By Gerard Killam, EAA 63155
Nova Scotia’s EAA Chapter 1051 has held a couple of very successful Young Eagles events at Kings Aerodrome (CHL2) located at Hillaton, near Canning, Nova Scotia, and we were just starting to plan for a Young Eagles event to be held this past summer when the dreaded COVID-19 appeared. We were basically inactive until early summer when our two newest chapter members, Jim and Elizabeth Walker, who migrated from Ontario this spring, took it upon themselves to host BBQs every few weeks at the Freedom Aviation site located on the Greenwood Airbase.
These events have been well-attended with many aviators flying and driving in. Recently we had a chili luncheon the heated hangar of Freedom Aviation and had as our guests Jack and Lianne Neima. Jack is on the board of directors of the EAA Canadian Council and spoke to us about EAA in general and more particularly about EAA chapters and ways to engage young people in aviation. This led to a great discussion on the possibilities of restoring an airplane and developing a flying club to provide a less expensive way to fly. At the end of November, we had a well-attended follow-up meeting to discuss this further.
At the present moment we have about 35 members, 42 on our mailing list, and we hope to see more members join. Our members have built or are building a 7/8 scale Sea Fury with a Jacobs engine, a Europa, and a couple of Murphy Rebels. Several more types are being worked on. At least ten of our members are actively involved in aircraft building or restoration.
We were meeting once a month at Kings Aerodrome in Hillaton in a small space but not since last January, when we had started planning for a Young Eagles day to be held in June. COVID put an end to this until the BBQs during the summer at Freedom Aviation, Greenwood. Presently our chapter owns no premises of its own but we’re hopeful. The chapter was started many years ago and has been through some tougher times but we’re happy with the recent growth spurt.
The main problem is that we have been having only modest attendance at meetings. Part of the reason is that we are scattered over a large area and most people don’t like traveling long distances especially in the winter months.
Today we had 10 people attend a meeting, held at the VPI centre at Greenwood, to explore the possibility of restoring a flying machine as a chapter project and then forming a separate flying club. We will meet again on the first Saturday in December to discuss this further and then meet again in the new year.
