Young Eagles and Background Security Checks

[lyleapgmc]

I weighed in much earlier, but I'll ask again, if somewhat rhetorically: Hasn't America changed to the point that innocent programs like Young Eagles can no longer exist? Sadly, in case after case, well intentioned and innocent activities such as this, and perhaps EAA itself, can no longer be enjoyed due to degenerates amongst us, and lawyers looking to protect us whether we like it or not, at great profit to themselves? Oh, and let's not forget the Great Altar of Political Correctness. The slippery slope just pitched nose down another degree. I pray God continues to Bless America.

<Quote> I weighed in much earlier, but I'll ask again, if somewhat rhetorically: Hasn't America changed to the point that innocent programs like Young Eagles can no longer exist? Sadly, in case after case, well intentioned and innocent activities such as this, and perhaps EAA itself, can no longer be enjoyed due to degenerates amongst us, and lawyers looking to protect us whether we like it or not, at great profit to themselves? Oh, and let's not forget the Great Altar of Political Correctness. The slippery slope just pitched nose down another degree. I pray God continues to Bless America. <End Quote>

Good questions and comments. The world has changed. Technology has enabled much of that change with instant communications. One of those communicators is the media. When I was trying to grow up years ago news was spread by rumors and gossip. Do you remember the game of "Telephone?" The same thing applies to the media. They will go on site to report something. They will interview witnesses and neighbors. The writers and editors then get the story and tell the "reporter" what to say on the live, on scene report. The media seems to take great pains to involve innocent parties in the stories. Such was the case in one of Jack Pelton's "close calls". The media involved the local EAA chapter by merely including images of the chapter's hangar in media reports. The perpetrator was not a member of any chapter but was an EAA member. There were no images of EAA headquarters. The chapter had held Young Eagles rallies at the far end of the airport and the suspect did fly young eagles at those rallies.

The background checks are another example of instant communications. A person's background can be accessed for a fee. If it justifies a fee it must be important. We'd better have that record. How accurate is the record? How many "clean" pilots or volunteers will be eliminated because records have been inter-mixed or the wrong record is accessed by the company doing the checks? Technology is not without its share of errors.

Paranoia breeds paranoia. Everyone thinks the risks can be mitigated by a program or by locking up all the guilty.

Political Correctness is very likely the motivator for EAA to institute the Youth Protection Program. Everyone else is doing it so it must be the correct thing to do. Did the EAA ask any of the other organizations how many molesters were eliminated from their activities? Were any molestations prevented? Did the program prevent the molester from acting outside the organization's activities?

The camel's nose is under the tent. Will he soon be urinating on your bedding?

The two "close calls" amount to .0001015744033 percent of the Young Eagles that have been flown.

I find it disgusting that members must be subjected to such scrutiny to participate in an activity for which they must pay to participate.

[rwanttaja]

I weighed in much earlier, but I'll ask again, if somewhat rhetorically: Hasn't America changed to the point that innocent programs like Young Eagles can no longer exist? Sadly, in case after case, well intentioned and innocent activities such as this, and perhaps EAA itself, can no longer be enjoyed due to degenerates amongst us, and lawyers looking to protect us whether we like it or not, at great profit to themselves? Oh, and let's not forget the Great Altar of Political Correctness. The slippery slope just pitched nose down another degree. I pray God continues to Bless America.

Well... the question is, are "degenerates" more common today than 30 years ago? 75 years ago? 100 years ago? A thousand years ago?

The answer is "no", of course. That sort of activity is as old as man. We have better vigilance today. Even better, we teach those most at risk the danger signs and encourage them to report if they're uncomfortable about a situation.

Heightened awareness of the problem triggered programs like EAA's, not a change in society. The risk hasn't changed, just the realization of the magnitude of it.

Ron Wanttaja

[rv builder]

Well... the question is, are "degenerates" more common today than 30 years ago? 75 years ago? 100 years ago? A thousand years ago?

The answer is "no", of course. That sort of activity is as old as man. We have better vigilance today. Even better, we teach those most at risk the danger signs and encourage them to report if they're uncomfortable about a situation.

Heightened awareness of the problem triggered programs like EAA's, not a change in society. The risk hasn't changed, just the realization of the magnitude of it.

Ron Wanttaja

Which, if I remember my data correctly, mostly involves relatives and known acquaintances. That is, the fear of random strangers molesting children is, for the most part, misplaced. But everyone is afraid of everything now, so we end up with useless rules and policies like this.

[vaflier]

I see that Jack has stated that 3000 members have completed the background checks, I wonder how many were pilots and what percentage of the Young Eagles pilots do they truly represent ????

[Jkan]

Which, if I remember my data correctly, mostly involves relatives and known acquaintances. That is, the fear of random strangers molesting children is, for the most part, misplaced. But everyone is afraid of everything now, so we end up with useless rules and policies like this.

I guess Jack Pelton and the Board of Directors, now believe child molesters involve Young Eagle Pilots and/or the ground personal. This is an irresponsible and sadly a very poorly thought out program, to say the least. The initial presentation was a disaster and we can, at this time I believe, see the President and senior management trying to cover their back sides. All should be fired and this disaster of a program scraped.

[medic2nurse]

Hello All,
I have flown only a few Y.E.(got the patch and the letter from HQ), BUT, I do not need those trinkets to tell me I am a
good Ambassador for General Aviation. I have flown many more people as an individual plane owner and enthusiast then as a
Y.E. program participant.
I as an individual incur the same Liability, wear and tear on the plane and time spent whether a fun flight or a EAA sanctioned program flight.
However, with the non sanctioned fun flight, I, as a pilot and plane owner can vet WHO is going into my plane (something this program does NOT do).
I have found that after a Y.E. flight MOST people simply walk away from their childs free airplane ride with the thought of "that was a cool way to spend a
couple of hours" and are not heard from again.
When I personally take someone on a non-EAA sanctioned flight I KNOW who they are.
I know them because:


1. They are a friend. Maybe they have never flown in a small plane and would like to see their local area from altitude.


2. They are an acquaintance.I talk about flying ALL THE TIME. On social media or face to face SOMETHING always has me turn the conversation to flying
and what a great feeling and freedom it provides. I invite them for a flight.


My point is that after flying someone I know, even only casually, there is a STRONGER bond made and repeat flights are the norm NOT the exception.
Those people may not go on to obtain a license BUT they are now advocates for our area airport.
I do not think I will continue Y.E. flights as I can do the same thing without the hassle on my own.

[FlyingRon]

The problem is that there's a whole segment of the population that YE reaches out to that don't have a friend who knows a pilot that can take them for a ride. I was extremely lucky as a kid to have a father who happened to have some pilots for clients. Had he been in some other legal specialty, I'd probably not have gotten a ride until college.

Frankly, it's not just kids (though kids are a logical place to start). I attend a lot of airshows as an exhibit plane. Sitting in my plane still is as close as many of these people even get to an airplane, and sometimes I get a frank discussion with them as to what it takes to become a pilot. I've seen that dreamy "some day" look. I give out a lot of referrals to YE at these events. I put roughly 250 kids into the Navion on the ground in the 4 hours during the Air and Space Museum family day. A few adults, too.

We did a special olympics rally (plane pull) up on the cargo ramp every year. I've put United ramp/cargo guys into my plane. These guys work around airplanes all day long but never actually get to experience aviatino.

The YE does provide additional liability protection for me as a pilot.

I can tell usually tell when I board the kids when I got one that has hope. Try to get them in the right seat.

My big complaint again is the half-assed roll out of the program. I hope this does not "kill" the YE program. It deserves a chance.

[Jkan]

Hello All,
I have flown only a few Y.E.(got the patch and the letter from HQ), BUT, I do not need those trinkets to tell me I am a
good Ambassador for General Aviation. I have flown many more people as an individual plane owner and enthusiast then as a
Y.E. program participant.
I as an individual incur the same Liability, wear and tear on the plane and time spent whether a fun flight or a EAA sanctioned program flight.
However, with the non sanctioned fun flight, I, as a pilot and plane owner can vet WHO is going into my plane (something this program does NOT do).
I have found that after a Y.E. flight MOST people simply walk away from their childs free airplane ride with the thought of "that was a cool way to spend a
couple of hours" and are not heard from again.
When I personally take someone on a non-EAA sanctioned flight I KNOW who they are.
I know them because:


1. They are a friend. Maybe they have never flown in a small plane and would like to see their local area from altitude.


2. They are an acquaintance.I talk about flying ALL THE TIME. On social media or face to face SOMETHING always has me turn the conversation to flying
and what a great feeling and freedom it provides. I invite them for a flight.


My point is that after flying someone I know, even only casually, there is a STRONGER bond made and repeat flights are the norm NOT the exception.
Those people may not go on to obtain a license BUT they are now advocates for our area airport.
I do not think I will continue Y.E. flights as I can do the same thing without the hassle on my own.

What a great story and you are indeed "a good Ambassador for General Aviation". I can't disagree with anything you said. The very best to you and yours.

[wyoranch]

The thing that I am most disappointed about is the fact that this forum was created and is maintained by EAA, yet there is NO interaction with the members by an 'Official'. Weak, very weak. The sheer number of posts in this thread and the parallel threads should be screaming that there is an issue and deserve some acknowledgement from EAA. This is not a fluff post about what band of has beens so will be playing in the square or a debate about which is better, Rans or Zenith. This is a very active thread on POLICY that affects a principal program from the organization. I will always be a member of EAA as I do believe that the good outweighs the bad. But come on EAA, man up and acknowledge the issue, at least we all would understand your thinking.
Rick

[Glory Aulik]

The thing that I am most disappointed about is the fact that this forum was created and is maintained by EAA, yet there is NO interaction with the members by an 'Official'. Weak, very weak. The sheer number of posts in this thread and the parallel threads should be screaming that there is an issue and deserve some acknowledgement from EAA. This is not a fluff post about what band of has beens so will be playing in the square or a debate about which is better, Rans or Zenith. This is a very active thread on POLICY that affects a principal program from the organization. I will always be a member of EAA as I do believe that the good outweighs the bad. But come on EAA, man up and acknowledge the issue, at least we all would understand your thinking.
Rick

We have been listening, responding, acknowledging and changing the policy according to the thoughts and concerns brought up here. I don't think it's quite fair to say we haven't been interacting, although I would have to agree it's not as frequent as most members on the forum, but we have been interacting. Dennis and Eric have done an exceptional job of reaching out to the right contacts to provide answers regarding the policy.

Thanks!
Glory