Helicopter Pilot Saves The Day For 18 Prospective Pilots, Making For A Successful Event

Saturday November 16, 2019 turned out to be a very cloudy and cool day in sunny Florida and the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 534 had a group of excited prospective Young Eagles at the Leesburg International Airport ready to fly.

Among this group of young people were a group of Boy Scouts from St Petersburg, FL who were working on their aviation merit badge, and they needed a flight and a visit to a tower to qualify.

About 9 a.m. the Leesburg Airport had a cloud level down to 1300 feet. This meant that pilots were concerned about flying Young Eagles when the clouds were so low providing marginal visual flight rules (VFR).  

Now the chapter had the challenge to disappoint the scouts as well as some other kids who showed up at the EAA hangar for their pre-flight orientation.

EAA Chapter 534 already had two fixed wing aircraft, with their EAA volunteer pilots, sitting on the ramp getting ready for Young Eagles. There were also other pilots with their planes who could not fly to the field because of the weather.

Joel Hargis, President of Chapter 534, was about to cancel the Young Eagle event because the ceiling was so low and he wanted to err on the side of safety. That is when Hans- Gunter Vosseler, one of the chapter’s active Young Eagle pilots, stepped in and saved the day with his turbine powered Eurocopter. Hans had enough room under the overcast to fly his helicopter and not disappoint the Young Eagles. He saved the day.

Over the last five years, including today, Hans has now flown over 120 Young Eagles. His large helicopter will easily accommodate five passengers per flight.

On this day, the chapter with Hans’ help, flew 18 Young Eagles and two adult Eagle flights. Hargis arranged to have all the kids tour the Tower at the Leesburg Airport to learn more about the job of the air traffic controllers. The Young Eagles flights and the tower tour satisfied what the Boy Scouts needed to qualify for their Aviation Merit Badge.

EAA Chapter 534 turned out to have a successful Young Eagles event. They also provided ten volunteer chapter members handling the paper work, guiding folks back and forth safely to the ramp. They didn’t have to disappoint all those young people.

EAA's Young Eagles program is designed to acquaint young people with General Aviation, hoping that this exposure will cause these kids to want to become private pilots or cause them to make aviation a career choice later in their lives. For many of them this will be the first time they have ever flown in a small single engine aircraft. They need to be from the age of 8 to 17 to quality for this program. There is never any charge for this and the EAA pilots volunteer their time and their private aircraft to fly Young Eagles.

(Images provided with EAA Chapter 534 news release)

FMI: www.534.eaachapter.org