Fly-in event helps Sisters soar

One of the most innovative education programs in Sisters High School is the Flight Sciences program. Benny and Julie Benson, owners of Sisters Eagle Airport, are key supporters of the program, which includes their daughter Cammi, and they are putting some wind beneath the programs wings on the Fourth of July with a fundraiser fly-in at the airport.

Festivities will begin at 7 a.m. with pancakes, the buzz of arriving planes for the fly-in, and the rumble of classic cars for the hot rod show. Sisters Rotary Club will be flipping the pancakes, while planes arrive from all over the Northwest.

New this year will be the Runway Run 5K, which will begin at 8 a.m. Participants can register online at http://sistersairport.com/july4flyin.php. The $35 entry fee also includes a T-shirt and pancake breakfast.

The Sisters Fly-in signature event, the Great Rubber Chicken Drop, will take place at 10 a.m. Participants can purchase a two-by-two-foot numbered square, which is chalked on the runway, for $5 each. A plane flies over the matrix, and rubber chickens are flung out. Each chicken represents a specific prize, ranging in value from $50 to $400. The person who purchased the square that each rubber chicken lands on wins that prize.

The event supports the Flight Sciences program, which has grown to 32 students enrolled for next year.

Upon successful completion of the class, the students have finished all the ground-school requirements needed for their private pilot's license.

Sisters Eagle Airport is also a full partner in this program, making their facilities available to the class whenever necessary. This makes access to local planes, pilots, and instructors compatible with student participation during the school day.

While they can't solo until they are 16, and they cannot be issued a private pilot's license until they are 17, the students can take lessons with a CFI, and the hours they log apply toward the 60 hours they need to qualify for their license.

Cammi Benson has done a solo flight and Seth Roy will do so soon.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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