The International Cessna 170 Association

I have many favorite passengers that I don't really know. Today I saw a mom in the grocery store whom I did not recognize but she recognized me. She told me her son was in college in Aeronautical Engineering and was an intern at NASA last summer. After college he wants to go to work for Orbital ATK and design rocket motors. I do not remember her son but she told me his first interest in aviation and space was the Young Eagle ride I gave him about 10 years ago.

I have no way of knowing how many other young people have gotten the bug from Young Eagle rides but I hope it's a lot. You never know what ideas those young folks have going thru their minds when they make that first flight or what they will do with those ideas.

Richard, that is so true. We never know when a YE flight may spark that long term interest in aviation. Its also fun to see the varied reactions to that first flight. The most memorable one I have done, and I haven't done all that many, was when I had a couple of young boys on a flight and needed to change the batteries in my headset. I asked the one in the copilot seat to hand me the batteries from the glove box, which he did. I then told him to fly over a road and I explained how the controls worked. All he could say was, "I can't do it, I can't do it!" I kept telling him "Yes you can" and sure enough he did just fine. By the time we landed he was all pumped up to get his ppl when he got 16. Haven't seen him since, but I hope he will go for it.

Grandson #3 of 4. Hoping to teach them all how to fly in the 170 as time goes on.

Favorite, I don't know, but definitely the most interesting one.

I was the navigator for my father, who gave a ride to a rather famous Russian TV personality for a little flight around Athens, where he wanted to buy a villa; we thus gave him a ride to check out these from the sky.
We were paid quite a hefty sum for this, but part of the contract involved not disclosing too much about that person, so I'll stop there!