EAA Sport Aviation

MEMBER CENTRAL

E-mail: Membership@EAA.org Phone: 800-564-6322 (800-JOIN EAA) Online: www.EAA.org

FROM THE DESK OF... CHARLIE BECKER, DIRECTOR OF MEMBER PROGRAMS

IF YOU’RE COMING TO OSHKOSH, I have something to add to your to-do list: a visit to KidVenture. You may not have kids, but you owe it to yourself to check this out. It will take you only 30 minutes for a quick tour, but I guarantee it will be worth your time. I know this because, up until last year, I never visited KidVenture. It is incredible! The amount of activities that are available for the kids just blew me away. There are more than 50 different things they can do—everything from drawing airplane pictures to building models, learning how an engine works, and helping build an RV- 12. Tons of fun for the kids and the adults! And it is all done by volunteers who simply want to pass their enthusiasm for aviation down to the next generation. Simply incredible!

What do you do? I spread the word about EAA and recruit new members. Part of my job is also about making it easy to be and stay a member through membership kits, online renewals, and programs like AutoPilot.

Before EAA: After 16 years as a Navy pilot flying the F- 14 and F/A-18A, I was involved in the defense industry as a pilot subject matter expert. A career change and a master’s degree led me to the world of marketing and then back “home” to EAA.

Who introduced you to flying? My father. He was in the Navy and an EAA member. I grew up learning to read Sport Aviation—spending hours on the floor with the magazines, all open to my favorite homebuilts and dreaming of the day I would build my own plane. And, some of my fondest childhood memories are when we would drive to some Ohio EAA chapter fly-in during the summers.

If you could fly any airplane, it would be: The Chance Vought F4U Corsair. But given the number of hours of my life invested in the development of the F- 35, I would love to fly the production Navy variant when it finally arrives.

AutoPilot is EAA’s annual automatic membership renewal program. Once your membership is on AutoPilot, you don’t have to worry about renewing each year, and you won’t receive any more reminder notices. Plus, you save EAA the cost of mailing notices—funds that can be put to use to protect the future of aviation and our other important aviation programs. When you activate today, $4 will be deducted from your EAA membership the next time you are up for renewal, whether that is today or 12 months from now.

Don’t Know Much About... AUTOPILOT

Most unique experience as pilot in command? Taking the controls from my instructor in the T-2C while flying formation in instrument conditions because he was struck with a debilitating case of vertigo.