Register Now: Upshur County Regional Airport to offer free ‘Young Eagles’ flights for kids July 18

BUCKHANNON – The Upshur County Regional Airport is offering free flights for kids ages 8 to 17 to learn more about aviation.

Airport manager Jennifer Powers said the airport will host a Young Eagles Day on July 18, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Upshur County Regional Airport.

“Upshur County Regional Airport (KW22) and EAA Chapter 842 are excited to again be hosting a Young Eagles Day. As part of the Young Eagles experience, the kids will get to talk with a pilot pre-flight, do a walk-around of an aircraft, learn the parts of a plane, how a plane works and have a safety briefing, and then it will be time to take to the air,” Powers said. “The flight itself will be approximately 15 to 20 minutes, and after the flight, each child will receive a certificate to commemorate the experience.”

Parents or legal guardians must pre-register their children at www.eaachapters.org/event-details/BW3518YFA to reserve a spot to fly and accompany them on flight day. Registration opened Tuesday, June 16.

The airport will only take walk-ins as their workload allows.

“Volunteer pilots from our area will get to share their passion for flying to inspire the next generation,” Powers said. “I am always excited to get kids to the airport. For general aviation to grow and survive, we need to get kids interested in aviation at an early age and find something fun that sparks their interest, and Young Eagles is a great way to do it.”

The Buckhannon event is part of a national program. Young Eagles is run by the EAA, an Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based group that launched it in 1992 and partners with local chapters to put kids in the air.

Since the first flights at that year’s EAA convention in Oshkosh, member pilots have flown nearly 2.5 million young people, making it what the association calls “the only program of its kind, with the sole mission to introduce and inspire kids in the world of aviation.”

Every flight is free and flown by volunteer pilots in their own aircraft. The program’s honorary chairmen have included Gen. Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, and actor Harrison Ford, who flew the program’s 2 millionth Young Eagle in 2016.

“The success of Young Eagles means thousands of today’s under-40 pilots — both professional and recreational — can trace their personal journey back to that first flight with a Young Eagles pilot,” EAA CEO and Chairman Jack Pelton said in 2020, when the program passed 2.2 million flights. “To every pilot and ground volunteer who has been part of Young Eagles, the aviation community thanks you.”

Registration for the Buckhannon event will run until July 16, 2026, or until full. The Upshur County Regional Airport is located at 644 Airport Road in Buckhannon. For questions about the event, call the airport at 304-472-9437.