The Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 66 in Fort Myers celebrated the opening of their new, larger hangar at Page Field on Saturday, marking a significant milestone for the community.
Since the early 1960s, EAA Chapter 66 has operated from a small hangar, building planes and coordinating flights for young aviators. On Saturday, they christened a new hangar, years in the planning and building, which will allow them to do much more.
Jeff Dukes, president of the chapter, expressed his excitement about the new hangar.
“We’ve always wanted to build that hangar, and we finally pulled it off,” said Dukes. “It’s taken us 20 years of fundraising and hard work, and the last two years we raised the right amount of money and we got it done.”
The chapter had to raise more than a quarter of a million dollars to build the hangar. The EAA runs the Young Eagles program, which provides young boys and girls with their first flight experience in an airplane, not just as passengers, but by taking the controls too.
Twelve-year-old Liam Loor has taken to the skies nearly two dozen times.
“I’ve done general aviation flying, where I fly small propped engines, and I’ve just been doing, like, circuits around airports, and, like, fly to other airports,” said Loor.
Loor shared what he loves most about flying.
“I like how you can look out the cockpit and see a beautiful landscape on the bottom and then a nice sky on top,” said Loor.
The hangar took several years to build, and the EAA also prepares aviators for the future. Jabari Brown, a 20-year-old chapter member, received a scholarship at 17 to get his license.
“They said, Jabari, we want to give you this $11,000 scholarship to go get your private pilot’s license,” said Brown, who is now a corporate pilot.
Dukes hopes the chapter will continue to thrive for many years to come.