minong, Wisconsin, has earned his private pilot certificate!
Logan, EAA 1124941, is the son of Brian and Libby Henning, and is a student at Northwood High School. Logan’s grandfather Bob served in the Air Force, and his dad was an aircraft mechanic in the Navy (worked on A-6s and TC-4Cs). Logan first met folks in Chapter 631 at the age of 10 in 2013 when he took advantage of a Young Eagles flight with Jack Langland, EAA 452734, of Shell Lake.
After that flight Logan became a “regular,” asking his parents to bring him to the various area airports where Chapter 631 was holding Young Eagle events. After giving Logan a ride, Chapter 631 pilot Gerry Winch, EAA 742011, said, “This kid flies well, he gets it! He really wants to become a pilot; we need to find a way to help make that happen.”
Luckily, shortly after Logan became a familiar face to 631 members, EAA announced that it had been given a large sum of funding from the Ray Foundation to be steered to aviation-crazy youth as “full ride” pilot training scholarships.
There are nearly 1,000 EAA chapters worldwide. Chapter 631 applied to become one of 100 chapters eligible to nominate a scholarship candidate and was successful in its bid. 631 then had three youths apply for one Ray Foundation scholarship available, and Logan narrowly won out over two other excellent candidates.
With help from the Ray Foundation and EAA, Logan began his flying lessons and ground school in May 2019 at Superior Flying Services at Richard Bong Memorial Airport in Superior, Wisconsin. The process started with passing a FAA flight physical and earning a student pilot certificate by passing a quiz after a lesson or two and a bit of ground school. After that, training consisted of a lot of time flying with an instructor and more ground school.
Logan’s instructor declared that Logan was ready to solo on July 31, 2019; this was celebrated with the tradition of cutting the tail off the back of Logan’s shirt. The next hurdle was passing the FAA written exam which required a lot of instruction, and a whole lot of independent studying. Logan passed that on December 23, 2019, and then proceeded to fly a whole lot more, both with and without his instructor.
Logan’s friends in Chapter 631 hoped that he would be able to finish up and earn his certificate on his 17th birthday, June 22, 2020. As Logan’s birthday neared the pressure grew. Logan kept at the flying and studying. The final hurdle consisted of both an interview and a checkride with an FAA examiner. Logan scheduled this for his 17th birthday and hoped that both his skills and the weather would cooperate that day.
June 22 arrived, and the weather was good for flying. While Logan sweated through the FAA knowledge interview, Chapter 631 scholarship committee members Jack Langland, Jeff Potocnik, and Jan Kitinger flew into Bong Airport to turn up the pressure on Logan, with hopes of celebrating with Logan if all went well. Also on hand were Logan’s parents.
After the interview, the checkride went well, and Logan was presented with a pilot’s certificate! FAA Examiner Bill Amorde, EAA 675996, said, “I sure hoped this kid was going to do well in the interview and checkride; it would not have been fun to fail him with all these supporters present. He did very well.”
Now that he’s a private pilot and has totally been bit by the aviation bug, Logan plans to pursue a career in aviation.
Have you reached a milestone recently? Passed a checkride, given your first or hundredth Young Eagles flight, flown your homebuilt for the first time? Tell us about it at EAA.org/submissions.