By Jean Thompson
Special to the View
Lakeway Airpark hosted its first Young Eagle’s Rally on July 4. Sponsored by the, EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Young Eagles was launched in 1992 to give interested young people, aged 8-17, an opportunity to go flying in a general aviation airplane.

 “The primary motivation is that Lakeway Airpark is a pretty valuable resource in Lakeway and it’s time to do some community outreach,” said one of the event coordinators and pilots, Erik Mulloy
These flights were offered by volunteer members of the Lakeway Airpark Association from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. and were free of charge. Since its inception in 1992, more than 1.3 million Young Eagles have enjoyed a flight through the program.
“The pilots had just as much fun doing it as the kids did riding along,” Mulloy said.
They event was the result of hours of preparation by several Lakeway residents involved in the airfield. In total, eight pilots came out to offer their services and planes for the day.
Phil Thompson, Terry Priestap, Jeff Klaas, Bill Kulpa, Tom Lang, Robert White and Horst Stratman, who brought out several types of planes, joined Mulloy.
The children were given rides in a number of different airplanes that are based at the airpark, such as a Beechcraft Bonanza, Beechraft Debonair, North American L17 Navion, Citabria Belanca, Cessna 206, Cessna 182, Piper Cub and a motorized glider, just to name a few.
“It went fabulously,” Mulloy said. “We did about 54 rides for kids, including their certificates. Overall, I think we gave about 85 rides.”
The pilots were happy to fly some of the parents, so that the smaller children would also get to participate. The rides lasted for about 15-20 minutes, flying over to Mansfield Dam, down the lake to Lago Vista and then back to the airpark.
Several of the parents said that this was the best Fourth of July their kids ever had.
“We had a couple older kids say ‘How do we set up for flying lessons?’ so it definitely sparked some interest,” he said.
The pilots also took the opportunity to make the day a safety lesson for the children.
“The local community doesn’t realize how often when they go out there that there are aircraft landing and taking off. We explained what the demarcation lines were and why they can’t cross them,” he said.
Lakeway Airpark hopes to make this a yearly event but Mulloy said that Lakeway families and their children are welcome to take advantage of it any time. He said he and the other pilots would be more than happy to take children up for one free ride on most weekends.
For more information on the Lakeway Airpark, visit www.3R9.org, and to learn more about the Young Eagles program, e-mail Mulloy at erik.mulloy@gmail.com.