Thousands of volunteers are giving general aviation a shot in the arm.

A group of devoted aviators formed the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in 1953 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to give aircraft enthusiasts a way to join together to celebrate and promote their love for aviation. Since that time this international avi-ation community has expanded to more than 170,000 members with local chapters covering all 50 states and various countries around the world. You name it and they are a part of it—airline and commercial pilots, engineers, businessmen, and even astronauts have joined together through EAA to expand the public’s awareness of general aviation.

In 1992 EAA broadened the organization’s horizons with the formation of the Young Eagles program designed to introduce youth to the wide world of flight. Since its humble beginnings Young Eagles has literally taken off—giving more than 1.1 million children around the globe the gift of flight through various events and activities. More than 40,000 volunteer pilots and 60,000 to 80,000 “grounded” support volunteers, including famous former chairman Chuck Yeager and current chairman Harrison Ford, have pitched in to help recruit youth through local grassroots community involvement. The outcome is enlightening young minds to the reality that the world might just be a little bigger than their own backyard or neighborhood.

As a Young Eagles team, husband and wife volunteers Larry and Maxine Durst of Roseburg, Oregon, have scheduled and flown just under 1,900 children. With Larry in the air in his 1956 Cessna 182 and Maxine on the ground serving as much more than his ground support by handling the tremendous amount of promoting, recruiting, and scheduling plus all the paperwork that comes with the Young Eagles flights, the duo provides an invaluable service to the children as well as their community as a whole. When asked about their growing experiences with Young Eagles, the Dursts are not shy in talking about their love for the program, their community, and one another. “We have so many individual projects going on in our daily lives that on a personal level Young Eagles has been a deciding factor in strengthening our relationship and marriage in a positive way,” Larry notes. “It’s been the one project that we are both totally dependent on one another. Publicly, we love all aspects of working with youth, and we love making a positive impact in our community. There simply isn’t a better program out there that combines working with children and flying,” he emphasizes. “It strengthens the children’s lives and our own.”

And there are hardly any restrictions on who can join and volunteer. As long as you become or already are a licensed EAA pilot and are current on your certifications and medical requirements, have passenger insurance, and of course own a plane—then you’re good to go. “We really don’t want to limit any flying experience between the children and pilots,” explains Steve Buss, director of Young Eagles program. “Our volunteers take off anywhere from international airports to grass strips in the country . . . we’ve even taken kids up in hot air balloons and vintage planes.”

The point of the Young Eagles program is to bring aviation into the lives of children who would otherwise just look up from their backyards and simply see a noisy dot in the sky. Young Eagles is making a tremendous contribution to aviation by bringing people out to the airports so they can experience aviation with other people just like themselves from their own communities. On many levels it takes the mystery out of flying by allowing both children and their parents to experience the gift of flight with people who, they come to find out, aren’t just rich guys who do something they will never be able to do.

Young Eagles volunteer Neil Swartzbaugh from Mason, Illinois, boasts 299 children flown and sums it up best. “I feel the EAA Young Eagles program has given aviation a shot in the arm, not only the kids but also the parents and general public. We get a lot of support from the news media and local merchants,” he adds.

The Young Eagles program is building communities and strengthening aviation’s image while inspiring more and more youth to become pilots or at least become interested in aviation on a higher level. And if you ask anyone already involved in the program about the experience, you won’t go too long before hearing, “We’re never sure who has a better time, the children or the pilots.” —John Crow

To become involved with the exciting experiences of the Young Eagles program or for more information about the EAA, visit youngeagles.org or EAA.org

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