Pancake breakfast, Saturday 19th

We are excited to inform all of you that we are going to restart our chapter’s face-to-face meetings at the hangar since the state is lifting the mask mandate in a few days.

We will start with our February 19th Saturday pancake breakfast. Along with the breakfast we will be offering Young Eagles flights. If you are interested in having your child take a flight, check in at the greeting table and we can get you signed up.

The EAA hangar (S12) at KLHM. 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

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Chapter 1541 Ray Scholars just keep on achieving!

Amy Whelan, chapter 1541’s first Ray Scholar, just passed her IFR checkride and is now Instrument Rated! Amy is shown here with her Embry Riddle University IFR achievement pin, standing in front of the “Pathways to the Sky” statue at ERU (known to the students as the Eagle Statue). Her Designated Pilot Examiner was a retired Air Force Pilot who flew out of both McClellan and Mather.

Amy says she is really enjoying college, but is looking forward to coming home for Christmas. She had the highest score in her class on the written test and finished her first semester on the Dean’s List, which caused proud Papa Scott to note “Pretty smart kid – must be from her Mom. She comes home tomorrow and is home for 3 weeks. When she returns to Embry-Riddle she will start her commercial rating.”

Congratulations, Amy!

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EAA1541’s Ray Aviation Scholar, Amy Whelan, has passed her Private Pilot checkride.

Amy Whelan, who started out as a Young Eagle, went to Oshkosh as a recipient of our Air Academy sponsorship, and won a coveted Ray Aviation Scholarship, passed her Private Pilot checkride on June 6th.

Amy thanks the entire chapter, but especially her instructor Randy Sharp and Bruce Robinson for the use of his Cessna 150. Amy would also like to thank the Ray Foundation for their financial support, the EAA and Lightspeed Aviation.

Amy will be soon be studying Aeronautical Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

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Young Eagles rally was a success

We want to pass along that our chapter had a very successful Young Eagle Rally on Saturday, October 12th. Ten pilots flew 69 happy Young Eagles under clear blue skies and calm winds.

We had a great turnout of volunteers to help make the event a success. Our aircraft varied from a classic Globe Swift to Cessnas and Pipers and RVs to two gyroplanes, and the age range of kids was from eight to seventeen. Lots of smiles from the kids and their families who joined them at the airport.

Our chapter’s Young Eagle Coordinator, Cheryl Andrade, was instrumental in both the planning and execution. Darren Coomler was our all-important ramp boss for the day…some of us (me) just called him “Big D” as he commanded the ramp with style and safety. A solid cadre of chapter volunteers served as ramp escorts, manned the administrative tables, kept the kiddie plane monitored, and answered questions from the crowd of families watching their kids and siblings fly. I think it was a great day for all, and our thanks to the many that pitched in.

Below are a few photos from the event (courtesy of Scott and Amy Whelan)…many more are available and we might even have a slide show running Wednesday night in the background….





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Young Eagle Rally on Saturday October 12th

As a reminder, our chapter is holding a Young Eagle Rally on Saturday, October 12th.

We are just about full up with 75 Young Eagles set to fly.

We have twelve planes and pilots who are ready to fly them.

What we need is a few more volunteers from the ranks of our chapter to lend a hand and ensure the success of our Rally.

Our specific needs are for

  1. two volunteers to man the yellow kiddie airplane…it is a good distraction while older brother or sister is on a Young Eagle flight
  2. ramp escorts under the command of our Ramp Boss to escort kids and parents onto the busy ramp
  3. some folks just to answer questions from parents and kids as they wait for flights

It is a fun and friendly time for everybody and we want to encourage the fun part of it. Please, if you are able. plan on meeting at our EAA hangar at 07:30 to help move stuff to the gazebo area for set-up. We will have a briefing for the ramp crew and other volunteers at about 08:15 or so at the gazebo area. We will be flying flights all morning, and into the afternoon, with the last group signed up for the 13:00 hour. We will wrap things up at 14:00 and clean up…all should be done by 15:00 at the latest. Many hands make for light work so please lend a hand.

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