EAA Scholarship Recipient Madeline Patterson

Madeline, our EAA 430 membership chairperson, was chosen as a scholarship recipient based on her letter (see above) and her accomplishments to become a private pilot prior to her enrollment in the North Dakota University School of Aerospace Sciences. She is presently in her first year of school, having completed a year at Peninsula College in Port Angeles. On the following page is a letter we received from her thanking the chapter for the scholarship. She will receive $1500 per year for her tuition through her graduation.

I am honored to have been invited to apply for this scholarship. I caught the flying bug at a very young age thanks to a family friend who introduced me to the world of RC aviation. At age ten, with the help of our friend, I built my first RC airplane out of foam-board. I spent weeks gluing together the wings, installing the servos and making sure it had the perfect paint job.

Sadly, my piloting skills were not quite yet up to the task and the plane crashed on its maiden flight. Some may have been discouraged, but I was elated. The plane could be fixed, and I had tasted flight for the first time. A few years later as a present for my 13th birthday, my aunt drove me to a Young Eagles rally hosted by EAA 430 at W28. I had flown on the airlines many times before, but nothing can compare to the pure joy of taking to the skies in the cockpit of a small airplane for the first time. As soon as I took the controls in that little red and white RV, I knew that one day I was going to be a pilot. One of the perks of the Young Eagles flight was a free subscription to Sporty’s Private Pilot Ground School, which I started vigorously watching as soon as I got home. Six years of watching Sporty’s really came in handy when I took the written test for my PPL. As a 14 year old, the only economically viable way to stay in contact with the aviation community was flying RC model airplanes. I was able to get a reduced price youth membership with Olympic R/C Modelers and started going to the flying field almost every Saturday. At ORCM I met a lot of great mentors, such as 430’s very own Al Gross, who gave me the support I needed to continue to grow as an aviator and as a person. I flew regularly at the flying field until my Junior year of high school rolled around and my schedule got too busy for me to indulge in flying. My Senior year of high school I was able to get back into aviation by joining the Aviation Explorer Scouts where I got the opportunity to take my very first flying lesson and meet speakers from different sectors of the aviation industry. Through the Aviation Scouts I was referred to a scholarship offered by the West Sound Pilot’s Association which offered to pay half of the cost of my PPL. I was very fortunate to receive the scholarship and I started flight training at Rite Bros. Aviation the summer of my Senior year. Through the connections I made through flight training I was generously offered a summer job as a lineman at Rite Bros. which helped me to pay for my half of the flight training expenses. I got my PPL in the fall of 2019 in the midst of transitioning to attending classes at the University of Washington where I am currently studying Aeronautical Engineering. When COVID-19 hit last spring and I got sent home from college, I was happy to find my old job at the airport job still waiting for me. For the last few months I have been juggling taking online classes, working at the airport, and flying when my pocketbook and schedule allow in order to build time and keep my skills sharp. My ultimate goal is to one day become a pilot for one of the major U.S. airlines. I still don’t know how I’m going to build the flight time required for the airlines but I trust that when the time comes I will find a job that suits me. I do know however, that the next step in my aviation journey is for me to get my instrument rating. I was already debating going for the rating sooner rather than later, but thanks to COVID, I am at home with some free time so I have decided that I am going to knock my instrument rating out before I go back to school in September. If I am lucky enough to receive the scholarship from EAA 430, the money will go towards helping me pay for my instrument training this summer.

Thank you for all you do to foster the next generation of aviators, Daniel Weaver Daniel Weaver was chosen as a scholarship recipient based on his letter below and his motivation and hard work to achieve his goals. He will receive $1500 per year for his tuition at UW where he is finishing his first year in Aeronautical Engineering.

Hey Dave, Thank you again for making this application process so easy. I’m humbled by all the praise. I’d love to sit down and talk about aviation careers with you sometime. I’m sure you have lots of fascinating stories. If I’m lucky, maybe I could even talk you into taking me up in one of those yellow birds of yours! I would love to get to know some of the other EAA 430 club members as well. The knowledge that can only be gained from the experiences that all of you club members have had is almost certainly more valuable than any scholarship I could hope to receive.

On a different note, I found a picture of 13-year-old me and John Meyers after my first Young Eagles flight in Sequim. I’m not sure if he is still an active club member, but if he is I’d love to thank him for being part of that first flight experience. (Of course I’d like to thank all the people on the ground who make it possible as well, but I don’t have pictures of them).