Oregon Pilot Flies His 5,000th Young Eagle

June 11, 2013 - Larry Durst, EAA Lifetime 38651, of EAA Chapter 495 in Roseburg, Oregon, achieved something Friday that only one other pilot had done before: flying 5,000 kids in the EAA Young Eagles program.

Larry, a semi-retired dentist, flew No. 5,000 during the first of several flights at the Roseburg Airport in his Cessna 182 on Friday morning, June 7. That day Larry flew a total of 34 kids. Previously the 5,000 club had only one member - EAA's Pioneer Airport volunteer pilot Fred Stadler.

Cole Brecht, 12, of nearby Looking Glass, Oregon, was registered as No. 5,000. He told KPIC-TV, "It's really great to fly. You just see everything up there."

Larry began flying Young Eagles in 1994, and originally set a goal of flying 500 kids by the centennial celebration of the Wright brothers' first flight in 2003. He achieved that goal, but as his wife Maxine - who handles promotion and paperwork for her husband's Young Eagles activities - stated, they expected the program would wind down beyond December 17, 2003. Instead, Young Eagles has continued to thrive, with more than 700,000 since then (the current total exceeds 1.7 million).