Bridgeport  -- Kids between the ages of eight and 17 could spend 20 minutes for free, learning the adventure of aviation at the North Central West Virginia Regional Airport.

 

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) local chapter #842 held its annual "Young Eagles Day" where kids flew around the Clarksburg-Bridgeport area.

 

Several exhibits and aircraft displays were available for everyone to explore. The Clarksburg Composite Squadron set up a Civil Air Patrol recruiting booth and had its aircraft on display to give everyone a pre flight briefing before going up in the air.

 

Across from the airport, the Robert C. Byrd Aerospace Education Campus of Fairmont State University offered a hot air balloon demonstrations, flight simulators, and a star lab planetarium. One highlight was a world champion frisbee demonstration.

 

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 57,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 91 lives in fiscal year 2008. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the nearly 22,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 67 years. 

For more on the CAP go to www.gocivilairpatrol.com