To fly Young Eagles you can affiliate yourself with any type of chapter under the EAA umbrella. That means EAA, IAC, VAA, or Warbird Sq. The Young Eagles Coordinator for IAC Chapter 35 organized his events under the auspices of a local EAA chapter that ran out of energy and folded. Following that chapter's demise, Harlan had a conversation with me, as the IAC Chapter President at that time, and our IAC chapter became the official host of the events.

So if the EAA chapter in your immediate vicinity seems to be underachieving with their Young Eagles program, there may be another one of the EAA family of chapters a couple of miles away that is looking for pilots to participate. And I will note that each chapter has its own personality so you may find it worth your while to "shop around" to find the best fit for your interests.

Our experience in southern NH is that if we can recruit pilots, we can get kids to fill the seats. We are fortunate to have a larger local FBO host our Young Eagle days and we commonly have 12+ pilots who fly 80-100 kids. Harlan Loken, our Young Eagles coordinator reaches out to the local schools and other youth organizations. If he knows more pilots will show up, he reaches out to more organizations that have kids.

And if you find an IAC or VAA or Warbird chapter that does not have a Young Eagles Coordinator, well you can volunteer to organize their Young Eagles day(s). No smart chapter president turns down a volunteer.

And if an IAC chapter president doesn't think that kids want a Young Eagles ride in an acro ship, I can tell how otherwise impatient kids will line up, and let other kids go fly in Pipers and Cessnas, while they wait for a 1G ride in an Extra 300 or a Pitts Special. And my S-2A has an open front cockpit.

Best of luck, Merry Christmas,

Wes
N78PS