Founded by James and Joan Ray, the Ray Foundation enables EAA and its chapter network to provide up to $11,000 for deserving youth to help cover flight training expenses. The foundation has made $1.8 million available to the EAA this year.

“Many aspiring pilots fall short of their goal due to the cost of flight training, so EAA, working with the Ray Foundation, helps relieve some of the financial pressure and make the goal of becoming a pilot even more accessible for future generations,” said Rick Larsen, EAA vice president of communities and member programming. “The high completion rate of our scholars demonstrates the impact of a supportive environment provided by EAA chapters.”

In addition to the Ray Aviation Scholarships, the Lightspeed Aviation Foundation partners with EAA to award a Zulu 3 headset to each fight student upon completing their first solo. If the student had already soloed before starting in the Ray Aviation Scholarship program, the headset goes to them when they pass their written exam.

“This recognizes the scholar as they progress and ultimately complete flight training,” according to EAA.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

The post EAA Scholarship Program Has Launched 500 Private Pilots appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The 30,000-square-foot facility was completely built through private donations through the EAA Aviation Foundation. The two-story center has lots of classroom space and rooms for multimedia presentations. Upstairs houses the Youth Education Center. Downstairs is the Pilot Proficiency Center, consisting of a simulator lab filled with Redbird AATDs and a crosswind trainer.

According to the EAA, in December the $6.2 million education center received a final $600,000 matching grant from the Ray Foundation. The funds help the organization fulfill its dream to inspire more people to pursue aviation.

• READ MORE: EAA Marks Grand Opening of Its Youth Education Center

“Approximately five years ago, this was merely a dream—to create a place where young people could be inspired by the world of flight while current pilots could build their existing skills,” said Jack Pelton, EAA’s CEO and chairman of the board. “Having now seen what has occurred here in just 18 months, we know what the support of those who believed in the dream has created, expanding the possibilities for people of all ages within EAA’s aviation community based here at Oshkosh.”

The center hosts activities year-round. Each summer there is a full week of pilot proficiency courses offered during EAA AirVenture. The facility has also hosted the national Redbird Migration conference, the National Intercollegiate Flying Association SAFECON competition, and regular open simulator sessions that allow pilots to build flying skills on Redbird simulators.

The Youth Education Center brings in thousands of students a year for STEM-based classes and aviation explorations days, including Girls On The Fly sessions for those interested in the science of flight as well as EAA’s Air Academy and GirlVenture program held each summer.

Margaret Brill, EAA Aviation Foundation vice president, is pleased with the progress the center has made.

“As we close out the initial fundraising portion for the EAA Education Center’s existence, its success shows what is still possible to support EAA’s mission of growing participation in aviation,” Brill said. “There are many more opportunities that we will be exploring in 2024 to connect with even more people interested in the world of flight.”

About EAA

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) was founded in 1953 by Paul Poberezny as an organization for pilots and aviation enthusiasts. It soon grew from one chapter to hundreds. Today there are chapters all over the world and more than 290,000 members.

For more information on EAA and its programs, call 800-JOIN-EAA (800-564-6322) or go to the organization’s website. 

The post EAA Education Center Continues to Expand with New Investment appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Sitting in a circle of mismatched chairs in a hangar on the Hagerstown Regional Airport in Maryland, the members of EAA Chapter 36 welcomed me in February 2020 as a pilot recently relocated to the area—and they introduced Aidan Bedwell, the chapter’s second winner of a $10,000 James Ray Foundation scholarship.

Bedwell, whose journey in aviation started at the age of 11 when he stumbled upon his grandfather’s radio-controlled airplane, went on to pass his private pilot check ride in July of this year.

Chapter 36′s first winner, Elizabeth Thornwall, earned her private certificate in December 2019. For Thornwall, it was a trip to an air show that started her love affair with aviation.

The stories are local and the power of the scholarship is real.

EAA’s Ray Foundation Million Dollar Challenge scholarships are distributed by chapter to young people ages 15 to 19. At EAA AirVenture last week, the foundation announced that it awarded more than $1 million in scholarship funds in 2019, and $1.2 million in both 2020 and 2021.

How it Works

Over the course of its three-year history, the foundation has awarded scholarships to 276 young people. Of those, 133 of those have scored a pilot certificate. Chapters must nominate candidates for the award, and each Chapter has its own criteria for selection. Involvement in the local chapter is a great way to qualify.

EAA also has a Matching Scholarship Fund, for those chapters that have successfully mentored a Ray Scholar through the program. With this award, EAA will fund 50 percent of another scholarship, with the Chapter matching the remaining 50 percent.

The post Ray Foundation Propels New Pilots into Aviation appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Aviation has long been a part of my life and the life of my family going back many years. None of us would carry the love for aviation we do today if it hadn’t been for my grandpa, Ralph Swanson.

Grandpa Swanson was a master sergeant who served 22 years in the US Air Force. His career in the USAF was phenomenal, including over 500 combat flight hours and thousands more flight hours as a flight engineer aboard a broad variety of aircraft—including the F-4. Not only did my grandpa serve long, hard and proud, but he was also the recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross within the USAF because of the heroic combat missions he had flown in unarmed aircraft over the jungles of Vietnam.

So, as you can see, it was within him that our family’s love of aviation began and has led to a generational journey of taking to the skies, beginning with his two sons, Jamie and David Swanson (my uncles), who bought their first airplane just out of high school to begin their training. Their example of passion and proficiency led the next generation to join in the adventure, starting with me.

At the age of 15 I began my flight training and flew my first solo at the age of 16, getting my private pilot certificate just after my 17th birthday. The passion and enjoyment of aviation began with my grandpa, was nurtured by my uncles, and has only grown stronger and more exciting over the years.

The generational love of the skies didn’t stop with me, though. In due course, David’s two sons, Chase and Seth would also train and receive their private pilot certificates as well—both training and then adventuring in their family’s Cessna 150. And, the circle was completed with Jamie’s only son, Joseph Swanson, not only completing his flight training—just a couple of days apart from his cousin Chase—but also being an honored recipient of a $10,000 EAA Ray Foundation scholarship.

You know a person can be fortunate to meet a family with one or two pilots in the mix, but it is on rare occasion, there are six in a room. In our family, we have an active “six pack” of family pilots, which might just be something for the record books today. Aviation is in our blood and one might say we have caught the bug, but it’s truly what brings us together as a family.

From hangar flying at the family grass strip (MY95, Swanson Field) in central Minnesota, to cross-country adventures to Ohio, Pensacola, or North Carolina, we love seeing family, making memories and the thrill of each throttle-up, take off and fly-by. The love of aviation brings us back together whether it’s in the air or on the ground. I would love to tell more of our story to the world of aviation—the simple, hard, adventurous and beautiful. It’s all been entirely worth it.

You can follow Trent Palm on Twitter, @aeroTpalm. Share your own “family flying” story with us by an email to: edit@flyingmag.com.

The post The Flying Six-Pack appeared first on FLYING Magazine.