Air Academy

[Ronald Franck]

It was very disappointing to hear that EAA has decided to cancel the Air Academy once again.
It has been shown that youth are the most resiliant demographic group to the Covid virus.
Yet, at the same time National HQ deems it feasible to go forward with AirVenture 2021.
I guess I'm glad not to be the one making these decisions.

[rwanttaja]

Well, it's probably less for the kids involved than for the older folks (mostly retired) who teach at the sessions. It's hard to keep socially distant in a classroom environment where one's teaching hands-on skills.

Ron Wanttaja

[Ronald Franck]

Well, it's probably less for the kids involved than for the older folks (mostly retired) who teach at the sessions. It's hard to keep socially distant in a classroom environment where one's teaching hands-on skills.

Ron Wanttaja

Yes, just like the workshops at AirVenture.......

[rwanttaja]

Yes, just like the workshops at AirVenture.......

We don't yet know how the workshops at AirVenture will be affected. Likely, they will institute more distancing and work in tents with the sides up for ventilation. I believe Air Academy has its own indoor workshops. It has 16 to 30 instructors, mostly in an enclosed environment. I believe it also runs longer than just the week of AirVenture.

Even if they expand the workshops for more distancing, Air Academy is a *dormitory* environment for the kids. Four to a room. How would EAA handle that? Each kid have his own room? How much of a financial loss would EAA take with just a quarter of the usual attendance?

As you said at the beginning, "I guess I'm glad not to be the one making these decisions. " These things are not as simple as they might originally appear.

Ron Wanttaja

[rwanttaja]

Here's Sun-N-Fun's COVID policies. One would imagine AirVenture's will be similar, unless it's verified that the pandemic has been beaten down sufficiently.

https://flysnf.org/covid-19-policy/

Ron Wanttaja