First Young Eagle flights and some unplanned maintenance

Just over a week ago, our airport had it's first annual open house type event. I'd been looking forward to it for about a month when a fuel leak seemed like it might keep me from flying kids as part of the EAA Young Eagles program (http://www.youngeagles.org/).

The day before the event, I'd taken the plane in for a couple minor maintenance items only to fly home, jump out of the plane, and find fuel dripping from the gas coalator. I'm thinking, rats, if I can't get this fixed, I can't fly in the morning. I make a few phone calls, one of which is to my mechanic and get some troubleshooting advice. The next morning, I'm able to get dirty removing the lower cowling so that I can tighten the nut that holds the gas coalator together then re-safety wire it. Shazam, problem solved. A quick test flight once around the pattern, land, check for leaks and it's time to fly some Young Eagles. Good thing I brought a clean T-shirt, I needed it.

When I pulled up to where they were staging the Young Eagles flights from, I can't believe the line of kids waiting. I fill out a form since I'm a first time Young Eagles pilot and within minutes, I have my first three kids and face my first major challenge, shortening up the two rear seatbelts. The rear seat passengers are the smallest folks to have graced the rear seats. It's a good thing since the Arrow doesn't have a ton of rear seat leg room, especially given that I fly with the seat pretty far back. After about 5 minutes of futzing with the belt adjustment, the two guys in the rear seat are ready, I climb in and the kid in the right seat climbs in. We do a short passenger brief, I get a few questions and it's time to go.

Normally, the airport is non-towered but today, they're operating a tower frequency as well as a ground frequency. It's a good and necessary thing as they're conducting some warbird flybys, Young Eagle flights with probably 10 planes participating, and many other flights in/out of the airport. I am happy to report that not once did I begin a radio transmission with "Anycity traffic, ...".

The first flight went fine, even with the little guy sitting behind ignoring the fact that I really meant what I said about needing it quiet at certain times. If it hadn't been for the pilot isolate feature of my intercom, I'd have pulled his mic. jack as he was quite content to make all sorts of noises over the intercom. Oh well, he was having fun...

I land and wind up repeating this process three more times before the event comes to a close. In one day, I go from 0 to 12 Young Eagles. Reflecting on the experience, it was awesome. Hearing things like "This is so cool" from a 15 yr. old on her first small airplane flight, "Everybody looks like little ants" from one of my younger passengers, "This is awesome" several times from other kids was great. Answering questions about becoming a pilot, owning an airplane, where I fly, etc. was also a lot of fun.

By the end of the day, I was pretty much wiped out. So much, in fact, that the plane didn't get the normal post-flight bug wipedown. That turned out to be the perfect excuse to come out to the airport the following day and introduce the new dog to the hangar. Not a bad trade really. He seemed to enjoy himself.

The unofficial count I heard was that we flew 205 kids that day. Not bad considering the original target was 100 kids. I feel privileged that I could use the gifts and talents God has given me to bless 12 of those kids with a free airplane ride.

If anyone has a chance to participate in a Young Eagles event, I'd strongly encourage you to do so. It is a great opportunity to share our passion for flying with kids that will, hopefully, get inspired to learn how to fly. Whatever it costs in terms of airplane and fuel expenses is worth the smiles you'll get in return.