More than 35,000 EAA member-pilots and 50,000 ground support volunteers achieve remarkable goal while introducing young people to flight.

EAA AVIATION CENTER, OSHKOSH, Wis. - (Nov. 13, 2003) - The largest youth aviation initiative ever conceived has reached its lofty objective, as the Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA's) Young Eagles Program reached its goal of giving 1 million young people a free demonstration airplane flight by the centennial of the Wright brothers' first flight on Dec. 17, 2003.

Andrew Grant, a 15-year-old high school sophomore from German Valley, Ill., was registered as Young Eagle No. 1,000,000 this week, with the official announcement made by EAA President Tom Poberezny during a news conference today at the EAA AirVenture Museum. Grant was flown on Oct. 25, 2003, by pilot Rick Ellis (EAA #469164) of Freeport, Ill., who has flown more than 860 Young Eagles since 1995.

"It's difficult to put into context the true achievement of flying one million Young Eagles," Poberezny said. "When we announced the program in 1992, there were many people who thought flying a million kids was simply unattainable. Through the efforts of tens of thousands of dedicated EAA volunteers, both pilots and ground personnel, the dream became reality. To them we say, literally, 'Thanks a million,' and celebrate this historic achievement. The aviation community owes these people a debt of gratitude, because they have helped secure the future of flight."

Grant and his family, along with Ellis, have been invited to Kitty Hawk, N.C., next month to attend EAA's Countdown to Kitty Hawk, presented by Ford Motor Company, the official ceremony celebrating 100 years of powered flight. During the Dec. 17 festivities, Grant will fly with Gen. Chuck Yeager, the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound and Chairman of the Young Eagles Program since 1994. This flight will formally recognize the 1 million Young Eagles and all the volunteer pilots who participated in the program.

"It's really a big deal and I'm getting kind of nervous about it," Grant said about that upcoming flight with Gen. Yeager.

Ellis has flown Young Eagles every year since obtaining his Private Pilot's certificate eight years ago. Interestingly, his first meaningful flight experience as a teenager was at the annual EAA fly-in convention in the 1960s, then held at Rockford, Ill. Ellis flew in the open-air cockpit Breezy with EAA member Carl Unger. That airplane is currently on display at the EAA AirVenture Museum.

"I'm sure the Wright brothers had much greater vision than what we give them credit for, but even they couldn't realize how much impact their achievement would have," Ellis said. "To celebrate the 100th anniversary of flight and to do it where the Wrights had the first successful flights is going to be awesome."

The Young Eagles Program was created in 1992 after EAA members indicated that one of the most important initiatives should be introducing young people to aviation. The initial Young Eagles flights took place during the 1992 EAA fly-in convention in Oshkosh, piloted by Poberezny and Academy Award-winning actor Cliff Robertson, who was the first Honorary Chairman of the program. Poberezny's daughter, Lesley, was the first Young Eagle registered.

The program has maintained its popularity in part because of its simplicity. A pilot and each Young Eagle conduct a preflight check of an airplane, focusing on how the airplane works and how pilots prepare to fly safely. They then board the aircraft and take a brief (usually 15-20 minute) flight, where young people can discover more about the aircraft and the unique perspective from the sky. Following the flight, each Young Eagle receives a certificate signed by the pilot and Gen. Yeager, and also has his or her name entered in the "World's Largest Logbook," which is on permanent display at the EAA AirVenture Museum and through the www.youngeagles.org web site.

Since those first flights in 1992, Young Eagles flights have taken place on every continent except Antarctica and in aircraft ranging from business jets to blimps. Each year, EAA receives numerous reports of young people who have been inspired to pursue aviation as a career or as recreation because of their Young Eagles flights. Many of those early Young Eagles are now flying Young Eagles as well. Every major university aviation program and all U.S. military academies also have current students who were inspired by a Young Eagles flight.

In addition, the Young Eagles Program has reached many underprivileged young people throughout the country, such as inner-city youth and those living on tribal reservations or in remote areas. Young Eagles has also offered the wonder of flight to thousands of disabled youngsters and Special Olympians over the past 11 years.

"As we said when we introduced the program in 1992, the Young Eagles Program is planting seeds for the future of aviation," Poberezny said. "Some of those seeds sprout immediately, while others may not blossom for 10 or 20 years. This program is vitally important because it is the base for aviation's future. It makes a difference for aviation and especially for the young people who are touched by it. Those of us who have participated in it have found that we receive much more in return than what we give to the effort."

Poberezny also emphasized that the Young Eagles Program will continue after the Dec. 17 festivities. The program has become a major activity for EAA Chapters and at local airports. In the future, the program will offer additional resources for young people who are interested in discovering more about flight.

The Young Eagles Program was assisted by an initial endowment in 1992 from SC Johnson Wax. The program's overall sponsor is Jaguar Cars, with significant additional support from Phillips 66 and numerous other companies.

For more information on this exciting accomplishment go to the EAA website at: www.eaa.org (Reprinted From EAA e-Gram From Brenda Anderson)

Christmas Banquet Tickets

GREETINGS! Just a friendly reminder about tickets for the Christmas Banquet on 13 Dec 03. The tickets are $15 per person and the dinner is a choice of Yellow Fin Tuna or Prime Rib. Just let me know by email, regular mail, phone or at November’s meeting what you want to eat, the number of tickets you want and a check for the tickets. I will send out your tickets when I receive the money. Hope to see you all there.
Don’t wait. December is just a month away. Tickets are going fast.

Happy Holidays.
Lee Ann Carlson
210-545-2376
larider@sbcglobal.net
16411 Hornet Creek
SA,TX 78247

Membership Renewals
New data sheets will be mailed out in January 2004 for all of you who have not yet renewed. Again, I am asking that you fill out these data sheets in full. Remember this is a VOLUNTEER job and in order for me to try to keep information current I color code data sheets each year (this shows at a glance who has renewed) –many times information has changed—e-mail addresses, fax/cell phone additions/deletion; planes added/dropped; certs/skills added/dropped; phone numbers changed/added/deleted etc.. So please help make my volunteer job easier by taking what amounts to less than a minute ( for you) to fill out these sheets

Included in this edition of Runway 35 is your 2004 chapter membership application. Each member is required to fill this form out—legibly PLEASE—and return it with your $18.00 check (made out to EAA Chapter 35) to Joanne Warner, Treasurer, 719 Oak Hills Road, Pipe Creek, TX 78063.

P.S. I won't be accepting membership renewals at the Christmas Party. (Too many distractions and no place to fill out the forms)

Joanne Warner

Thank You!

It has been a genuine privilege to serve as your chapter president, and now I want to thank all of you who have been so very supportive. Chapter 35 is blessed with a great many quality volunteers, and my hat is off to each one.

Norris Warner

HiPEP Thruster

HiPEP Thruster Test

NASA's Project Prometheus recently reached an important milestone with the first successful test of an engine that could lead to revolutionary propulsion capabilities for space exploration missions throughout the solar system and beyond.

The test involved a High Power Electric Propulsion (HiPEP) ion engine using commercial utility electrical power. The event marked the first in a series of performance tests to demonstrate new high-velocity and high-power thrust needed for use in nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) applications.

"The initial test went extremely well," said Dr. John Foster, the primary investigator of the HiPEP ion engine at NASA's Glenn Research Center (GRC), Cleveland. "The test involved the largest microwave ion thruster ever built. The use of microwaves for ionization would enable very long-life thrusters for probing the universe," he said.

The test was conducted in a vacuum chamber at GRC. The HiPEP ion engine was operated at power levels up to 12 kilowatts and over an equivalent range of exhaust velocities from 60,000 to 80,000 meters per second. The thruster is being designed to provide seven-to-ten-year lifetimes at high fuel efficiencies of more than 6,000-seconds specific impulse; a measure of how much thrust is generated per kilogram of fuel. This is a contrast to a standard chemical rocket, which has a specific impulse on the order of 300-400 seconds.

The HiPEP thruster operates by ionizing xenon gas with microwaves. At the rear of the engine is a pair of rectangular metal grids that are charged with 6,000 volts of electric potential. The force of this electric field exerts a strong electrostatic pull on the xenon ions, accelerating them and producing the thrust that propels the spacecraft.

The rectangular shape, a departure from the cylindrical ion thrusters used before, was designed to allow for an increase in engine power and performance by means of stretching the engine. The use of microwaves should provide much longer life and ion-production capability compared to current state-of-the-art technologies.

This new class of NEP thrusters will offer substantial performance advantages over the ion engine flown on Deep Space 1 in 1999. Overall improvements include up to a factor of 10 or more in power; a factor of two to three in fuel efficiency; a factor of four to five in grid voltage; a factor of five to eight in thruster lifetime; and a 30 percent improvement in overall thruster efficiency. GRC engineers will continue testing and development of this particular thruster model, culminating in performance tests at full power levels of 25 kilowatts.

"This test represents a huge leap in demonstrating the potential for advanced ion technologies, which could propel flagship space exploration missions throughout the solar system and beyond," said Alan Newhouse, Director, Project Prometheus. "We commend the work of Glenn and the other NASA Centers supporting this ambitious program."

HiPEP is one of several candidate propulsion technologies under study by Project Prometheus for possible use on the first proposed flight mission, the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO). Powered by a small nuclear reactor, electric thrusters would propel the JIMO spacecraft as it conducts close-range observations of Jupiter's three icy moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. The three moons could contain water, and where there is water, there is the possibility of life.

Development of the HiPEP ion engine is being carried out by a team of engineers from GRC; Aerojet, Redmond, Wash.; Boeing Electron Dynamic Devices, Torrance, Calif.; Ohio Aerospace Institute, Cleveland; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo.; and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

For more information about NASA on the internet, visit: http://www.nasa.gov
(Reprinted from a NASA Press Release)