“I saw some things that I didn’t see before,” said Charles Penny, 8. “I saw a mansion over near Fry, it looked like it had a swimming pool and a tennis court.”
Charles was one of more than 200 children who got a bird’s-eye view of Sierra Vista on Friday and Saturday morning when the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association held its annual Fly-In at the Sierra Vista Municipal Airport.
  
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The event kicked off Friday morning when schoolchildren took a field trip to the airport for free flights over the city. In groups of two or three, students went up in the small Cessna planes, piloted by EAA members.
“The local chapter started these flights in the early ’90s,” said Cliff Van Vleet, vice president of the Experimental Aircraft Association local chapter, the Sky Island Eagles.
The flights began as part of a national effort by the EAA to counter what they saw as a waning interest in aviation, Van Vleet said. The organization’s goal was to give 1 million children free airplane rides before the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight in 1903. The effort was so successful, they continued the event annually.
“We have flown over 4,800 children,” Van Vleet said.
The organization as a whole has flown more than 1.4 million children.
Each child who went on a flight got a certificate designating them a Young Eagle.
“It’s all in an effort to plant the seeds of aviation in these young kids,” he said.
Many of the children who took to the sky those two days, like Nicholas Estrada, 11, had never been in one of the smaller personal airplanes before.
“Right when we took off my ears started popping,” Nicholas said. “It was really cool to see all of the city. At one point I almost recognized my school.”
The chilly air and cloudless sky provided the perfect weather for flying, and a breakfast of chorizo and pancakes was available for those were hungry.
The Fly-In was held in conjunction with an Airport Open House, which featured a number of aviation-themed exhibits for children to see, including a radio-controlled airplane simulator; ultralights, which look like motorized hang gliders with seats; and an unmanned aerial vehicle on display from Fort Huachuca.
Spcs. Ty Wilson and Scott Leyda answered questions from the curious children about the Shadow 200 UAV.
“I like to see how interested the kids are,” Wilson said. “They’re a lot more honest than the adults. They’re so fascinated by it.”
Wilson said he hopes that getting the chance to see the reconnaissance vehicle up close and learning about it will inspire some of the Sierra Vista area children.
“Maybe I can have an impact on them,” he said. “They see this, and they think it’s cool and they grow up (and say) ‘I want to do this in the Army, I want to save lives.’ ”
Christopher Miller, 13, and his sister Sidney, 9, definitely walked away from the event excited.
“It was cool, because we did a lot of turns, and you got to see a lot of sights,” Sidney said after she and her brother returned from their half hour trip above the city. “I got to drive the plane for a couple minutes.”
They each had their own favorite parts of the flight.
“I liked when we started lifting off,” Christopher said.
Sidney said she liked it when the plane made long turns.
“You wouldn’t expect it to just go,” she said, flattening her hand and slowly tilting it sideways onto its edge.
As exciting as that was, the siblings wanted more. However, there were some things the pilots just weren’t prepared to do.
“I asked him if we could go upside down, but he wouldn’t let us,” Christopher said.
Herald/Review reporter Derek Jordan can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at derek.jordan@svherald.com.
