By Gary Brossett, President – EAA Chapter 677
Dorinda Morpeth, EAA 637600, flew her 400th Young Eagle mission on December 30. It was quite the special flight for Dorinda and 13-year-old identical twins Cassia and Callia of Roswell, Georgia. Their parents drove two-and-a-half hours south to Columbus for the flight, the girls’ first. Their father said, “The girls love science, aviation and space…they had a great experience in the air.”
The flight capped off a wonderful year of flying for Dorinda and husband Tom, EAA 637599. They flew her 1952 C-170B Bella to AirVenture Oshkosh 2023 for the 75th anniversary celebration, and spent the week camping under the wing and volunteering in the Vintage area. In the early mornings they could be seen just west of Oshkosh at Wild Rose Idlewood Airport crewing for a hot air balloon team.
Dorinda and Tom are long-time members of the Chattahoochee Valley EAA Chapter 677, taking turns flying Young Eagles at 40 of the past 65 monthly rallies for the chapter. Dorinda also trained the chapter’s first of seven Ray scholars, who is now a Young Eagles pilot herself.
We celebrated Dorinda’s 300th Young Eagles flight in a previous story that you can read here. And maybe there’s something in the water in the Chattahoochee Valley, because we also did a story recently about another member of the chapter who’d hit 500 Young Eagles flights.
Have you reached a milestone recently? Passed a checkride, given your first or hundredth Young Eagle flight, flown your homebuilt for the first time? Tell us about it at editorial@eaa.org.