About 200 Boy Scouts attend aviation campout

Thirteen-year-old Alex Bess-Rhodes knew that Cape Girardeau County had been seriously affected by recent floods, but the damage didn't really hit home with him until he had the vantage point of seeing it from several hundred feet above the ground.

"I've never been in a small plane. It's not like a commercial plane at all," Bess-Rhodes said.

The plane ride was part of an aviation campout at the Cape Girardeau Regional airport, where Bess-Rhodes and about 200 other Boy Scouts from Southeast Missouri troops participated in a weekend of plane rides, were given hands-on experience with aviation and had an opportunity to earn an aviation merit badge.

The experience was open to Boy Scouts ages 11 to 17, said Ernie Chiles, a coordinator with the EAA Young Eagles Program, who organized the event.

The program uses licensed Federal Aviation Administration pilots volunteering their time and aircraft to give children the thrill of a first flight, Chiles said.

They've been responsible for providing more than 1.5 million young people with their first flying experience.

On Saturday, most of the pilots made about 10 trips to accommodate all of the eager young fliers. The trips, about 15 minutes each, took passengers on a scenic tour along the Mississippi River to the Thebes Railroad Bridge and back.

"They've all come out smiles," said Tom Flentge, scoutmaster of Troop 116 in Perryville.

Flentge said his Scouts asked many questions during interactive and informative lectures presented at the camp.

They received instruction on preflight preparation, charts and navigation and toured the control tower.

Many of them, like Bess-Rhodes, got to try their hand at actually flying the plane.

"It's really light. It didn't take much," Bess-Rhodes said.

Nathan Lutes, of Troop 21 in Cape Girardeau, hadn't been on a plane since he was a baby. He was too young to remember that experience, but he'll remember this one, he said.

He said he felt a little apprehensive before stepping on the single-engine Cessna, but the flight turned out smoother than he'd anticipated. Aside form a few "sudden lurches," it really wasn't bad, he said.

The trip took Lutes not far from his own house. "The houses looked just like the houses on a board game," he said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245

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