Brian, 14, and buddy Ashton Simpson, also 14 and a Rough and Ready resident, flew with Sommers in his 1985 Piper Warrior earlier this month during a Young Eagles event at the Nevada County Airport, hosted by local EAA Chapter 1175. During such events, chapter members offer free flights to children 8 to 17.
Brian and Ashton learned about aviation sectional charts, how the flight would be conducted and how the airplane works. Then, each one of them spent time in the co-pilot's chair during a 25-minute flight.
While in the air, they saw their own houses from the air, plus the Bridgeport covered bridge, Beale Air Force Base, the Sutter Buttes, the Foresthill Bridge and Mt. Shasta 100 miles to the north, Sommers said.
“But the parts of the flight that both boys enjoyed the most were the plus and minus Gs (during turns and dips), and most of all when both got to fly the plane for nearly 10 minutes each,” Sommers said.
“Both Ashton and Brian did an excellent job,” Sommers added, calling them “natural-born pilots.”
Sommers, 69, retired as a captain after 40 years with the Los Angeles City Fire Department and moved to Grass Valley in August 2000.
He started flying in 1995 and has logged nearly 2,800 pilot hours — including take-offs and landings in each of the 50 United States, plus Pacific and Atlantic islands and the Arctic Circle.
“Of the 46,000-plus registered Young Eagles pilots, I am in the top .5 percent in number of kids flown,” Sommers said, calling his service “a pleasure and a privilege.”
To learn more about the Young Eagles program, contact EAA Chapter 1175 President David Bernasconi at (530) 274-9513.
The next Young Eagles day is from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 17, at the Nevada County Airport, on Loma Rica Drive just east of Grass Valley. For more information, visit www.eaa1175.org
|
