Each summer volunteer pilots at the Pierce County Airport, Thun Field, introduce kids to the world of aviation through the Young Eagles program. This year’s event June 28 brought together 13 volunteer pilots and 135 Young Eagles, who were treated to scenic tours of the area and lessons on how an airplane flies.

Most of the pilots are affiliated with the Experimental Aircraft Association Mount Rainier Chapter 326. They donated time, aircraft and fuel for the event.

More than 30 other Chapter volunteers helped by reserving flight times, registering participants, conducting ground school, dispatching aircraft, ensuring the safe movement of passengers to and from aircraft, facilitating the traffic flow on the ground, parking aircraft, and printing certificates which are awarded to new Young Eagles.

The names of the new Young Eagles are entered in the “world’s largest logbook” at EAA Headquarters in Oshkosh, Wis. This logbook is available online at http://www.youngeagles.org/logbook .

Next year’s event will be scheduled in late June. For more information, visit the EAA chapter Web site at EAA326.org). Since 1993, 2,735 kids have flown from Thun Field during the annual event.