The Young Aviators are part of the Mile High EAA Chapter 43, a non-profit organization.

Frequently Asked Questions

YOUNG AVIATORS 43

Answering commonly asked questions!

If by chance your question is not answered below, you are welcome to get in touch with us via our Contact Page or by emailing us directly at

FAQs FOR YOUNG AVIATORS 43

We are a group of kids and adults who love aviation! We work together on projects, learning, and exploring. Our projects require experts who serve as mentors for engineering and fabrication, ground school, leadership, as well as many other fundamental skills.

There is a brief information form that we would like to have so that we can get the updates emailed and contact you by phone if needed. Please also complete the general release listed on our Join Young Aviators page.

You can see our past and ongoing aviation-related projects on this website. The

We participate in field trips as the opportunities arise and notify our families via email. We also typically use and Evite invitation for RSVPs because our hosts usually need an approximate headcount.

Upcoming events are also posted on our site.

Our aviators range from ages 8-108! We do occasionally have requests from families whose kids are younger but passionate about aviation and/or have older siblings in the YA group. We will consider this case by case. The activities and projects are geared for kids 8+. If you do have a Young(er) Young Aviator, you will need to accompany them to and during all activities.

There are not currently any annual dues. However, the reason we are able to continue our projects are based on three things.

First, donations. If you have the ability to donate to the YA group, you can do that online. We are associated with the EAA Mile High Chapter 43 which is a 501(c)3 non-profit. Your receipt will automatically be emailed to you to retain for tax purposes.

Second, commitment. Not only do the youth need to be committed to their project and their team, but we also need parent involvement. Fundraising, communication, mentoring our youth leadership, coordinating field trips, planning work sessions (you would be surprised what happens before the kids show up so that they have projects to work on), managing our budget… These things cannot happen without the families.

While we don’t have attendance requirements, the YA Mentors are striving to teach life and leadership skills. During our monthly meetings, there are many opportunities for the kids to work on public speaking, teaching peers, task planning and discipline, goal setting, and team commitment. It is a foundation we believe in strongly and ask for your support to attend meetings as regularly as possible. Your youth will need to have one of the Learning/Flight journals and keep them up to date with their resume building experiences.

Please make sure that your child brings his notebook to each meeting and work session.

Finally, volunteering at our displays. We take our simulators and the B-25 project to several venues throughout the year and we need kids and parents there to work with our guests. Please make every effort to take on one shift at each venue.

In the past, we have encouraged the kids to keep track of the things that they learn and do with the Young Aviators. In 2016, we have decided it will be a core focus to teach the value of this type of documentation. Many of the kids don’t yet have such a folder, so we have decided it is something that each YA should have and keep up to date with the assistance of their youth and adult mentors.

Send in your info and release and join us at a meeting. It’s as simple as that. We are super friendly and recognize new faces right away. We ask that you attend one of the meetings before you decide which project you would like to be involved in and get a work session schedule.

We have three hangars where meetings are held at the Erie Airport. The location is posted on the front page of the site. The location changes from time to time based on weather and availability.

We have a meeting the first Saturday of each month from 9-11 a.m. We have multiple projects that we are working on and the youth team lead schedules work sessions for that project in addition to the structured meeting.

If you would like a YA shirt, sweatshirt, hat, or bag, please check out our inventory and pricing on this website (see YA Gear). We do one gear order per year in the spring if demand requires but we can only sell from our existing inventory throughout the year. Email if you would like something we have in stock and we will bring it to the next meeting. Cash payment, please.