Jet 1 Cup recently participated in providing the Young Eagles with an extraordinary ten thousandth flight. Young Eagles is an organization committed to providing experience flights for children aged 8-17. The Flying Mag Featured the Jet 1 Cup in this article by Meg Goldlewsky.
Teen Takes Milestone Young Eagle Flight in L-39 Albatros
Volunteer pilots of EAA Chapter 40 at Whiteman Airport have flown more than 10,000 Young Eagle flights.
December 2, 2022
On Saturday November 26 Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 40 based out of Whiteman Airport (KWHP) in southern California hit an important milestone: the volunteer pilots flew their 10,000th Young Eagle. The chapter has been providing Young Eagle flights for 30 years.
Young Eagles is a national program designed to give free flight experiences to children ages 8-17. Pilots volunteer for these events which are held all over the country, often spending all day at the airport providing 20 minute flights to the participants.
On November 26 some 140 children were signed up to fly. According to a statement from EAA Chapter 40, pilots came from as far away as Santa Barbara to help, making sure that every child present would get a ride. Among the airplanes participating were a Van’s RV-7, a Grumman American Tiger, a Cessna 182, a Navion, and a Rutan Varieze.
Young Eagle lucky number 10,000 was 16-year-old Elicia Koehnlein, a member of the local Aviation Explorers post. Koehnlein, wearing a borrowed flight suit and helmet, had the opportunity to fly in an L-39 Albatros owned and piloted by Denis Oliver, the founder of Jet 1—a civilian fighter jet world championship where pilots fly real fighter jets in a laser tag battle with gamers—and a member of EAA Chapter 40.
The Aero L-39 Albatros is a high-performance jet trainer designed and produced in the Czech Republic.
For Us...
Being a part of this moment with our plane was inspiring and a tremendous honor for the Jet 1 Cup team. It's in our soul to continue participating in programs like this and spark a passion for STEM in young children by providing experiences that remain in their memory and letting them believe it's possible to explore careers that probably before seemed far away.
The Young Eagles program introduces young people to aviation and plants the seed for them to seek an advanced career.
80% of the kids exposed to flight experiences, advance their careers to higher level education, and this happens in a wide spectrum of high-level education.
Aviation is facing a pilot shortage over the next decade. Today's young people are the pilots of tomorrow and we love to have ways to actively participate in motivating them to join this industry.
