This piece originally ran in the July 2022 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
Beginning in the 1980s, Larry Huber, EAA 285890, started helping out as a flightline volunteer in the Vintage area at EAA Oshkosh. Currently, he’s the vice chairman of showplane aircraft and camper registration, helping to coordinate and assist arriving pilots. For his longtime volunteer service, Larry was named a Brown Arch Brick Award recipient during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021.
“It’s an honor,” Larry said of receiving the Brown Arch Brick Award. “I’m not a person that likes the notoriety, but I consider it quite an honor. I’ve put a lot into EAA, and EAA has given me far more than I’ve put into it.”
Attending EAA Oshkosh with a friend for the first time in the early ’80s, Larry initially began volunteering with the flightline crew so he could see airplanes up close and has been going strong ever since.
“In the late ’70s, early ’80s, this friend of mine was building this little two-place airplane and said, ‘Hey, let’s go to Oshkosh.’ I said, ‘What’s with Oshkosh? What are you talking about?’ That’s when I first went to EAA in Oshkosh. It didn’t take long before I figured out I didn’t like walking,” Larry explained. “I had to join [as an EAA member] to get onto the flightline. What can I do to be able to see airplanes here easier? They were looking for flightline volunteers, and they were putting them on motor scooters. Great. That’s where I am. I started that down in the Vintage area. I think I joined EAA officially when Rutan brought the Voyager to Oshkosh.”
Larry’s primary duties include greeting pilots and making sure they have the necessary information and are tied down properly, as well as camper registration for those pilots camping with their airplane.
As for what’s kept Larry coming back for the past 40 years?
“It’s the interaction with people. It energizes me. I don’t know how to describe it. It just energizes me,” Larry said. “I’ve never gotten my pilot’s license. I took lessons. I started down that path, family matters took over for me. But it was the people, and it was the service to one another. To help people enjoy what they’re passionate about. Paul was always right. He said, people come for the airplanes, stay for the people. He learned more about people than he ever did about airplanes. That’s kind of where it’s at. I’m a people person. I enjoy being of service to others, that’s just who I am.”
Volunteers make EAA AirVenture Oshkosh — and just about everything else EAA does — possible. This space in EAA Sport Aviation is dedicated to thanking and shining the spotlight on volunteers from the community. Sadly, it cannot capture all of the thousands of volunteers who give so much to the community every year. So, next time you see a volunteer at AirVenture or elsewhere, however they are pitching in to make EAA better, be sure to thank them for it. It’s the least we can do. Do you know a volunteer you’d like to nominate for Volunteer Spotlight? Visit EAA.org/Submissions.