Generous Benefactor Seeks to Further EAA Youth Outreach

James Ellrodt of Tavares, Florida has donated a vintage 1947 Stinson single engine aircraft to Leesburg, Florida’s Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 534.

Having heard of the youth outreach programs undertaken by EAA Chapter 534, Mr. Ellrodt was compelled to donate his Stinson in the hope of encouraging young Floridians to cultivate interests in aviation.  

EAA Chapter 534 has long accepted donations of damaged, older, or unfinished aircraft from owners alternately hanging up their headsets, headed for terrestrial retirements, or over their heads in building projects for which they’ve insufficient time or waning interest.

Chapter 534’s adult membership includes persons at once expert in the disciplines of flying, building and repairing aircraft and inclined to mentor area youth seeking to earn their Private Pilot Certificates or pursue careers as aircraft designers, makers, or maintainers. Under the auspices of Chapter 534 mentors, young people are taught proper tool usage, aircraft service and repair, and basic aerodynamics.

Supported by the National EAA organization, Chapter 534, to date, has granted five Ray Aviation Scholarships to young people actively involved in the Chapter’s youth group, Squadron 534.

Through an annual grant given to EAA National by the Ray Foundation—a Florida-based organization supportive of aviation and aerospace-based education programs and organizations—local EAA chapters are able to grant scholarships to deserving young people. Ray Aviation Scholarships amount to $11,000 and may be applied to offsetting the cost of recipients’ flight-instruction.

In addition to convening and guiding its youth group, Chapter 534 hosts monthly EAA Young Eagles events. In EAA parlance, Young Eagles are children, ages 8 to 17, who are taken aloft in the personal aircraft of EAA members that they may experience the joys and wonders of flight—often for the first time in their young lives. The flights are most often round-robin affairs, departing from and returning to the same local airport. Young Eagles are accompanied by their parents or guardians, who take part in airport tours and pre-and-post-flight procedures and briefings. These discovery flights are offered free of charge by local EAA chapters chartered by the Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based EAA National parent organization.

After the fashion of numerous EAA initiatives, the EAA’s Young Eagles program exists primarily for purpose of inspiring students to pursue careers in the aviation and aerospace industries.

Parties interested in learning more about EAA Chapter 534, Ray Aviation Scholarships, and the Young Eagle program are invited to visit the EAA’s website.

FMI: www.eaa.org