News

From the President Happy New Year! Thank you to our outstanding Chapter membership for making 2024 a fun and successful year. Our speaker program continued to enlighten and inform us in a wide variety of aviation topics. Last year we helped create another Private Pilot through the Ray Aviation Scholarship, our fifth in five years, and selected a sixth Ray Scholar. We flew over 350 Young Eagles, including three rallies at Warrenton Airport and participated in a four-chapter Young Eagles workshop at Shannon Airport. Kids, and adults, spent countless hours on our two PCs with flight simulator and RC flight simulator software. We spent our Young Eagles credits earned from EAA to help towards tuition expense for two kids to

The following are the updated prices and links for membership dues, name tags, and the directory; effective immediately: URL for Membership: https://nds.qgi.mybluehost.me/events/eaa-chapter-186-membership-online-application-2025/ URL for Nametag orders: https://nds.qgi.mybluehost.me/events/eaa-chapter-186-name-tag-order-form-paypal-only/ CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP FEES $30 Jan-Dec. Single Member Dues $35 Jan-Dec. Family Member Dues $12 for Name Tag $12 for Directory Contact Judy Sparks if you have changed any of your membership information. [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] www.EAA186.org

Young Eagles We flew 32 kids at the Dec 14 rally at Manassas. We had several aircraft and over 50 kids registered for Jan 11 but cancelled for high winds and icy ramps. Our next Young Eagles Rallies are: Feb 8 – 12:00 Noon at Manassas March 8 – 12:00 Noon at Manassas April 12 – 12:00 Noon at Manassas We are now using the EAA’s new website for event management for our Young Eagles Rallies. To become a Young Eagles volunteer, ground or pilot, proceed to events.eaachapters.org and use the “sign-up” feature. That just gets you on the list of possible volunteers. Let Bob know you have signed up so we can send you an invitation to volunteer for

January Gathering   Our planned speaker at the Saturday January 25 membership gathering is Chapter member Dan Botzer (DB). DB will present information on the option of renting aircraft and flying club ownership. Dan has been a member of the FAA Flying Club for years and previously owned a Piper Comanche so he has experienced both ownership and flying club rental. Dan has held Chapter 186 Secretary and Treasurer positions and is a Young Eagles Pilot. Join us at 10:00 AM for the meeting and 9:20 AM for coffee and doughnuts. If you have not renewed your 2025 membership renewal yet, please bring your payment and the form printed from this newsletter to the meeting. We can process your renewal

Ray Aviation Scholarship In January 2025, Chapter 186 will apply to EAA to administer a 2025 Ray Scholarship for a $12,000 flight training scholarship. If we are selected to give another Ray Scholarship, we will begin a search in March for a motivated youth aged 16 1⁄2 to 19 who would like to participate in a concentrated one-year effort to acquire his/her Private Pilot License. The selection process will begin with reviewing questionnaire responses from scholar candidates. We look at a candidate’s motivation, participation level in Chapter activities, level of completion in the Sporty’s Learn-to-Fly video series, participation in Young Eagles flights and Oshkosh Air Academy and any accomplishments toward flight training preparation. Possession of an FAA medical certificate is

Young Eagles EAA Air Academy If your child has been accepted to any 2025 Air Academy session, please let us know. We may be able to help with tuition expense. EAA Air Academy is a series of camps designed to introduce young people ages 14-18 to the aviation world. Kids stay at the EAA Air Academy Lodge in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Experienced aviation instructors help them delve into flight through studies, hands-on demonstrations, flight simulation, and other exciting activities. Campers will receive a ride in a Cessna Skycatcher or Skyhawk or a helicopter, weather permitting. Most of themsessions are already full and only accepting waitlist registrations. However, EAA Chapter 186 has three spots reserved for kids who would like to attend.

IMC and VMC Meetings We meet on the 4th Tuesday each month. IMC Club at 7 PM. VMC Club at 8 PM. Come for one or both sessions; we usually meet beforehand at 5:30 PM for informal dinner at the Panera Bread at Bristow Center. The IMC Club’s purpose is to promote instrument flying proficiency, safety and education through a community of pilots sharing information and fostering communications. You don’t have to be instrument rated to come to the IMC Club. The VMC Club, for pilots wishing to improve their VFR flying proficiency, is modeled after the popular IMC Club providing organized “hangar flying” with a focus on VFR procedures, regulations and publications. TR Proven and Chuck Kyle are our

Pilot Deviations PILOTS, Please read the below message from Sarah Patten concerning a recent up-tick in Pilot Deviations with ATC. Sarah is a local Beech Bonanza CFI and works ATC at Potomac TRACON. One of the managers at Potomac TRACON pointed out that over the past couple weeks, there seems to be an increase in pilots being deviated due to airspace violations, particularly involving the SFRA and P-40. Pilots are being deviated if they violate the airspace by even one foot, and pilots loitering directly outside the SFRA boundary while squawking 1200 are now being labeled as Tracks of Interest, which draws even more attention. This increased attention is coming from outside the FAA, and controllers and managers at Potomac

Smithsonian Internships Sorry; Smithsonian doesn’t offer any internships in piloting aircraft. But people may not realize that there are a lot of other opportunities on offer for students with an interest in air and space, spanning a wide range of educational backgrounds and future career interests. From now until January 31, 2025, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) is accepting applications for its PAID summer internships for college and graduate students. All the information is available here: https:// airandspace.si.edu/get-involved/internships. These are 10-week-long, full-time positions with the museum, providing a $7,500 stipend to recipients. They run the gamut from projects in planetary geology and spectroscopic analysis to social media communications, graphic design for marketing and publications, military archival research

MEMBERSHIP   The following are the updated prices and links for membership dues, name tags, and the directory; effective immediately: URL for Membership: https://nds.qgi.mybluehost.me/events/eaa-chapter-186-membership-online-application-2025/ URL for Nametag orders: https://nds.qgi.mybluehost.me/events/eaa-chapter-186-name-tag-order-form-paypal-only/ CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP FEES $30 Jan-Dec. Single Member Dues $35 Jan-Dec. Family Member Dues $12 for Name Tag $12 for Directory Contact Judy Sparks if you have changed any of your membership information. [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] www.EAA186.org