10/4/05 Presenting at the Neenah Boys & Girls Brigade - I was invited to be a guest speaker at the Neenah Boys & Girls Brigade along with Ted Vander Weilen, the owner and manager of Brennand Airport. Together we made the eyes light up on an auditorium full of something like 75 to 100 8th grade boys. We both talked about the adventure of being a pilot. I made a PowerPoint presentation with some of my favorite pictures from flying. (It was pretty neat to see those pictures up on a big screen!) The boys had good questions for us. I was glad to be a part of the event. Hopefully I inspired a few of the students.

Even though only the boys were part of tonight's session, both the 8th grade boys and girls in the Brigade will have the opportunity to take Young Eagles flights. I'll be one of the volunteer pilots. We are planning to do this two weekends from now. I have permission from my flight school to use our 172 at Brennand.

10/14/05 Young Eagles Flights Rescheduled - The Young Eagles flights for Neenah Boys & Girls Brigade members were scheduled for tomorrow, but they have been rescheduled for Saturday, October 29th. I'm sick and we don't have enough pilots. Hopefully the 29th will work out.

10/21/05 Civil Air Patrol Check Pilot & Instructor Pilot Standardization - Today I finished training to become a CAP check pilot and instructor pilot. There are only 16 other CAP instructor pilots in the state. I flew the Shawano squadron's Cessna 172 with the squadron commander. Once my paperwork goes through, I'll be able to administer Form 5 checkrides and provide flight instruction to CAP members. A "Form 5" checkride is what CAP pilots must pass annually to be qualified to fly CAP aircraft. I received my own set of keys for the 172, which is a pretty nice plane because it has a 180-horsepower conversion.

10/27/05 Gearing Up for a Busy Saturday - This upcoming Saturday morning, a few other pilots and I will be flying Young Eagles at Brennand Airport. Our event was set up through the Neenah Boys & Girls Brigade, where I gave an auditorium presentation on October 4th. We'll be flying eighth grade boys and girls. Thirteen students have already signed up. We're aiming for at least 20. I plan to be flying all day because I also have two regular flight students scheduled for the afternoon. The weather looks nice and it should be fun!

10/29/05 Young Eagles Event a Success - Twelve eighth graders from the Neenah Boys & Girls brigade showed up for Young Eagles rides at Brennand Airport this morning. I gave a preflight inspection demonstration and had the kids get involved hands-on in checking the airplane. Then I flew six out of the twelve, in two seperate flights. Everyone loved it. The other six kids rode with two other pilots who were helping out. Even the program coordinator and a few parents got the chance to take an airplane ride.

John Burr puts a fuel sample back into the tank during the preflight inspection.

The group of Young Eagles and me standing in front of my school's Cessna 172

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