Young Eagles Day Airplane Rides

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Created on Friday, 30 September 2016 15:05
Written by Matthew Nelson

planesrideLyndon- People around the Northeast Kingdom have the opportunity to take to the sky Saturday October, 1st at the Caledonia County Airport.  

 

 

 For the third year in a row, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) are giving young people a chance to see the world from new heights. The Young Eagles Day event dedicated to showing kids what it’s like to fly in an airplane. The EAA is holding this event to share what they love with kids and share with them an experience of a lifetime.

The day was inspired by something Pilot Steve Dolgin has done for years now. Dolgin calls the kids ‘young eagles’ and has been doing this sort of thing since 2011. They call them Young Eagles because they are giving kids the opportunity to fly in the airplane and weather permitting, they can take control of the aircraft. Last year they took 50 people up in the air and they are hoping to increase that this year.  

Dolgin said year after year what keeps them going is the smile on the kids faces when they land, "they can’t wait to tell everybody I just flew a plane and the kids just love it."

Kids ages eight to 17 can expect to be flying one-on-one in a small plane. Dolgin is one of those pilots who will be taking them up in the air. Dolgin has being flying planes for nine years, but ironically enough he never thought that’s what he would do in life.

“I wasn’t born into it that’s for sure,” Dolgin said. “I always wanted to be grounded but one of our local pilots and high school buddies worked with me and nurtured me along.”

Dolgin said that Young Eagles Day is meant to build one-to-one relationships between pilots and young people, giving a new generation the chance to learn more about the possibilities that exist in the world of aviation.

“The air hopefully will be pretty smooth so that a ‘Young Eagle’ can take the controls as long as the air is smooth,” Dolgin said.

Each local pilot volunteers their time and aircraft so the flights can be provided free of charge.

“We just want to give them the experience to see if aviation is an opportunity for them in the future,” he said.