Hawk Road Flyers provide youth program
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Local pilot Matt Baker, middle, was one of five local pilots that gave 24 Cub Scouts airplane rides last month. The EAA Chapter 1540 “Hawk Road Flyers” provide a program designed to introduce kids from ages 8 to 17 to flying.
It’s one thing to see the world from ground level, but it’s another thing entirety to see it from a bird’s eye view. The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Chapter 1540 “Hawk Road Flyers” gave a group of 24 young Cub Scouts an opportunity of a lifetime last month.
“One of the things we do is meet to promote aviation, but another thing this group does is provide Young Eagle Flights,” said Phillip Poynter, the EAA Chapter 1540 Young Eagle Flights coordinator. “We take kids from ages 8 to 17 and we take them on a 20 minute flight for free. Also, we take them through a little bit of ground school that way they know what to expect in the airplane.”
The program is designed to give kids an opportunity to enjoy aviation at no cost to them and five local pilots provide the guided flights. Along with the pilots, a group volunteers provide preflight safety checklist and basic ground schooling.
The Hawk Road Flyers took the Cub Scouts, from Burlington Junction, up in the planes on June 20. Poynter said that the city of Maryville and airport manager Kevin Rankin provided the airport for the program.
The group will have a fly-in event later this year in September and it will give families an opportunity to enjoy aviation just like the Hawk Road Flyers do.
“It’s for the whole community and there will be a lot of different kinds of airplanes out there for people to see,” Poynter said. “We think we have a Kansas City flight team coming up that’s going to do a formation flight.”
Earlier this summer, the EAA Chapter 1540 assisted with Cub Scout Day Camp by providing program instruction for the day camp theme “Taking Flight.” Poynter said that aviation is a hobby that he’s passionate about and he wants kids to enjoy it too.
“It’s like any other hobby or career, if we don’t encourage the next generation, it goes by the way side,” Poynter said. “Pilots are always trying to encourage kids about aviation as a career and just the fun of flying. We just like to encourage it and there’s a certain amount of pleasure that comes from taking someone on their first flight.”
For more information about the program, contact Poynter at 660.582.7360 or Chapter president Ed Ensminger at 573.301.3571.
