IYED in Gary

Submitted by Ken Rapier, Chief Pilot
Tuskegee Airmen Young Eagles Program

Saturday, June 11, 2005 was International Young Eagles Day. Young Eagles rallies were conducted all over the world including our regular rally held at the Gary-Chicago International Airport. We were once again blessed with beautiful weather for pilots Butch Bejna, Vic Croswell, Steve Hammond, Steve MacCabe, Pete Murphy, Keith Renfroe, Russell Shavitz, Dan Skoda, Richard Steinbrecher, Scott Taylor and Dick Tennerstedt. We flew 49 Young Eagles. To date, we have flown 249 Young Eagles this year with a total of 946 Young Eagle flights at Gary Airport since we began Young Eagles there in September of 2003 giving us a monthly average of 43 Young Eagles. 6 youngsters came on the Chicago bus, 18 on the Chicago Police Dept. Explorer vans and the other youngsters arrived on vans from St. Columbanus and Second Baptist Church of Maywood with F-16 fighter pilot Lt. Keny Ruffin. Volunteers Carmen Crusor, Bev Dunjill, Will Johnson, Moses Jones, Mike Hill, Hilton Joseph, Carol MacCabe, Bob Mullins, Judi Rapier, Ken Rapier, Carl Robinson, La Vern Shelton, Rob Strickland, Barbara Werner, Milt Williams, Paul Wilson and Glyen White assisted our pilots. Everyone enjoyed coffee and homemade pound cake made by Judi Rapier for starters and turkey subs and chips for lunch, which was followed by birthday cake. After we sang "happy birthday" to Young Eagles Field Representative Rep. Carol MacCabe, desert guru Mike Hill presented "honeymooners", Mr. and Mrs. MacCabe, with an electric ice cream maker along with Mike's special recipes.
The rally concluded with a question and answer session with 3 of our All Stars: Mike Askew, Carl Robinson and Lt. Keny Ruffin -- call sign 'Bishop'. Each of our All Stars are young men who have returned to give back to other Young Eagles. F-16 viper fighter pilot 'Bishop' answered the many questions from the curious about the aircraft, the life and what it's like to fly an F-16 and break the sound barrier. 'Bishop' happily engaged in conversation about all aspects of the F-16 that are not classified. To say that a good time was had by all is truly an understatement! You had to be there.

• 2007 - 12/05 - Young Eagles Pilot Tony Yacono Reaches Milestone
• 2007 - 10/18 - EAA Chapter 463 Rally Report
• 2007 - 10/01 - EAA Chapter 690 Visit
• 2007 - 08/10 - Reading and Flying Do Mix
• 2007 - 08/29 - Reading and Flying Do Mix!