What is Young Eagles?
Young Eagles is a program created by the EAA to encourage and support youngsters interested in aviation. Since 1992, Young Eagles flights have been safely conducted in nearly every type of general aviation aircraft, from light planes to business jets, and everything in between.
The Quakertown Pilots Association has participated in this program for over ten years, giving free flights to kids and minors age 8-17.
Parents, your child can join the ranks of more than 1.8 million Young Eagles® and see their world from a whole new perspective. Your Young Eagles® flight will last approximately 20 minutes and you will see the earth and sky in a new and exciting way. This is a chance to experience the freedom of flight that many people only dream about.
Many people remember this experience for the rest of their lives. You will, too!
On the ground: Your pilot explains what will happen during the flight. You may talk about the airplane, review an aeronautical chart (or map), and complete a careful “walk-around” preflight inspection of the airplane.
Just before takeoff: Your pilot explains the interior of the airplane, including the operation of the aircraft door, safety belts, and instrument panel.
In the air: The flight lasts between 15 and 20 minutes. Your pilot might let you take the controls! And, if you’re not having a fun flight, your pilot can circle back and land early.
Back on the ground: There’s more time for you to ask questions about the flight. Your pilot is happy to tell you more about flying and their particular airplane.
Your child will also receive an official Young Eagles logbook with a personal code to activate your free EAA Student Membership and Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course.
Parents are invited to pre-register their children at yeday.org. The events are organized by date and time, and will show up once the event has been made public, usually a few weeks in adavance of the event date. Be sure to select events at Quakertown! There could be multiple events on the same date across the country!
Visit EAA's Young Eagles site to learn more about this awesome program.
The Young Eagles flights that we do at Quakertown Airport are completely dependent on the weather conditions.
The minimum conditions for flights to proceed would be visibility of at least 5 miles. And minimum ceilings, or the bottoms of the clouds, at 1500 feet and rising. The wind gusts should be 15mph or less. If you would like some idea of whether we are going to cancel the Young Eagle flights on a particular day, you can go on the sites below and check the aviation weather yourself.
This website https://www.anyawos.com/kukt shows the current aviation weather conditions at Quakertown Airport. It doesn’t however, provide any weather forecast information.
This site https://www.aviationweather.gov/adds/metars?station_ids=KABE&std_trans=translated&hoursStr=most+recent+only&chk_tafs=on&submitmet=Submit is the aviation weather forecast from Lehigh Valley International Airport. Lehigh Valley, or KABE is the closest airport to Quakertown Airport that provides an aviation weather forecast. This forecast is pretty self-explanatory, except for the forecast time periods. The forecast time periods are in UTC, or Universal Coordinated Time. To translate UTC into local time you first need to convert local time to 24-hour time, or military time. Then subtract 4 hours during Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), or subtract 5 hours during Eastern Standard Time (EST) So a forecast time period listed from 1200-1500 UTC during EDT would be: 0800 to 1100, or 8:00am to 11:00am. 1500 to 2000 UTC would be: 1100 to 1600, or 11am to 4:00pm during EDT.
SUmmer Camps
EAA Offers Youth Aviation Camps, too!
Unforgettable aviation memories and new friends await middle- and high school-aged students every summer with EAA’s weeklong camps designed to introduce young people to the aviation world. Camp participants explore aviation through technical and learning classrooms as well as hands-on experiences from knowledgeable instructors and mentors. They’ll gain life skills to apply to in everyday life and discover the unlimited opportunities a career in aviation presents.
The QPA is able to help sponsor kids in the summer camps, through your participation in our Young Eagles program. Pilots earn points for each flight and can use these points for camperships, including travel to & from the camp. Visit the Air Academy site for more information on the camps, and email John for information on the QPA scholarships.
Links:
Young Eagles web site: www.YoungEagles.org
Quakertown Young Eagles Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youngeaglesquakertown/?ref=nf
Quakertown Pilots Association: https://www.qpapilots.com/youngeagles
Quakertown Airport current weather: https://www.anyawos.com/KUKT
Allentown Intertational Airport weather forecast. This is the closest airport to Quakertown Airport that reports an aviation weather forecast. Please note the times are listed in UTC. So for the local time subtract 5 hours during EST, or 4 hours during EDT:https://www.aviationweather.gov/adds/metars?station_ids=KABE&std_trans=translated&hoursStr=most+recent+only&chk_tafs=on&submitmet=Submit
Groups
With advance notice, we are thrilled to have groups join us for Young Eagles! Sometimes we are able to schedule special events just for your group.To schedule a group, please contact John at youngeagles@quakertownpilots.org
2024 Young Eagles Flights
Flights are given from 9:00am to 11:30am
Weather Permitting
January 13, 2024
March 9, 2024
April 13, 2024
May 11, 2024
June 8, 2024
July 13, 2024
August 10, 2024
September 14, 2024
October 12, 2024
November 9, 2024
December 14, 2024
Please register each child for each event that they attend. If possible, please print the forms and bring them to the event. If an adult other than the parent is bringing the child to the event, the parent must sign in advance and bring the signed form to the event.