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Vacaville, Calif. - April 27, 2009 – Saturday, April 11, 2009 marked EAA Chapter 1230 second Young Eagles Rally for 2009, and was a very special day. It was our first ‘fly-out’ Young Eagles Rally for the year. Held at McClellan Air Park (MCC) in Sacramento, the event was for the students at the California Aerospace Academy (CAA), an aviation-oriented Charter High School now in its 2nd year.
I learned of the Academy last year through my friend Fran Kaiser (whose son, Jacob, attends the school) and was surprised to learn that the Academy had no previous connections with EAA or the Young Eagles Program. I asked her if we could meet with their principal and staff for the purpose of holding a Young Eagles Rally for their students. Academy Principal Willie Thomas and members of his staff welcomed the idea and we have worked with them since January to make this event happen.
Some things are meant to be; the weather, which had been blustery and moist all week, offered the seven pilots who flew in from Nut Tree Airport a ‘severe clear’, pleasantly-cool, calm-wind morning, with just a few wisps of early morning fog over the Yolo Causeway and Sacramento River. Tom Bucci, flying his Archer, shared that our arrival at MCC looked like the (San Francisco) Bay Approach with our aircraft evenly spaced and flying tight, crisp patterns. Once on the ground, we taxied to what was virtually our own ramp adjacent to the Academy, to be met by Academy staff and parents (who spoiled us rotten with a pancake breakfast and later, a tri-tip sandwich lunch with all of the fixin’s).
After securing my aircraft, I turned to look at our pilots as they walked towards the Academy and their pre-flight briefing, and I was struck by their resemblance to the original Mercury Astronauts in The Right Stuff.
At 07:45, Mike Hedrick led the pilot’s briefing, assisted by Tom Bucci, and aided by airport diagrams provided by Gregory Boggs, the Director of Aerospace Studies at the Academy. As one of our most prolific Young Eagles pilots, Mike’s briefing was no-nonsense, stressing safety, communication and situational awareness. Coordinating with Steve Romine, our Lead Ramp Marshall, Mike also briefed us on ground traffic flow to minimize congestion at the choke-points.
After the briefing, Young Eagles flights began at about 08:00 with Mike Hedrick flying the first sortie of the day. This was a very special flight, indeed. The three Young Eagles Mike flew were CAA students who had won scholarships from EAA Chapter 52 (Sacramento, Calif.) to EAA’s Air Academy at Oshkosh this summer. The scholarships were based on essays they had written and their demonstrated interest in aviation. These young men also marked Mike’s 500th Young Eagles flown. Mike is now the second Chapter pilot to achieve that status, following Henry ‘Duke’ Schoell’s similar accomplishment in 2008.
From Mike’s flight on, the Rally went off like clockwork; Diana Rafalski, Gerald Gordon and Howard Gunn of the Tuskegee Airmen handled Young Eagle registration with the efficiency, patience and good humor that reflect their dedication to the mission. Jean-Luc Duckworth, one of our Junior EAA members, once again demonstrated his commitment to the program and to sharing aviation by bringing his PC flight simulators for the Young Eagles to use while awaiting their flights, and assisted Ramp Marshalls Steve Romine and Charles Esters, guiding our pilots to and from the staging ramp.
Our Photo Mission was again admirably served by the efforts of Doug Porch, assisted by my nephew, Alex Marsh. Jim Case again took on the challenge of processing the ‘Hero Pictures’ we take and print of and for each Young Eagle (to be autographed by their pilot). It turned out to be quite an onerous task that day, due to some hardware difficulties. Gregory Boggs again showed his mettle by providing us with a CAA PC that enabled us find a ‘work-around’ that allowed us to get the pictures to the Young Eagles. I want to thank all of the parents and Young Eagles for their understanding and patience for the unforeseen delays.
In all, we flew 76 Young Eagles that day; quite a number, considering that the Rally was held during Spring Break for the CAA, and the day before Easter Sunday.
At one point, I noticed a fire truck parked on our ramp and three firemen from the airport station and a captain of the Coast Guard’s Aviation Unit talking with some our pilots and staff from CAA. It seems that they had no idea that CAA was among them!
As pilots, our joy is in ‘slipping the surly bonds of earth’ and seeing our world from a perspective that only eagles knew, barely more than 100 years ago. That joy is seconded only by being able to share it with a young person for their very 1st time.
I especially want to thank Willie Tomas, principal of the California Aerospace Academy, for inviting us to share our joy with his students, and give them a ‘seat-of-the-pants’ perspective to their studies. I’d like also to thank Gregory Boggs, Director of Aeronautic Studies at CAA and retired American Airlines Captain, for all of his assistance in providing us with briefing materials and coordinating access to our ramp at MCC.
Perhaps the most important thanks should go to the parents of each of our Young Eagles, who care enough about them to nurture their dreams of flight, and entrusted their children with us
We sometimes wonder if we have made a difference and as I was taking my leave from Mr. Thomas, Mr. Boggs, and the profoundly supportive parents of the students of CAA, the comment that erased any doubt for me was: “When we hold this rally next year…”
‘Nuff said!
Our Pilots: Tom Allen, RV-6: Tom Bucci, Piper Archer III; Jim Ferreira Citabria; Bruce Filarsky, Piper Cherokee; Woody Harris, Zenith 601; Mike Hedrick,* Piper Cherokee; Ward Marsh, Ercoupe 415-CD; Tom Smith, Vari-eze
Registration: Diana Rafalski, Gerald Gordon,* Howard Gunn
Ramp Marshalling: Jean-Luc Duckworth, Steve Romine,* Charles Esters
Photo Mission: Alex Marsh, Ward Marsh, Jim Case, Doug Porch*
*Indicates ‘Lead’
Submitted by: Ward Marsh
President, EAA Chapter 1230
Nut Tree Airport
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Photos by Alex Marsh and Doug Porch.
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