Getting Younger People to Meetings

[kk6mm]

Our chapter has about 40 members. We sponsor monthly FAA safety seminars, 2 Young Eagles events a year, an airport open house/breakfast, etc. Our monthly meetings feature a dinner and a presentation. We'd like to get more young people involved. Any ideas on how to do this?
Thanks

[Mike M]

Our chapter has about 40 members. We sponsor monthly FAA safety seminars, 2 Young Eagles events a year, an airport open house/breakfast, etc. Our monthly meetings feature a dinner and a presentation. We'd like to get more young people involved. Any ideas on how to do this?
Thanks

Background checks. Free college tuition. Rap music at the dinner. Unisex bathrooms. Poop, I don't know, most chapters have the same problem. When I joined in '72 a life membership was $300 and I passed. Looked around the room and saw a sea of geezers. Was sure the EAA would be dead and buried in ten years. Consider that before taking MY advice.

[Glory Aulik]

Hello kk6mm!

Chapter 1342 out of Grand Forks, ND is mostly made up of University of North Dakota college students. It might be worth it to reach out to the chapter president, David Leiting, and ask for advice on what activities work best for them.

Here is there website with contact information: http://1342.eaachapter.org/

If you find an activity that works best for encouraging young people, please share!

Best,
Glory

[martymayes]

Background checks. Free college tuition. Rap music at the dinner. Unisex bathrooms.

Chapter 1342 out of Grand Forks, ND is mostly made up of University of North Dakota college students.

There ya go Mike, in addition to your politically correct list, hold meeting in a remotely located college town (KGFK) where you have the only game in town.

[Tom Charpentier]

My "home" chapter, 1454 in Fitchburg, MA, had a good amount of involvement from twentysomethings in the greater Boston area, myself being one of them. One of the very effective strategies they used was to integrate with the flight school on the field. When I did my intro flight, I got 3 brochures - 1 for the flight school, 1 for the AOPA student membership, and 1 for the chapter. At the time the flight school owner was the chapter president, but I believe this practice has continued. This gave us a regular influx of new members, many of them younger professionals.

[vaflier]

I recently came in contact with a program that may be a great way to bring younger people into aviation and at the same time help them excel in school and learn about being good citizens. Look up Wright Flight.org and see what you think. It looks to me that this program is worthwile and may dovetail nicely with the Young Eagles program and give a great opportunity to expose young people to aviation and the EAA while teaching them valuable life lessons at the same time. It may be just what you are looking for.
Randy Powell

[kk6mm]

Good idea, Tom. Our local FBO has a new owner, who's joined our chapter. He's also doing a ground school. I'm going to see if he'll let me talk about our chapter for a few minutes and hand out some flyers. I'll also see if he'll help distribute our info to his students. In the past, their instructors haven't even mentioned the chapter, the monthly FAAST seminars or any other way to interact with the local aviation community. Maybe we can change that.

[kk6mm]

Good point, Cory. Most of us see the need to get younger people involved in aviation. Young Eagles is a great program, in which I participate, but we (national and chapters) need to find a way to reach out to students and younger pilots and get them involved. We had a recent success story locally...a youngster took a YE flight and recently got his license. You can bet I'm going to invite him to our meetings and pay for his dinner.

[Eric Cernjar]

This subject (not just for chapters, and selfishly for EAA Membership, but also all of general aviation) has to be in the top 3 burning questions to keep aviation vibrant. I've been thinking about this subject a lot, and obviously I'm not alone. My first question is, what does 'young' mean to you guys? Is it relative? Meaning if the chapter is largely people in their 50s, 60s and 70s, is someone in their 30s young? Or are you really looking for kids still in high school to get them interested?

One thing I'm bugging many people internally about is the idea of flying clubs being formed next to chapters. Obviously these need to be separate entities, but the roadmap is there and it's possible. Since aviation requires a significant amount of discretionary time and discretionary income, the hobby does tend to gravitate towards those that have a little bit more of those two valuable commodities. It seems that if we have people that have some level of interest in flying, they see a few big roadblocks right away. Introducing prospective pilots to a community of people that love this lifestyle, and to a portal that is not only more affordable but also would improve the odds of actually completing the training seems like a great way to get young(er) people involved.

Agree? Disagree?

[Marty Santic]

VERY, VERY INTERESTING. My post and my question was DELETED immediately before this thread was referenced on the EAA e-Hotline for all of the membership to view. ERIC, PLEASE tell me WHY?

[v111pilot]

Our chapter has about 40 members. We sponsor monthly FAA safety seminars, 2 Young Eagles events a year, an airport open house/breakfast, etc. Our monthly meetings feature a dinner and a presentation. We'd like to get more young people involved. Any ideas on how to do this?
Thanks

I think about this everytime I attend a meeting and Im the youngest person there at 49.

Has anyone here or at EAA for that matter ever gone online and tried to: A. Find the local chapter and B. Find their meeting schedule?

I have, and it always takes about 10 clicks and 10+ minutes, and even then I am usually directed to an abondoned, outdated web page. Common wisdom is that if you can't get there in three clicks they won't bother.

I understand that most of us are not as web savvy as we need to be, but EAA needs to step up with a uniform, easy to update web platform that every chapter can use. (how about an interactive map).

Take the challenge, start at EAA.org and see how long it takes to find a chapter/meeting.

Lastly, meetings on Friday nights?? Really?? And you wonder why no younger people are showing up?

Thanks for the ear and fly safe-

[Dave VH]

You have to go where the young are, online. Check out the Facebook group Flights Above The Pacific Northwest - FATPNW. It just passed it's 4th birthday and has over 3,500 members (I understand AOPA has 11,000), including lots of EAAers. Average age is half that at chapter meetings.

[Spezioman]

I'm almost 70 and started flying in 1971 in a military flying club. C150 was $7 and CFI another $7. Finding the extra $25 or so per week wasn't easy. But NOTHING like now!

I have never been able to afford to fly but really wanted it. Can only keep going now because I built it and can do inspections myself and live in depressed area with hangar @ $50/month. Today I see too many younger folk who would rather play video games than do anything real. GA is dying and I wonder who will be left to buy my airplane? Want to get more people in aviation?

Figure out a way to cut the cost at least in half.

Jack:(

[1600vw]

I'm almost 70 and started flying in 1971 in a military flying club. C150 was $7 and CFI another $7. Finding the extra $25 or so per week wasn't easy. But NOTHING like now!

I have never been able to afford to fly but really wanted it. Can only keep going now because I built it and can do inspections myself and live in depressed area with hangar @ $50/month. Today I see too many younger folk who would rather play video games than do anything real. GA is dying and I wonder who will be left to buy my airplane? Want to get more people in aviation?

Figure out a way to cut the cost at least in half.

Jack:(

You want to pi#s people off {cfi}. Just mention you do not like the cost of training. That will do it.

I had an old timer tell me that back when he started flying in his teen years that aviators helped other aviators. Today he said aviators just want to bitch at each other over what they keep in their hangar and what airplane they fly. He said no one wants to help each other out not without getting their palms greased. He said or told me that this is what is killing aviation. The lack of aviators helping each other without compensation. He said mention this to anyone today a see what happens. I told him I know what happens.

HAS

[griffin800]

I agree that finding chapter info isn't easy, one of our local chapters maintains their own web site separate from the EAA's site, takes some searching to find it.

I don't know where you are, but all the monthly meetings around here are in the middle of the week, mostly Tuesdays.

Bill H.

[martymayes]

Check out the Facebook group Flights Above The Pacific Northwest - FATPNW. It just passed it's 4th birthday and has over 3,500 members (I understand AOPA has 11,000), including lots of EAAers. Average age is half that at chapter meetings.

So how does this help the bottom line? If I join an aviation related facebook group, am I considered a participant (without leaving my house)? Is aviation going to become a virtual activity?

[martymayes]

You want to pi#s people off {cfi}. Just mention you do not like the cost of training. That will do it.

I had an old timer tell me that back when he started flying in his teen years that aviators helped other aviators. Today he said aviators just want to bitch at each other over what they keep in their hangar and what airplane they fly. He said no one wants to help each other out not without getting their palms greased. He said or told me that this is what is killing aviation. The lack of aviators helping each other without compensation. He said mention this to anyone today a see what happens. I told him I know what happens.

HAS

So back at ya Tony. What are YOU doing to promote aviation? Who are you helping out and in what way?

Someone can mention they don't like the cost of flight training to me (I'm a CFI) and I don't get upset - I agree with them. What can I do about it? I can't change the fact that it cost $120/hr to rent a training airplane. I can't waive the regulatory requirements for a certificate and/or rating. I certainly can't go out and buy a plane and let people fly it for free "to help out." Neither can you.

[1600vw]

So how does this help the bottom line? If I join an aviation related facebook group, am I considered a participant (without leaving my house)? Is aviation going to become a virtual activity?

I believe everything is heading this direction.

[1600vw]

So back at ya Tony. What are YOU doing to promote aviation? Who are you helping out and in what way?

Someone can mention they don't like the cost of flight training to me (I'm a CFI) and I don't get upset - I agree with them. What can I do about it? I can't change the fact that it cost $120/hr to rent a training airplane. I can't waive the regulatory requirements for a certificate and/or rating. I certainly can't go out and buy a plane and let people fly it for free "to help out." Neither can you.

I have given my airplane out for others to fly and not charged them one penny. I never asked for anything but for them to have a good time.

[1600vw]

There was a man flying drones or UAV for our military. I wanted to sell an airplane and he wanted one. Only problem he was over sea's fighting for us. Yea right I have heard that before. But no this was no scam. this man was doing what he said. I spoke with and met his family. I sold him that airplane for what I paid for it. I never made one penny off that deal and in fact I lost a couple grand. So do not tell me what I can do and what I do for others in this hobby sport or what have you. You do not know me. I do my part, what have you done?

He said all he wanted was an airplane waiting for him when he got home. Between his dad and his brother we made that happen.

HAS

[1600vw]

My wife just woke up and she reminded me. She said, honey you sold that airplane for 2500 bucks to that man. I forgot I did that and why I tell people I gave an airplane away, for I did indeed give this airplane away.

Here is that airplane. Also on this day I am letting a friend fly this airplane as I film said flight. I get just as much enjoyment from watching others have fun in something I own as I do doing it myself. Maybe this is just me.

5507

[1600vw]

Here is another one. This is me filming and another friend going for a flight in the Hi-max I owned.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBGro7gJfy8

[1600vw]

Those two airplanes you see shared a hangar for years. I went to purchase the low wing and there sat that Hi-max. The owner showed up this night I was looking at the low wing. he was the towns police officer. when he found out I was buying the Avenger he said he would sell his Hi-max. The hangar was so big and dark I never even saw it in the corner. I said what H-max. He shines his little flash light on it and i about fell over. I grabbed the light from his hands and went looking at his airplane. I took all his info down and told him i would purchase it and would call him. I lived almost 1000 miles away.

When i get home I start calling him. I get no answer. I get no answer for almost two months, then one day he picks up the phone. He said he thought long and hard about it and decided to sell it. I drove to him the next day and picked this airplane up. This is what it looked like when I purchased it. Again this is not me flying her but another friend. What joy it is to share aviation. I love it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGMa-4kxBko

[1600vw]

Was general aviation ever geared toward the young? I have only been in this sport or hobby for a few short years. But from what I understand many wait until kids are grown before attempting something like this. Form what I have read its more about cost then anything. The next or number two reason would be safety for they have those whom count on them being around or need them and if something happened..we all know the story. So some wait until said kids are grown for that reason. But most wait until later in life to get into aviation and this seems to be the norm for general aviation. You do have a few who get into aviation younger but the key word is {few}. This is at least what I have found.

My point what I was doing at age 20 or 30 today I do not do those hobbies or sports. I moved on. All we can do is hope that the kids or children today will do the same. Hopefully later in life they will shed the electronic whatever it is and be doing other things. Maybe by then they will be burned out on all these electronic gadgets. Only problem, GA aviation may be gone by then.

But as to cost. There is a group out west who seem to have this figured out. These women get together and give training at a reduced cost for their cause. That cause, to get more women flying. It seems to be working. This is what needs to happen to all of general aviation and lower, meaning SportPilot. Why? For the cause of aviation. Because if we don't do something like this, aviation as we know it will not be here for our grand kids when said grand kids do decide they want to fly.

[Cory Puuri]

Was general aviation ever geared toward the young? I have only been in this sport or hobby for a few short years. But from what I understand many wait until kids are grown before attempting something like this. Form what I have read its more about cost then anything. The next or number two reason would be safety for they have those whom count on them being around or need them and if something happened..we all know the story. So some wait until said kids are grown for that reason. But most wait until later in life to get into aviation and this seems to be the norm for general aviation. You do have a few who get into aviation younger but the key word is {few}. This is at least what I have found.

Can I just say that you are awesome? I wish more people like you would post on threads like this one. Of course, those people are probably busy doing what you are--helping others experience the joys of flight!

I can say from experience that this assumption is correct for me. I have wanted to learn to fly since I was about 6. Not coming from a piloting family, I was unaware of the opportunities to learn to fly for recreation. So, I checked into flying professionally through schools located at universities and the costs were astronomical. My family didn't have much money; so, I decided to pursue an Air Force ROTC scholarship. I met all of their requirements, but when we got to medical history, they saw that I had bronchitis as a child and said I could fly helicopters in the Army. I'm a fixed-wing kind of person, so I gave up the dream.

In my 30s, I had a bit more discretionary income and I found out about recreational flying from a few friends who were pilots and built and/or restored their own aircraft. Money wasn't the issue, irrational fear of leaving my girls without a father was my fear. I gave up that fear a little over a year ago. Today, I am 42 and about 25 hours in as a student pilot. I'm talking with three generations of family members about building a Bearhawk that we can co-own. This has been one of the best decisions of my life.

I've already investigated becoming a Young Eagles pilot because I want to talk about learning to fly and give that experience to kids. Young Eagles wasn't around when I was a kid and I didn't know about the Civil Air Patrol. It wasn't until I was in the working world that I heard about both opportunities from an individual who graduated from the Air Force Academy and is now flying fighter jets.

I tip my hat to you 1600vw. Keep doing what you're doing!

[Tom Charpentier]

As someone who put myself through flight training in my early 20s about 5 years ago, I would just like to make a plea not to discount us. Remember that people in my generation (I hate the word "millennial," it sounds like a software product from circa 1998) are oftentimes putting off major life milestones like getting married and having kids until later. That opens up a window of low time and financial (depending on student debt load) commitment early in life. Some people travel, others pursue their personal passions, and a few, like me learned to fly. I think it's important to remember this segment, because the more younger pilots we have the more sons, daughters, nieces, and nephews grow up with someone in their family who flies. There's a multiplicative effect to learning to fly earlier in life, and it should be encouraged.

Yes, cost is a huge issue, but there are ways to make it work. At the time I learned to fly I had a pretty typical starting salary for a college grad in an urban area. I had some student debt to deal with, and almost half of my monthly take-home pay went to rent. I rode the commuter train to the airport on weekends instead of owning a car and plugged away at my ticket an hour or two a week for just over a year. I found something else I was good at and took a second job. Later the flight school owner let me work the front desk for extra flying money and a discount. And my EAA chapter was a HUGE help. I had plenty of free rides in fellow members' airplanes as I was working through my private, and it was one of the biggest things that kept me going for that year.

Now, am I an atypical "millennial"? Maybe, but haven't us pilots always been an atypical bunch? We're a few hundred thousand people in a country of a few hundred million. So all we need is a (comparatively) few of those atypical people in every generation to keep our community going. That said, it is very frustrating to be dismissed as part of a generation made up of mindless screen-staring zombies with a shelf full of participation trophies. Sure, I grew up with computers, but I spent hours playing Flight Simulator on them practically since I could walk! I like to be hands-on too - I've built two boats, am restoring a third, and had a hand in building an airplane. So please carry an open mind about us and do not over-generalize.

[VFR-on-top]

Now, am I an atypical "millennial"? Maybe, but haven't us pilots always been an atypical bunch?

Yes. Republicans. Not to throw out the political card to cause a ruckus. But invariably, a newbie hanging around with otherwise friendly oldtimers introducting them to aviation will ultimately start disparaging certain politicians, political parties, or "the government" as source of all aviation ills. Heavens forbid they meet the grouches in these groups. Aviators are often their worst enemies. There are some here. It is no wonder millennials interested in aviation are meeting up with their own kind online rather than visit or revisit local groups. Yes, valuable shared info is lost, but google is far more powerful than a bunch of wise flyers with jaded views of our "government".

We want to be educated on how legislation impacts aviation, not lectured on "government overreach".

Good day.

[1600vw]

Cpuuri: I would like to thank you for the comment, but there are those here who are way more "awesome" then me. I don't have a hole lot to offer in the forum of aviation, but I can share and it makes me so happy when I can. What is lost IMHO anyway is friendship. People today do not know what it takes to be a true friend. Most who call one a friend are nothing more then an acquaintance. True friends help each other out. Most today do not know what a true friend is or how to treat one. Friendship is another dying art. Friends do not come easy nor should a true friend be treated as a stranger. I value friendship. Another lost art. That would be..How to be a friend. The art of friendship, something missing in a lot of people today.

Tony

[wyoranch]

with people like Tony, there is hope. You want to attract more young people, make aviation more approachable. Share your love of all things aviation related. Become a mentor or a friend. I still believe that despite the fact that life has changed completely, that kids are still basically the same. Looking for guidance and support from people with knowledge and experience. Do not force your beliefs.... They will reject you 100% of the time. Be an aviation resource.

Rick

[1600vw]

The man who owns the airpark were I live. Now this is one awesome gent. A young man in his teens wanted to get his PP certificate. This was just a couple years ago. This young man works very hard for his family business. Dave the man whom I speak of who owns this airpark, he had a 172 that he was going to sell. This young man approached Dave about his airplane. Dave not only sold him said airplane he even financed this airplane for this young man. This was all done with the parents permission of course. Dave even had the annual done at no cost to the young man. He left nothing untouched in this annual and spend over 6 grand out of his own pocket on this annual. No cost to this young man. Now you can call Dave awesome for he sure is. That young man got his PP license and today enjoys his 172. Dave even gave him a hangar for it at no charge. Matt the young man I speak of wanted to be around like mind aviation folks. He took his new 172 to a controlled field or one with ATC, concrete floors in the hangars with electric doors and heat. This young man is living the life and I am so happy for him. He flies in every now and then and it sure is great to see him when he does.

Tony

[L16 Pilot]

I'm going to bring this topic up again. I've been flying for about 35 years and been a EAA member since 1984. I've never joined the local chapter (and I know most of the folks there....good people/especially the president who works hard at leadership) simply because it appears to take a lot of time fund raising to pay the chapter bills. Often inconvenient time. Contrast this to our flying club which owns the local grass strip and everyone is assessed a certain fixed fee depending on their 'level' of membership (i.e. whether they have a hangar on the field, etc. ). We usually do have building and restoration projects on going and coffee sessions so it's not unlike the EAA chapter less the continual fund raising. Not to mention once you're retired everyone thinks you have all kinds of time for this project or that. Just a thought.