The Cortez chapter of a youth flight program met at the Cortez Municipal Airport on Oct. 19.
They’re called the Young Eagles and it’s a nationwide program through the Experimental Aircraft Association, which is made up of “a community of passionate aviation enthusiasts,” its website said.
Young Eagles are kids aged eight to 17, and the goal of the program is to inspire youngsters to one day be involved in the world of aviation.
“EAA has been instrumental in opening the field to youths. They offer scholarships, trainings,” said Nikki Marshall, the Cortez chapter secretary.
In America there’s a shortage of aviation workers, whether they be pilots, mechanics or otherwise, Marshall said. With kids getting interested young, perhaps they’ll help meet this demand.
To date, in all chapters combined for the 30 years it’s been around, the program has been responsible for giving more than 2.3 million kids their first free, introductory flight, according to its website.
In Cortez, the chapter has flown about 90 kids since it was revived in April 2022, said Cortez Municipal Airport Director Jeremy Patton, who was responsible for bringing the program back to life.
Patton said Cortez had a chapter in the past, but it disbanded in 2011 or 2012 “due to inactivity.”
The Cortez chapter number remains the same – 1451 – but the added name Black Cat Aviation, which “comes from the U-2 Spy Plane Squadron, The Black Cats,” is new, Patton said.
Specifically, it pays tribute to “The Miracle at Cortez,” which happened on Aug. 9, 1959.
That night, around 11 p.m., a pilot was forced to land after his single-engine flamed out at 70,000 feet, Patton said.
The Cortez airport was lit up, so he landed there; until then, the work that squadron did was top secret, Patton said.
The Cortez chapter is up and running again with monthly meetings and 35 members after “many months of gathering volunteers,” Patton said.
And every so often, it has rallies – like the one Oct. 19 – where kids get to go flying.
“It’s quite a thing to do for kids,” said Jay Willmon as his 12-year-old son Brooks boarded a plane with pilot and volunteer Eddy Lewis.
“He’s been fired up all morning,” Willmon said.
He said Brooks had gone to a Young Eagles rally in Pagosa Springs a few weeks before, and had been looking for another one to attend.
After searching the internet, Brooks came up with two upcoming rallies: One in Loving, Texas and the one in Cortez.
As Farmington locals, this one made most sense, Willmon said.
Brooks said he feels no fear when he flies and intends to be a pilot when he’s older.
When asked how the flight went with Lewis, Brooks replied, “pretty good.”
On the runway, Lewis showed off his bright-yellow 1957 Piper Supercub, a plane similar to what he’d grown up flying in the Alaskan bush with his father.
It has a fabric frame, something Lewis calls a “lost art.”
“It’s like a drum,” Lewis said as he drummed it, for good measure.
Marshall, the secretary, said they flew about 20 kids on Saturday.
Three were brothers, from a family of five that attended the pancake breakfast rally in Cortez that day.
Owen, his twin brother, Jacob, and his other brother, Aiden – who was at his first Young Eagles event – were all there, playing on the Western Slope’s only certified flight simulator, eager to get up in a real plane.
Owen Paddock, 11, said his favorite part of flying was landing.
“It’s so involved,” said Tammy Paddock, his mother. “He likes a challenge.”
Owen plans to own a plane one day and is part of the Young Eagle’s 586 Show Low chapter in Arizona.
In a few years, when the boys are eligible, they hope to go to the EEA Air Academy, a camp in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where they’d get more hands-on flight experience with fellow “young aviation enthusiasts,” according to the website.
Karl Spielman, the vice president of Cortez’s chapter, said flying is heavy on physics, which in turn helps kids notice their physical surroundings with “precision, care and situational awareness.”
“Flying is a rarefied activity,” Spielman said.
He pointed out how it’s expensive, which is a major hurdle in getting going with it.
The Young Eagles program is free, though, and it’s helping mitigate those hurdles and get kids interested, involved.
“This has been great for the community, as far as outreach and youth activities,” Marshall said.
And though the kids have to wait till they’re 17 years old to get their private pilot license and 18 to get a commercial pilot license, the Young Eagles program is planting a seed early that might just grow into a realized passion.
Once kids go on their first free flight, they’re eligible for a free EEA Student Membership as well. Learn more at EAA.org/FlightPlan.
