On a sunny Saturday morning this past September, dozens of excited students and their parents — some of whom appeared more eager than their children — gathered at the Wings of Hope hangar to enjoy a Young Eagles Flight courtesy of EAA Chapter 1675.
The Young Eagles rally, which provides free flights for young people in the community, was a happy outgrowth of the special relationship between the local EAA chapter and Wings of Hope.
Home for a New Chapter
It all began when Wings of Hope volunteer John Heilmann spearheaded the founding of EAA Chapter 1675 about three years ago.
“We didn’t have an EAA chapter here,” said Heilmann, who is president of EAA Chapter 1675. “A lot of our volunteers here (at Wings of Hope) are part of the EAA, and we thought it would be great to have our own local chapter.”
Once Heilmann and a few others formed the chapter, they needed a place to meet.
“Since many of our members work here at Wings of Hope, we thought we could have it here in the hangar — which works out great,” he said.
The chapter, which currently has about 55 members, meets monthly for dinner and a guest speaker in the Wings of Hope hangar.
“We have a really good turnout,” said Heilmann.
Almost immediately after forming EAA Chapter 1675, the group started offering Young Eagles Flights for students participating in our SOAR into STEM program. The flights are the culmination — and highlight — of the hands-on, educational experience that brings middle and high school students into the Wings of Hope hangar for five Saturdays to work on aircraft under the careful guidance of mentors and learn about STEM and aviation career paths. “Since Young Eagles Flights are a big part of the EAA — to give kids their first flight — it’s just a natural fit for us to do that,” said Heilmann. “I think it’s a great program, and having a flight at the end of it is something the students really look forward to. It keeps them motivated during the classes.”
Before EAA Chapter 1675 started providing Young Eagles Flights for the SOAR into STEM program, Wings of Hope paid for discovery flights using a local FBO. The relationship has been a huge boon to Wings of Hope, but the benefits run both ways.
Flights for the Community
Brian Williams is the Young Eagles Coordinator for EAA Chapter 1675. He organizes Young Eagles rallies for the community, providing about 250 children and teens free Young Eagles flights annually. Wings of Hope hosts rallies at our headquarters. Students and families check in at Wings of Hope, meet their pilots and then taxi out from the Wings of Hope tarmac to the airport runway for takeoff.
“It’s been a good partnership,” said Williams. “We can give back to Wings of Hope for them allowing us to use their facilities, and these flights meet our youth program mission, too.”
Heilmann said hosting the Young Eagles rallies at Wings of Hope is “good for awareness for Wings of Hope.”
“Parents brings kids, they come in, they can see the facility and we talk about what we do,” he said.
Impacting Young People
Williams can relate to the excitement of the young people taking their first Young Eagles flight.
“I always knew I wanted to fly from a young age, and I tried to get into every little thing that I could that had to do with aviation,” Williams said. “I took a Young Eagles flight back in 1998 at Oshkosh.”
Today, Williams is a pilot for FedEx.
Heilmann, who often volunteers as a Young Eagles pilot, sees the impact the flights have on young people.
“Most of them are just super excited,” he said. “Some of them, it changes their life. We flew one girl — it was her first flight, she was maybe 17 — and she said, ‘This is what I want to do.’ A year after we took her up on her first Young Eagles flight, she soloed.”