Story originally printed in the Onalaska Life or online at www.onalaskalife.com

Published - Friday, May 09, 2008

Free airplane flights offered for kids

Area youths ages 8-17 will have a chance to take to the skies on Saturday, May 10, as Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 307 hosts a Young Eagles Flight Rally starting from 10 a.m. to noon near the Civil Air Patrol hangar at the La Crosse Airport.

The Young Eagle flights are provided free of charge by local EAA pilots.

The rally is part of the EAA Young Eagles Program, created to interest young people in aviation. Since the program was launched in 1992, more than 40,000 volunteer EAA pilots have flown more than 1.3 million young people in more than 90 countries. Local pilots have given more than 3,000 flights to enthusiastic youth, for many of them their first airplane ride.

“Free airplane rides are just part of the flight rally,” said Charlie Lipke, spokesman for the event. “We hope to build one-to-one relationships between pilots and young people, giving a new generation a chance to learn more about the possibilities that exist in the world of aviation.”

Pilots at the event will also explain more about their airplanes allowing young people to discover how airplanes work and how pilots ensure safety is the prime concern before every flight.

After the flight, each young person, will receive a certificate making him or her an official Young Eagle. Their name will then be entered into the “World’s Largest Logbook,” which is on permanent display at the EAA Air Adventure Museum in Oshkosh, Wis.

The logbook is also accessible on the Internet at www.youngeagles.org.

Those attending the flight rally are asked come to the east side of the La Crosse airport, in the parking lot east of the control tower and near the building marked CAP for Civil Air Patrol.

During the summer, additional Saturday dates for free rides at the La Crosse airport include June 14, July 12, Aug. 9, Sept. 13 and Oct. 11. Same time and place.

Additional information about EAA and the EAA Young Eagles program is available online at www.eaa.org or www.youngeagles.org.

All stories copyright 2006 Onalaska Life and other attributed sources.