Aviation Awareness Day, August 8, 2009, 9:00 - 12:00

University Park Airport, State College, PA

Aviation Awareness Day Wrap-up

I want to extend my thanks to all who participated in EAA Chapter 1327s first Aviation Awareness Day at University Park Airport.  We had perfect weather, a good turnout, and great support from the chapter and friends.  There were three main events.  University Park Airport and Duffy’s restaurant put on a breakfast, the chapter organized a static display of general aviation aircraft, and there was a Young Eagles rally.

The Young Eagles rally was a big success with 34 area youth getting introduced to general aviation through the generosity of our volunteers.  John Zimmerman manned the Young Eagles desk coordinating the flights with help from Jay Claster.  Pilots Bob Hyduke, Bill Brogan, Steve McLaughlin, Randy Kilmer, and Ron Boman spent the morning explaining their aircraft to the kids and giving them free rides around the area.  Carl Fisher, Eric Fromm, Joe Loomis, Rex Pryde, and many other chapter members helped by escorting the kids to and from the airplanes.

The static display was organized to present the full spectrum of general aviation aircraft to the public.  At least 20 airplanes were parked on the de-icing ramp, and pilots were on hand to answer questions.

Radio Controlled Model Airplanes – State College Radio Control Club

Powered Parachute – Ziggy Coyle and Dave Bauchspies

Trike – Bob Clyde

Kolb MKII Experimental – Malcolm Morrison

ASW-15 Sailplane – Tom Hausknect

Nimbus Sailplane – Mike Robison

RV-9 – Don Bierly

Piper Cub – Bill and Randy Kilmer

Aeronca Champ – Lloyd Hauck

Aeronca Champ – Bob Grove

Aeronca Chief - Jim Erickson

Piper Tripacer – Bob Hines

Piper Cherokee – Eric Fromm

Piper Tomahawk - Brad Leve

Cessna 172 – State College Pilots Club

Cessna 172 - CAP

Cessna 172 - ?

Pitts Special – Ang

Decatlalon – Bob Bower

Piper 410 Twin – Scott Buchart

Helicopter – Life Flight

Beech King Air - Raytheon

Cessna Caravan - FedEx

Four Apache fly-by – Air National Guard

Young Eagles Aircraft

Cessna 177 Cardinal – Bob Hyduke

Piper Cherokee 180 – Bill Brogan

Piper Clipped Wing Cub – Steve McLaughlin

Piper Cub – Randy Kilmer

Piper Cherokee – Eric Fromm (Ron Boman pilot)

The Roy Long and the Civil Air Patrol, along with help from University Park Airport line staff kept things moving smoothly by directing people and airplanes to where they needed to be.  Bob Clyde assisted in distributing information sheets for the display aircraft.  Information tables were manned for the EAA, CAP, and Snapflight to answer questions.

The event received a fair amount of press coverage with a 60 second piece on the channel 10 6:00 PM news and a 2 minute piece on the 11:00 PM news.  The Sunday CDT newspaper featured photos of Bob Clyde’s trike and Tom Hausknect explaining his glider to one of the kids.

Overall the event was a success, especially being our first try, and I think we accomplished our goals of showing the public a little bit more about general aviation.  But, there are some lessons learned and things that we could do better next time:

The static display could have been better organized and laid out (parking)

More pre-event advertising

Assign one ground crew to each Young Eagles airplane

Move Young Eagles table closer to airplanes

Thanks again to all who helped, and please let me know your thoughts on what we could do to make it better.

Contact Malcolm Morrison (gliderX5@comcast.net) if you need more information