Chapter 1494 successfully hosted its first Young Eagles Workshop on July 5-6 at Morristown Regional Airport (KMOR) in Tennessee. The chapter advertised its event at a Young Eagles rally a few weeks prior and within a very short time reached its registration capacity. The following is a report of the chapter’s event from its president, Karen Hughes.
“EAA Chapter 1494 hosted 20 excited young aviators at our first Young Eagles Workshop/day camp at the Morristown Regional Airport on July 5-6.
The Young Eagles campers, ages 8 – 16, were divided into smaller groups to engage in hands-on activities that included building a wooden aircraft wing rib and working with sheet metal and rivets to construct a useable keychain. The youth also engaged in an electricity project that taught about electrical fuses and lights found on aircraft. The campers spent two days experiencing aviation at the Morristown Airport up close and personal, including a tour of the terminal building, flight school, a T-hangar and their all-time favorite, a tour of the TCAT Airframe & Powerplant School located on the field.
In other sessions, using a runway taped to the flight school hangar floor, they learned how pilots talk on the radio and how to fly a standard airport traffic pattern. One of the volunteers who taught the group about pilot communications on the first day, had a lesson to fly solo in the pattern on the second day of the workshop. As flight student and Ray Scholar Neva Poling flew her Cessna 172 in the airport pattern, the campers correctly followed her using their hangar floor runway – from takeoff to crosswind, to downwind, base, and final, identifying each radio call she would make. We were super impressed how quickly the youth learned these aviation topics! Other topics enjoyed by the campers were how to use an aviation map, or chart, and how to identify and read the different instruments in the panel of one of the flight school training aircraft.
The Young Eagles campers and our EAA Chapter 1494 volunteers had a blast during the two-day session. At the close of the two-day session, the campers were presented with a certificate of completion and were able to take home their completed wing rib and keychain, lots of new aviation knowledge and experience, and memories that we hope work together to bring them back to the airport or inspire them to engage in other great learning activities. It was a joy to host this group and our chapter is looking forward to hosting more youth aviation activities in upcoming months.”
Karen commented further that “many of the youth and parents asked ‘what’s next’ to keep their family engaged with the chapter, including inquiries about volunteering at chapter events. Several are already logging volunteer hours and were eager to volunteer at airport events.”
Congratulations to Chapter 1494 and thank you for sharing such great news with us!