‘Young eagles’ take flight with EAA
Six pilots in the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association earlier this month lifted off in their respective plane from the Apalachicola Regional Airport with precious cargo.
Inside their respective planes were 30 young people, including several from Franklin and Gulf counties, who as part of the Young Eagles program on Dec. 14 were treated to the experience of a half-hour flight around the skies over Franklin County.
John Bone, who has twice circumnavigated the earth, took them up in his three-easter Cirrus SR 20, while Victoria Manley brought them aloft in her newly acquired three-seater Cessna 172, and Tom Mescher in his three-seater Cessna 182.
Bruce Graham and John Weaver each took up one young person in their Cessna 150s, while Keith Whitehead treated them in his one-seater Tecnam 2004.
The kids came from near and far, including Brittney Brock, from Chipley, and her two daughters, Bailey, 14, and Hayden, 13, who sought out the nearest Young Eagle experience after recently enjoying one in Pensacola.
They, along with Sarah-Grace Field, from Lynn Haven, formed an all-female quartet as they flew with Carrabelle resident Manley, who at age 21 has already been flying since high school.
She works parttime for Centric Aviation at the airport, and aspires to fly one day for FedEx or UPS, well within her grasp, and encouraged by Weaver, her flight instructor.
Manley took special care to do a thorough pre-flight inspection, fully narrated all along the way with the young people who flew with her.
They checked the wings, the flaps, the fuselage, wings and ailerons, and of course the engine and propeller.
She and her fellow pilots were aided by an attentive ground crew, who included St. George Island’s Bob Donze, a retired F-15 pilot; Cape San Blas’ John Hooper; Mescher and his wife Mollie; Richard Woodward and his wife Paula; Don Ralf, a retired Air Force general; Casey Shokoui, retired from the Coast Guard who now flies for the auxiliary; and photographer Michael Rindler.
Without exception, the kids who flew raved about the experience, including ABC School fourth grader Abigail Williams, who aspires to be an aeronautical engineer and who was accompanied on the ground by parents Mark and Jamie.
“It was awesome,” she said of her first ride in a small plane. “A little bumpy.”
Also taking part from Franklin County were Xavier Lewis, 10; Jayceon Stephenson, 11; Bailey, 14, Joshua, 11 and Caitlin, 11, the children of Lena and Michael Allen; Sophia Lichardello, 9; Tyler Morrison, 16; Lailah Wayt, 12; Temperance Covan, 12; Aiden Brenes, 17; Kairi Trest, 13; Ryland Trest, 9; and Logan Watts, 9.
Taking to the air from Gulf County were Lillian Earley, 15; Emery Walker, 8; and Silas Walker, 11.
Tom Mescher, who helped organize the event, said he was pleased at its success, made possible by a stepped-up volunteer effort within the EAA chapter for the last three years.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.