About AirFest

With aircraft ranging from homebuilts to vintage, from warbirds to the modern military, and exhibits from NASA, the Challenger Center and others. And this year, we welcome several vendors with the exciting new Light Sport Aircraft, which promise to expand the ranks of pilots with aircraft that are easier to afford and simpler to learn to fly.

But AirFest is about more than just looking! Take to the sky in a classic WWII warbird or enjoy the sights from a Cessna! If you're between the ages of 8 to 17, become a Young Eagle with a free airplane ride, and enter the competition for an Air Academy scholarship.

Funds raised from the AirFest finance the Chapter's Young Eagle and Air Academy youth aviation programs. Last year, Chapter pilots flew more than 300 Young Eagles, giving area youth their first flight experience in a general aviation airplane. AirFest funds help defray fuel costs for these flights. And this summer, funds raised from the AirFest will pay for three area young people to spend a week at the EAA Air Academy in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, all expenses paid.

Airplanes and flight have become commonplace, and most of us take for granted that we can traverse the continent in four hours in relative comfort. But consider that, just 79 years ago, people didn't take flying for granted, and on this date a young pilot named Charles Lindbergh thrilled the world with the first solo crossing of the Atlantic. The airplanes you will see around you are descendents of these pioneers, and the excitement of those early days of flying still lives on in some of us. AirFest is an opportunity for us to share our world with you and for kids of all ages to get up close to the action. We hope we'll light up more than a few faces and show our young people that the sky is within their reach.