Young Eagles Rally

September 8 2001

Report And Comments By Betty-Lee Ward

September 9th Young Eagles
Anthony Arnaro Ross Barros-Smith Tristan Barros-Smith Ashlee Burgess Christopher Burgess Holly Burgess Ciomara Campos Carlos Campos Jr. Samuel J. Corner Kate E. Curtis Vickie Curtis Philip Gibson Cora Horne Hector Martinez Jr. Mary McKean Javier Pagan Tiffany Pagan Jonathon Pasquale Brian Perry Justin Perry Amanda Rodriguez Jaritza Rodriguez Travis Whited

"I saw little trees and big trees, little houses and big houses, and little lakes and big lakes and one lake had a big square shaped thing in it" "And we saw..." "And it was awesome". This young girl and other Young Eagles continued to share some of their thoughts and many thanks to Chapter 196. Young Eagle, Philip, has already mastered sign language and was able to sign and to say "Hello" and "Thank you" for his flight. A passerby observed how happy everyone seemed and what a good time they were having and asked what the occasion was. "The children have such big smiles". We told her and others about the Young Eagles Program.

A wonderful group of young people from the Worcester area and their staff added to the success of the day. Children's Haven with young missionary Corinne Comly and staff, Emmanuelli and Karen. They completed their flights and visit with a picnic lunch at the picnic tables in front of Nancy's Air Field Cafe. Great time had by all...visit us again.

We were grateful for the excellent turn out of pilots and ground crew which provided a steady flow of activity from putting up signs near Stow Shopping Mall on Route 117 and right at Minute Man Air Field, along with the banner on the fence at the airport, cordoning off the registration area, registration of Young Eagles (including certificate preparation), assisting, people boarding the plane, flying the Young Eagles, helping passengers to deplane, photo taking, airport tour, ushering parents who also wanted to take pictures of their youngsters at the staging area, sharing literature and information about the Young Eagles program and EAA, assembling and disassembling registration tent area. Wow! I know I may have left out some things. Many thanks to everyone who helped in so many ways. This time all the kids were flown by 12 noon.

Pilots and ground crew included Nels Anderson, Mike Doyle, Jim Ellis, Chris Jenkins, Norm Landry, Mark Saklad, Bill Greenberg, Charlie and Mary Smith, Tom and Judy McGee, Mark McGee (Tom's nephew), Betty-Lee Ward, Stirling "Snap" Taylor, Leo Hickey, Hector Constantzos and Mark Wilson (photographer from the Boston Globe who helped as we moved the registration table). Again, many thanks to everyone who helped in so many ways. A special thank you to Don McPherson and Nancy's Air Field Cafe for the refreshing tall pitchers of water and lemonade.

Welcome to Hector Constantzos who recently joined Chapter 196 and pitched in right away to help. I understand he also helped direct traffic at Myricks on the next day. Hector: Glad to have you with use.

Some of the pilots and ground crew had a relaxing and delicious lunch at Nancy's Air Field Cafe after the flights. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Knights in shining armor: Dick Arnold (made fastener so Charlie Smith could take large sign apart to transport. Last time I saw Dick he was going to prepare a couple of large barrels for Chapter 196 to use at Myricks fly-in on Sunday the 9th). And special thanks to the person who gave the generous supply of Polaroid film used for taking photos of each Young Eagle with his pilot and plane. I may not have your name but you do have our sincere thanks.

Safety first: Necessary guidelines and checklists for pilots, planes, weather conditions, etc. are in effect always. Before takeoff, each flight has its checklist and when one of the pilots found an electrical problem the Young Eagle seated in his plane was transferred to another plane. The pilot continued to assist in other ways during the day and would later have his plane's problem fixed. A thoughtful and wise decision and a good example for the Young Eagle.

Young Eagles at this rally were from Acton, Clinton, Maynard, Peabody, Stow, Wayland, Whitinsville and Worcester.

Here is a photo gallery of the event:

To sign up for future events or for additional information, please call Charles A. Smith at 508-655-2368 or email him at cmsmith@gis.net. For last minute information on the day of the event only, call the airport at 978-897-3933.