New Year, New Opportunities

Welcome to 2025! The new year brings new opportunities for all of us, especially for EAA chapters. Many chapter leaders are starting new terms, whether as brand-new officers elected during the autumn, or as long-time veterans who were reelected. Regardless of your experience level, we thank you for putting in the time and effort to help your chapter succeed.

Chapter Leadership Training

Speaking of leadership, the EAA Chapters staff will be providing many opportunities this year for chapter leaders to learn how to grow their chapters and enable their success. The EAA Chapter Leadership Academy will be held at EAA headquarters in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in January, April, and October 2025. These free two-day training events will teach a wealth of knowledge to help you become a better chapter leader.

• January 25-26, 2025 – At capacity!
• April 12-13, 2025
• October 23-24, 2025

We are also presenting several EAA Chapter Leadership Boot Camps around the United States to bring leadership training closer to chapter leaders. These free one-day events are hosted by a local EAA chapter and provide training to chapter leaders in the region. Our first boot camp of 2025 was hosted by EAA Chapter 288 at the Spruce Creek Airport in Port Orange, Florida, on January 11, and was a smashing success. Several more boot camps are planned this year.

• February 15, 2025 – Chandler, Arizona – Hosted by EAA Chapter 1614
• February 22, 2025 – Houston, Texas – Hosted by EAA Chapter 302
• March 8, 2025 – St. Louis, Missouri – Hosted by EAA Chapters 32 and 1675
• March 15, 2025 – Lancaster, Pennsylvania – Hosted by EAA Chapter 540
• March 22, 2025 – Denver, Colorado – Hosted by EAA Chapter 43

All current and prospective EAA chapter officers, program coordinators, and board members are welcome to attend a chapter leadership training event. Whether you are brand new to chapter leadership or a long-time leader, you will learn many new things to improve your chapter and keep it going strong. What are you waiting for? Sign up now to attend an upcoming academy or boot camp!

If attending an in-person training event is not an option for you, then EAA will present a Virtual Chapter Leadership Boot Camp on March 4-5, 2025. This will cover the same material presented at our in-person boot camps, with one four-hour session per day. To receive training credit, you must attend both sessions.

Chapter Webinars

Early each year, the EAA Chapters staff presents webinars on how to become a better chapter president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. These webinars provide more details on these important positions, which are crucial to the success of every chapter. If you just stepped into one of these roles or would like a refresher on what your responsibilities are, then we encourage you to sign up for these webinars.

Become a Better Chapter Leader: President/Vice President
Tuesday, January 21, 2025, at 7 p.m. CST – Watch Now

Become a Better Chapter Leader: Secretary/Treasurer
Tuesday, February 4, 2025, at 7 p.m. CST – Pre-register Now

We will also be presenting a webinar on the EAA Chapter Roster Management Tool. This free online tool allows you to maintain a roster of your chapter’s membership and learn more about your members. If your chapter does not use this tool yet, or if you already use the tool but want to learn more about it, then we encourage you to sign up for the upcoming webinar.

Chapter Roster Management Tool 101
Tuesday, February 25, 2025, at 7 p.m. CST – Pre-register Now

There are more chapter-related webinars we will present throughout the year. You can explore our existing webinars to learn more about chapter programs, activities, and management.

Event Planning

Now is the perfect time to plan your chapter’s events for the year. For your monthly chapter gatherings, remember to keep in mind Paul Poberezny’s three-legged stool concept, where chapters stand on the legs of aviation, education, and socializing. By focusing on these three legs, your chapter’s gatherings will be successful at attracting new members and retaining current ones.

Beyond the monthly gatherings, there are many more activities your chapter can do to share The Spirit of Aviation, providing opportunities for new people to get involved in aviation and allowing your chapter’s members to stay engaged. These activities include, but are not limited to:

• Pancake breakfasts and other fly-in/drive-in food socials
• Young Eagles rallies
• Flying Start events
• IMC/VMC Club
• Youth day camps
• Aircraft build/restoration projects
• Aviation-related field trips
• Member flyouts
• Aviation movie nights
• Member milestone celebrations

EAA provides a wealth of resources to help your chapter plan and promote its events, from the five-year strategic plan to ChapterBlast promotional emails sent by EAA on your chapter’s behalf, to marketing and recruitment materials for your chapter.

Do you need a guest speaker for your chapter’s event? Visit the EAA Speakers Bureau online to search for available speakers, or sign up to become one yourself if you have aviation-related topics you are willing to present to other chapters.

Don’t forget to apply for EAA Chapter Insurance to cover your chapter’s events! You must complete the chapter event insurance form at least 30 days before your event. Learn more and apply at EAA.org/ChapterInsurance.

Young Eagles and Youth Programs

The EAA Young Eagles program remains the world’s most successful youth aviation program. To date, 2.4 million children have received a free flight in an aircraft through this program, thanks to the incredible work of tens of thousands of pilots and ground volunteers. EAA chapters play a crucial role in the success of the Young Eagles program, with most flights conducted at chapter-hosted rallies.

EAA has developed a new online registration tool for Young Eagles, which is available at events.chapters.org. Your chapter can begin scheduling its upcoming Young Eagles rallies through this tool. We will welcome any feedback you have as we continue to refine the new tool. 

International Young Eagles Day will take place this year on Saturday, June 14, 2025. Stay tuned for further information as we get closer to that event. This will be a perfect day to host a Young Eagles rally. 

Don’t forget about the many resources that EAA provides for chapters, pilots, and ground volunteers to conduct safe and successful Young Eagles flights. 

Beyond the Young Eagles program, there are other activities available to help youths get interested in aviation and explore its possibilities.

EAA Young Eagles Workshops – One-day or multi-day events hosted by an EAA chapter to educate youths about aircraft and aviation, including hands-on activities teaching a variety of subjects from woodworking to metalworking to aeronautical navigation and more.

EAA Young Eagles Build and Fly – Chapter-supervised project for youths to build and fly a remote-controlled airplane. 

AeroEducate – EAA’s free, online, self-paced learning and activity program to help youths learn about aviation and discover the pathways to aerospace careers. EAA chapters can use AeroEducate activities to help kids develop their interest in aviation. 

Learning to Fly

The next EAA Learn to Fly Week will take place on May 13-15, 2025, with a series of webinars on learning to fly, followed by International Learn to Fly Day on Saturday, May 17, 2025. We encourage EAA chapters to host a Flying Start event on May 17 or another date in May. These Flying Start events will introduce aspiring pilots to the pilots in your chapter and help them learn how they can become pilots themselves, and what the journey will be like. To cap it off, each Flying Start event provides attendees with a free introductory EAA Eagle Flight.

Stay tuned for further information as we get closer to Learn to Fly Week.

EAA AirVenture 2025

It’s not too early to begin planning your journey to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for AirVenture. You can make the experience even more fun by traveling and attending with your fellow chapter members. This is one of the best ways to develop new friendships within your chapter. Each year, hundreds of chapters are represented in Oshkosh as members from around the world congregate for the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration. If you have any chapter members who have never attended AirVenture, consider inviting them to join you in Oshkosh this summer.

More information on chapter activities at EAA AirVenture 2025 will be announced in March 2025, so stay tuned! In the meantime, visit EAA.org/ChaptersAtAirVenture to learn about the activities offered each year. Consider having your chapter camp together as a group or applying to host a pancake breakfast at the Chapters Pavilion in Camp Scholler as a fundraiser for your chapter. Start thinking about those leaders and volunteers in your chapter who are deserving of an award recognizing their accomplishments. If you would like to help at AirVenture, consider volunteering with the EAA Chapters and Young Eagles staff. 

There are plenty of opportunities to get new people involved in aviation and to help sustain those already involved in aviation. EAA chapters have been providing these opportunities for years, evangelizing The Spirit of Aviation and providing the grassroots action that keeps aviation alive and thriving. As the new year unfolds, think about what your chapter can do to not only succeed, but to also allow the world of aviation to succeed.