This piece originally ran in the September 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Tom Ewing, EAA 446994, was surrounded by aviation history since birth, coming from a family ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the August 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Volunteer families at EAA play a crucial role in the organization. These dedicated individuals contribute their ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the July 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Flight tour season at EAA takes our 1929 Ford Tri-Motor to airports across the country ... Read more
By Barbara A. Schmitz John Dyer said he is a protégé of the Civil Rights Movement. Born in Atlanta in 1949, he remembers Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a ... Read more
By Barbara A. Schmitz For Keith Miller, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. And the people who see him are likely thinking that, too. After all, what could be ... Read more
In the high-energy world of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, there’s a lot that goes unnoticed behind the scenes. But helping you find your way around the grounds or find a specific ... Read more
By Barbara A. Schmitz It’s the “one week wonder” of pancake grills. AirVenture attendees and chapter members are helping to fabricate and assemble a pancake grill in the Young Eagles ... Read more
Deb Ferguson, EAA 1247485, says she doesn’t just volunteer at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. She helps to “save people’s vacations.” Originally from Ohio but now residing locally in Waupaca, Deb is ... Read more
Story by Angela Satterlee Photography by Gale Clapper When Bob Kerr, EAA Lifetime 320965, told me he’s a boat captain, he said it with a laugh and a shrug. “I ... Read more
By Jared Miller, CEO and Co-Founder Across the country, volunteer pilots are quietly stepping up to make a life-changing difference in the fight against human trafficking. Freedom Aviation Network (FAN) ... Read more
By Angela Satterlee The Deckers come from a long line of pilots and aviation enthusiasts as they now have five generations who have attended AirVenture. Ken Decker’s grandfather and father ... Read more
By Catherine Warmkessel An air show wouldn’t be the same without the smoke that billows out behind each airplane. I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes of an ... Read more
By Abigail Oleniczak EAA AirVenture’s First Aid building offers many different services. The staff are a happy group of volunteers who share one common goal: to help and care for ... Read more
The Martins’ journey with EAA began in the late 1980s when Cindy Martin, EAA 288433, and her husband, Robert, EAA 1034583, first attended AirVenture. A few years later, they began ... Read more
By Laura Early, SouthWings Eastern Program Director North America’s largest blackwater wetland, the Okefenokee Swamp, covers more than 400,000 acres in Southeast Georgia. It is truly a unique freshwater ecosystem ... Read more
By Operation Helo When disaster strikes, most people wait for help to arrive. Operation Helo doesn’t keep them waiting long — it flies straight into the heart of devastation. With ... Read more
Since 1988, Kent Shoemaker, EAA 419538, has been bringing a busload of aviation enthusiasts from Western Pennsylvania to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. With the exclusion of 2020 and 2021, he has ... Read more
For many, AirVenture is a weeklong celebration of aviation, but for Don, EAA 43797, and Karen Duck, EAA 617522, it’s a family tradition that spans generations and entails nearly a ... Read more
Back for the first time since 2019, the AirVenture Concert Band is here for another rocking performance. It all started in 2007 when a group of musical aviators, under the ... Read more
Gary Baker, EAA Lifetime 251742, a retired airline pilot from Medina, Ohio, has selflessly given his time and expertise to EAA and Chapter 846 for the past 32 years. Just ... Read more
The Krapfl family is the powerhouse of the Main Gate North Admissions (MGN), with nearly 20 volunteers of siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and in-laws who pitch in ... Read more
By Corbett Stevenson Itzy’s mother, Mirna, remembers Itzy having a persistent fever, and Mirna had a nagging feeling that something was wrong. After a multitude of tests at their small ... Read more
By Angela Satterlee This year’s Dorothy Hilbert Award goes to Carol Corona, EAA Lifetime 545619, who has been volunteering for more than 40 years. This award recognizes a female volunteer ... Read more
By Stephanie Jendrzejewski, Development Manager, PALS SkyHope This year marks 15 years of PALS SkyHope — and one of the most meaningful initiatives to take flight in that time is ... Read more
Tami Burns, EAA 799426, from Almond, Wisconsin, started volunteering at the North 40 camping registration station in 2009. She soon decided that it really wasn’t what she wanted to do, ... Read more
By Kristinia Luke, Executive Director, Air Care Alliance Every pilot remembers the first time they took the controls — the thrill, the freedom, the pure joy of flight. Over time, ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the June 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Each summer, the EAA convention grounds turns into a pop-up city for AirVenture, making the ... Read more
By Jim Hoak, EAA Lifetime 29646 At age 87, I am entering the sunset of my life, so I decided to tell my fellow EAA members what this fine organization ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the May 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. For many EAA members, the weeklong escape to Camp Scholler each summer is something they look ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the March 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Andrew La Roche, EAA Lifetime 479669, volunteers at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh working for the trams, ... Read more
Stretching…It’s More Than Just Something Good for Your Body A tale of EAA Chapter 878, 501(c)(3), and two(!!) hangars By Wayne Flury, EAA Lifetime 117059 In 2016, I led the ... Read more
By Christopher Gauger, EAA 746128, EAA Chapter Field Representative I This piece originally ran in the February 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Dwayne Waters, EAA 422289, has ... Read more
By Michael Golden, EAA 623692 There comes a time in our lives when we have to move on from one chapter to another as a result of circumstances beyond our control. ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the January 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Coming from Alaska every year, Judy Knight is a proud volunteer at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the December 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Christina LaVicka, EAA Lifetime 1547942, can’t quite pinpoint when she became an aviation enthusiast, but she ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the November 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Kyle Breon, EAA 1335139, has been coming to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh pretty much since he was ... Read more
Story and photos by Paul Adams, EAA Chapter 675 President In Part 1 of this series, we made a 75-pound blank, and in Part 2 we made a propeller duplicating ... Read more
Story and photos by Paul Adams, EAA Chapter 675 President In Part 1 of making this BIG propeller, I wrote about the purchase of 271 pounds of cherry wood and ... Read more
By Story and photos by Paul Adams, EAA Chapter 675 President In the title you may notice two things. First, the word “BIG,” and second, “Part 1.” Well, these two ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the October 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Linda Thorn, EAA 842022, was honored at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024 as the Dorothy Hilbert Volunteer ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the September 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Mary Pennington-Hoyt, EAA Lifetime 1057675, is passionate about empowering young girls and women to participate in ... Read more
By Karl Jensen, EAA 554322, EAA Chapter 322 Many EAA members here in South Africa help with flights for The Bataleurs, a group of volunteer pilots who fly for the ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the August 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Craig Olson, EAA 116636, is the chairman of the Emergency Aircraft Repair team at AirVenture, a ... Read more
This piece originally ran in the July 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Gale Guilette, EAA 128629, is helping keep aviation history alive, one sheet of metal at a ... Read more
By Ron Wanttaja, EAA 275698, Chapter 441 Newsletter Editor Like all airports, Dick Scobee Field in Auburn, Washington, depends on the goodwill of the people living in this small town ... Read more
By Jim Roberts At any gathering as large as EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, you’re bound to have the usual run of bumps, scrapes, cuts, and occasionally more life-threatening episodes. To find ... Read more
To a pilot, the words “rock your wings” are almost sacred. They mean we are approaching the small town of Fisk, Wisconsin, on the approach to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and ... Read more
By Jim Roberts Jeff Coffey spent 30 years as an air traffic controller, including 15 years working SUN ’n FUN, and nine tours wearing the distinctive pink shirt of an ... Read more
By Angela Satterlee Dennis Lange, EAA 198454, is from Fond du Lac, and he started volunteering at EAA back in 1979, became a member shortly after that in 1981, and ... Read more
By Angela Satterlee Linda Thorn is the winner of this year’s Dorothy Hilbert Award, which honors a female volunteer who exhibits the same passion, dedication, and devotion for volunteerism as ... Read more
By Emme Hornung Picture this: The roar of the morning P-51 formation just pulled you out of sleep. Usually, you hit snooze on your alarm, but there is no snooze ... Read more
Thomas Varep-Popov fell in love with aviation at the early age of 4, and his passion for it has only grown. Now, he has combined those feelings about aviation with ... Read more
A team of students from Northwestern Michigan College recently completed refurbishment of one of the Homebuilders Headquarters Welcome Wagons. The students, enrolled in automotive technology, spent part of the academic ... Read more
By EAA This piece originally ran in the June 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. Ronald Liebmann, EAA 18367, remembers his aviation infatuation starting in kindergarten, watching Stearmans ... Read more
Don and Shay Lusk, EAA 1475013 and 1495171, of EAA Chapter 586 in Show Low, Arizona, have a passion for sharing the wonders aviation has to offer with people of ... Read more
Laurie Probst, EAA Lifetime 709262, has quite an extensive résumé when it comes to sharing aviation with today’s youths. She was introduced to aviation two decades ago when a friend ... Read more
If you’ve ever visited the EAA Aviation Museum, there’s a good chance you interacted with one of our volunteer docents. One of those volunteers is Ann Sederquist, EAA 769163, who ... Read more
When Lauren Labs became the scholarship coordinator for EAA Chapter 931, she went above and beyond in her efforts to help her chapter’s Ray scholar and future youth members.
Craig and Bonnie Fitzsimmons, EAA 266725 and 814505, have been together for more than 50 years, having met when they were just 19 years old in Elgin, Illinois. Bonnie opened ... Read more
Cliff Chetwin, EAA Lifetime 429238, is a retired aviation program manager for the National Park Service and continues to educate others and spread The Spirit of Aviation through volunteerism.
Jonathon McKenzie, EAA Lifetime 1110671, became EAA’s Print Mail Center volunteer chairman in 2022, but he joined EAA and started volunteering more than 10 years ago after he caught a ... Read more
Gustavo Arosemena, EAA 1172064, of Panama is highly involved with EAA, starting his chapter in Panama and volunteering year after year at the International Visitors Tent during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
You may recognize Tenley Ong, EAA 1388744, from her contributions to EAA’s blog, where she has written relatable stories about working toward her pilot certificate. Tenley, a talented writer and ... Read more
Do you believe in love at first sight? Or, perhaps more fitting, love at first flight? Arlene Maksymicz of EAA Chapter 846 sure does! The love affair started when the ... Read more
Not many people can say that they lost their first tooth in Camper Registration at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, but for Jennifer Hantosh née Neunteufel, EAA 1218066, that’s just one of ... Read more
I hope everyone has been able to recharge after AirVenture and is ready to jump into fall! Here in Oshkosh, the temperatures are starting to creep down, and some leaves ... Read more
It would seem for Dennis Crispin, EAA 258290, that his whole life has been directing him to volunteer for his local EAA chapter and AirVenture. His first clue came in ... Read more
Britny Connella attended EAA AirVenture Oshkosh with her family in 1999, the first year KidVenture began, and after a day of traipsing around the main grounds and not being able ... Read more
Gustavo Arosemena of Panama is highly involved with EAA, starting his chapter in Panama and volunteering year after year at the International Visitors Tent during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh week.
Three generations of pilots in one family are fully immersed in avia- tion, so much so that to them coming to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is a family reunion.
Dave and Wanda Clark live in the suburbs of Indianapolis and have been attending EAA conventions since 1969, when it was still based in Rockford, Illinois, and out of all ... Read more
Grayling Peterson started creating scrapbooks highlighting the yearly EAA convention and fly-in the same year EAA debuted its daily newspaper on the grounds.
This newspaper — yes, the one you’re likely reading as you enjoy that hot coffee and donut you got from the Red One Market — was delivered by EAA Print ... Read more
George, EAA 37947, and Janice Wilts, EAA 1282004, may joke and be modest about why they keep coming to Oshkosh. But their contributions as EAA volunteers are no joke.
Abigail Oleniczak, EAA 1157455, from Wheaton, Illinois, is a seasoned AirVenture volunteer. During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022, she completed her seventh year volunteering, which is quite impressive when you realize ... Read more
Steph Schulko, EAA 719052, spent more than 15 years as EAA Chapter 18’s Young Eagles coordinator. After working hard to help local children, Steph was honored as a 2022 Young ... Read more
During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022, Ken Jordan was honored with the Phillips 66 Young Eagles Leadership Award for his many years of service to EAA and the Young Eagles program.
In July, Jerry Burke, EAA 365400, was honored with the Volunteer of the Year award. Though Jerry technically only started volunteering in 2007, he’s been working with EAA for much ... Read more
Tracy Miller, EAA 794015, has been the Young Eagles coordinator for EAA Chapter 838 for 15 years. Though not currently flying, aviation has been a part of Tracy’s life since ... Read more
Jim Moss, EAA 80553, has been volunteering for a long time. Fifty-one years, to be exact. Jim’s volunteer journey started in 1972, when he was just a kid.
Chris St. Germain, EAA 443948, has been a part of EAA Chapter 91’s Young Eagles program since the beginning. From flying Young Eagles to working as the chapter coordinator, Chris ... Read more
John, EAA 522935, and Becky Lowe, EAA 696676, have been volunteering with Operation Thirst for almost 10 years, working to feed hundreds of employees and volunteers during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
For the Shays, volunteering is a family affair. Spouses Bill, EAA 292424, and Margaret, EAA 1051869, have volunteered since the mid-1990s. Daughters Raquel, EAA 612853, and Sophia, EAA 1051870, joined ... Read more
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 ... Read more
Bob Burns has worked since the beginning of the space race and has lots of stories to tell about everything from satellites to spaceships. But at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh it’s ... Read more
Dave makes about 200 of these chocks a year, each designed with a variety of items like names, years, and fun decals. Much to Dave’s chagrin, many pilots like to ... Read more
When visitors enter the EAA Aviation Museum, they are greeted by the warm face of one of our proud docents, each with an amazing story of why they are there. ... Read more
Lee, EAA 355459, and Paula Crevier, EAA 477989, began volunteering with EAA in 1991 and have helped out in a variety of areas, including Pioneer Airport, the Ultralights area, convention ... Read more
Joshua Owsley, EAA 1283936, a Ray scholar from EAA Chapter 677 who passed his checkride on October 2, passed another exciting milestone — flying his first Young Eagles!
Stephen Leonard, EAA Lifetime 286293, joined the EAA Aeromedical Advisory Council (AAC) in the 1980s and has been assisting EAA members and pilots, as well as the organization, with medical-related ... Read more
Bill Zierdt, EAA 685278, has been involved with EAA as a volunteer since 2000. As a former Army helicopter pilot who has flown a variety of types, Bill began as ... Read more
For nearly 30 years, Douglas Conciatu, EAA Lifetime 53419, has been an active member of EAA, flying Young Eagles every year, mostly from his home airport in Ray, Michigan. He ... Read more
Carl Franz, EAA 511275, is a longtime volunteer with EAA and is the 2021 recipient of the Tony Bingelis Award, after serving as a technical counselor for almost 20 years. ... Read more
For the past 18 years, Sue Gerencser, EAA 1049125, has been helping out with a variety of maintenance-related projects around the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh grounds prior to convention. For her ... Read more
As the former volunteer chairman of the EAA Legal Advisory Council, Alan Farkas, EAA Lifetime 681323, has spent many years assisting EAA members on a variety of legal and FAA-related ... Read more
Volunteers are what make everything EAA does possible. With more than 5,000 volunteers helping out at AirVenture this year, it would be impossible not to run into one of them. ... Read more
When Bob Havens was growing up, the book Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, about the Doolittle Raid on Japan during World War II, helped inspire his love of aviation. It’s that ... Read more
Lily Busenbark, EAA 1293705, has dreamed of flying Young Eagles before she even had her pilot certificate in hand. Lily’s first exposure to aviation was in August 2018 when she ... Read more
For the past decade, Mike Dooley, EAA 834638, has been a mainstay volunteer in the Homebuilts area of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, working primarily in homebuilt registration.
Mike Gallaway, EAA 530544, was a late bloomer when it came to his aviation journey. But ever since he dipped his toes into aviation when he was in his late ... Read more
Mark Spang’s interest in aviation began at a young age. When he was just a kid, Mark, EAA 129553, would help his father, who was an Air Force mechanic in ... Read more
The Vintage Aircraft Association portion of the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh grounds takes up a pretty sizable chunk. Maintaining that chunk requires a lot of volunteer effort, and it begins with ... Read more
Starting in 1998, Kathy Frey, EAA 1069808, has been a mainstay in Camp Scholler, assisting campers in finding suitable camping sites and helping out with just about anything else that ... Read more
For the past five years, the husband and wife team of Gordon and Cathy Davis have volunteered in the KidVenture area of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh — helping to inspire the ... Read more
As an Emmy-winning senior vice president at CBS Broadcasting, Bob Ross, EAA 341315, knows a thing or two about putting on a show. When EAA Warbirds of America needed someone ... Read more
With more than 875 Young Eagles flights under his belt, it’s safe to say that Mark Kolesar, EAA Lifetime 294238, is heavily invested in EAA’s success as an organization, particularly ... Read more
With a love of history and deep respect for veterans, Eric Rood, EAA Lifetime 192552, is a perfect fit to volunteer with EAA’s Timeless Voices of Aviation oral history project.
Docent combines artistic talent and passion for aviation in new EAA Aviation Museum gallery exhibit to celebrate influential aviators and the history of flight.
Doug Greenfield, EAA 377864, has been attending EAA AirVenture Oshkosh since the early 1990s and volunteering in numerous capacities, beginning a few years after his first visit.
Steve Owen, EAA 382581, first attended EAA Oshkosh in 1982 after he happened to read about the event in an aviation magazine while he still lived in the United Kingdom.
Cindee Schneider, EAA 1114863, has been volunteering at EAA’s annual fly-in convention for about 40 years, first in press headquarters and currently at helicopter operations.
Jim Heindl, EAA 570224, has been volunteering with EAA since 1993, primarily with flightline operations. For his volunteer service through the years, Jim was named a Brown Arch Brick Award ... Read more
By Kayla Floyd Nancy Walters holds many memories, as well as many patches. Nancy has been coming to the EAA fly-in convention since 1980 when she flew to Oshkosh in ... Read more
By Barbara A. Schmitz Bob Herman has been attending the EAA fly-in convention for 51 years, and volunteering for 50 of those years. “But I didn’t realize I was volunteering ... Read more
Happy National Volunteer Week! More than 5,000 volunteers create the backbone of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. We couldn’t do it without them and they are involved in every part of our ... Read more
When a visitor enters the EAA Aviation Museum, they are greeted by the warm face of one of our proud docents each with an amazing story of why they are ... Read more
On June 28, 2010, I gave a Young Eagles ride. I probably gave more than one Young Eagles ride that day, but it was eight years ago and I don’t ... Read more
A family friend, Jim Miles, introduced me to EAA at the 1970 convention in Oshkosh. Jim asked if I wanted to go to the convention with him in his Piper ... Read more
More than 5,000 volunteers make up the backbone of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. We couldn’t do it without them, and they lend a hand in every part of our operations at ... Read more
EAA’s AirCam, built by volunteers in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Young Eagles program, is nearing completion! Flight testing will begin in spring, and once complete the aircraft ... Read more
Ride along with Phillips 66 as they celebrate 2 million Young Eagles at AirVenture 2016. Volunteers pass on the joy of flight to youth and we thank the pilots who ... Read more
December 21, 2016 – Congratulations to Lt. Col. Kenneth Sines, EAA 453045, who flew his 1,800th Young Eagle at Chapter 677’s November 26 Young Eagles rally. Ken is heavily involved in ... Read more
By Owen Leipelt, EAA 1102131, EAA Chapter 62 Vice President December 1, 2016 – In 2013, when I was 13 years old, I took my first Young Eagles flight with ... Read more
