{"id":14724,"date":"2020-02-01T21:51:29","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T21:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=14724"},"modified":"2020-02-01T21:51:31","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T21:51:31","slug":"eaa-young-eagles-program-reaches-milestone-of-2-2-million-kids-flown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/national-news\/eaa-young-eagles-program-reaches-milestone-of-2-2-million-kids-flown\/%20","title":{"rendered":"EAA Young Eagles Program Reaches Milestone of 2.2 Million Kids Flown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The biggest youth aviation education program ever created\nreached another milestone this week, as the Experimental Aircraft Association\u2019s\nYoung Eagles program surpassed 2.2 million kids flown since the first program\u2019s\nflights took place at the 1992 EAA Fly-In Convention at Oshkosh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Calvin Burdick, 9, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin is ready for his Young Eagle flight\u2014his first time in small aircraft. Oshkosh, WI, Wittman Regional Airport International Young Eagles Day Chapter 252, June 14, 2014 Brady Lane\/EAA<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we reach each of these milestones, it\u2019s a further credit\nto the dedication of the EAA-member pilots and volunteers who have committed\ntheir time and aircraft to bringing young people into aviation,\u201d said Jack\nPelton, EAA CEO and chairman of the board. \u201cThe success of Young Eagles means\nthousands of today\u2019s under-40 pilots can trace their personal journeys back to\nthat first flight with a Young Eagles pilot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 50,000 EAA-member pilots have donated their time,\naircraft, and fuel to fly kids over the past 27 years, with an equal number of\nground volunteers assisting the program. Flights have taken place on every\ncontinent except Antarctica, and in aircraft ranging from hot air balloons to\ncorporate jets. Young Eagles began in 1992 in response to a survey of EAA\nmembers who overwhelmingly replied that getting young people involved in\naviation was the most important issue to ensure the future of recreational\nflight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young Eagles has also been the foundation of EAA\u2019s more\nrecent efforts to encourage and engage young people in aviation. That includes\nthe Sporty\u2019s online Learn to Fly course, available to all Young Eagles and now\napproaching 75,000 enrollees. It also set the stage for last year\u2019s inaugural\ngroup of Ray Aviation Scholarship recipients, as more than 100 young people\nearned full flight training scholarships in conjunction with local EAA\nchapters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dozens of aviation companies also support Young Eagles,\nincluding Phillips 66, the program\u2019s presenting sponsor. Other supporting\nsponsors include Garmin, Lightspeed, WACO Aircraft, the Academy of Model\nAeronautics, and Global Aerospace, as well as Young Eagles Flight Plan sponsors\nEmbry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Sporty\u2019s Pilot Shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo every pilot and ground volunteer who has been part of\nYoung Eagles, the aviation community thanks you,\u201d Pelton said. \u201cIf you haven\u2019t\nflown a Young Eagle yet, we enthusiastically invite you to do so. You will have\na more impactful influence on the future of flight than you\u2019ll ever know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information for pilots, parents, and young people is\navailable at EAA.org\/YoungEagles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The biggest youth aviation education program ever created reached another milestone this week, as the Experimental Aircraft Association\u2019s Young Eagles program surpassed 2.2 million kids flown since the first program\u2019s flights took place at the 1992 EAA Fly-In Convention at Oshkosh. \u201cAs we reach each of these milestones, it\u2019s a further credit to the dedication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-slider","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/YE-Piper-cub-2014-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14727,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14724\/revisions\/14727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}