EAA Wright Brothers Banquet Trip Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go to dinner with your favorite aviation friends, dress up, see the Eagle Hangar at the Oshkosh Museum after hours? And to top that, listen to an amazing keynote speaker? Well, if that is something you have asked Santa for, this is the year you finally get your wish! Chapter 838 has purchased an entire table at the Wright Brothers Memorial Banquet on Friday, December 8th. The keynote speaker is Retired Col. Kim "KC" Campbell, a fighter pilot with more than 24 years in the Air Force and more than 100 combat missions to her credit. Following her combat tours, Campbell spent time in advisory roles on military policy and security. Cost is $70 per ticket, and we will try to arrange to carpool for convenience. We will depart late afternoon, and dinner is served at 6:30. If there is sufficient demand, we can always purchase a second table! If you are interested, contact Ed Becerra as soon as possible. Young Eagles 2023 Season CompletedWell, another Young Eagles season is in the books. Overall, the weather was pretty good to us, only requiring us to relinquish one Rally to Mother Nature. Overall, we flew 254 individuals, most of whom had their first flight in a small plane to become a Young Eagle. We also had 152 youth register for a Rally who had flown with us before, but we were unfortunately unable to accommodate them. The season was, however, a safe one, with no incidents or accidents, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The completion of this season also saw the "retirement" of our Chief Pilot, Jim Hantschel. Jim has flown more Young Eagles than pretty much anyone on the planet, and has mentored Scholarship winners in their quest for their Private Pilot license. Although he is finished flying in our Rallies, we hope to see Jim continue to work with the Scholarship winners and to join Chapter events whenever possible. And he is always welcome as Ground Crew for a Young Eagles Rally! Thanks, Jim, for your leadership and hard work. Young Eagles is now on hiatus until March, when the weather will, hopefully break and be good to us. There is obviously more of a demand for this program than we have been able to meet with our current fleet of Young Eagles pilots. If you are interested in being a Young Eagles pilot next year, or if you don't know what is involved but might be interested, now is the time to talk to one, or to talk to Tracy and get more information. Seeing the smiles on the faces of the youth as they land, or the interest in the topics in Ground School is an experience you will never forget.
New Chapter Committees FormingYour EAA Chapter 838 Board of Directors is looking for interested members to serve on two new committees to help steer our Chapter. The Board is looking for people to serve on a Finance Committee, while willl help steer the financial health of our Chapter and advise the Board on decisions relating to money. The Nominations/ByLaws Committee will work on developing a list of candidates for Chapter Leadership positions, but will also take a look at our current leadership/board structure and recommend whether our structure itself needs to be updated. Anyone with experience or even just interest in either of these committees should contact Scott or Tracy as we need to get things rolling quickly! |