Some Town Somewhere Tour – Oshkosh, cont. (Hour 2)

On Location, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host,

Todd Alba.

Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Todd Albaugh here on location, the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

It's our Sum Town Somewhere tour with Jane McNair and Greg Bach for the rest of the week.

That's right.

We're going to Sum Towns somewhere today in Oshkosh at the EAA Museum.

Welcome in, everybody.

We're happy to have you here.

It is the 16th of July, 2025.

It is Wednesday.

That means it's pump day.

That's right.

Even the camel flew up there.

You know how expensive it is to fly a camel from Madison to Oshkosh.

Well, here he is on location and we're happy to have that.

Also our great producer engineer Aaron Zombers back at the World Headquarters down in Madison, Wisconsin and joining us as per usual on a Wednesday.

He is the host of mornings with Pac Crite Low every morning from six until nine.

Mr. Pac Crite Low from beautiful Lake Wissota where we were last week and from the nation's capital in the Tony.

of Washington DC, the senior advisor to Lincoln Project, Mr. Trigley Olson.

Gentlemen, how the heck are you?

Fine, but confused.

I don't understand.

This is the the fly in the air venture or people fly and stuff from all over.

So why is Mr. Luxury jet sitting at his house?

Apparently, is he not?

You would think that Trigby would have flown in.

I know the the the last of the jet setters.

He still has his original one of the original Pan Am pilot uniforms that he likes to wear occasionally.

Right.

But the captain's wings on there and he's not he's not there yet for you.

Trigby,

how are

you?

I did not know where Pat was going with that one.

Right?

We need to sort of trigger these volume, just a tiny

thing.

Oh, my volume is down.

Do I need to talk loud?

All right, very

good.

That's always helpful.

I appreciate that, guys.

Well, before we get to our first guest here, have a great guest I want to get to.

But guys, have either one of you been here before, and if so, either to the museum or the EA Air Show.

And what are your favorite memories?

have not.

It's on the Wisconsin bucket list for some day.

How about you, Tricky?

I have never been.

really well.

So we're going to learn stuff this hour.

It's the wrong

side of the state for guys like Pat and I. Oh, no.

Get

around.

They're Northwest Wisconsin guys.

We'll get

there.

I've been before.

I'll get into that more later.

My youngest godson really was the reason we came up here.

I've been here a couple of times now.

It's fantastic.

So Pat and Trayvya are going to stand by with us and you guys can chime in with a couple of questions whenever you so choose.

But joining me here live.

at the table inside this beautiful museum.

And by the way, if you'd like to see this, you can stream it on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, X, Twix, whichever you want to call it there.

really, really gorgeous right now.

We are in one of the hangars of the museum.

You see the big US American flag from the rafters.

You see some historic biplanes there behind me.

And they're kind of moving things around because they're going to have a big reception as a part of EAA in this hangar.

So that's really been a lot of fun to watch that happen.

But joining me right now at the table, Mr. David Lighting, who is the program manager for the Young Eagles program.

David, thanks so much for taking the time.

Welcome to the show.

Yeah, absolutely.

Todd, thanks for thanks for having me on and thanks for picking.

Oshkosh and EAA is your your location for today.

Well, it's our pleasure.

Really, really an honor, quite frankly, to be here and maybe we'll get into this more later.

But you have some historic displays.

There is a helicopter here.

I believe used in Vietnam and it really tells the story of not just flight, but America's heroes are veterans as well.

People can learn not just about flight, but about our nation's history when they come here.

Yeah, I mean, that's to me.

So we'll get into kind of my story in a moment here.

But to me, one of the coolest things about EAA and this museum and the event is it means something a little bit different to everybody that comes.

Like you said, you've got the people that the magic of flight is what pulled them in.

For some people, it's aviation history and military history.

For some, it's the innovation.

So it's really cool to have a museum here where we have an area dedicated to the military history.

And then we've got the innovations area and the membership stuff.

So yeah, just a really unique place and kind of highlights everything that we're all about.

Really great to be here again.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Tell us, David, about your story, where you're from, where you grew up, a little bit about yourself, and then how you got into flight.

Yeah, so my story is a pretty fun one, I like to think.

So I grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Nice.

You were just in

Racine

yesterday.

Were you perfect?

Yeah, is that where you got to Kringle?

Yes, exactly.

I was brought up

from O&H.

Yep, exactly.

So I grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Neither of my parents were involved in aviation.

They were enthusiasts, and they started coming up to

gosh for EAA back in the 80s and I was born in 94 in January of 94 in July of 94 my mom brought me here for a day trip at six months old and I've been every year since 1994 so I grew up coming here I started camping in 98 I believe it was with my mom and dad and slowly started staying

An extra few days, an extra few days up to the point where in high school and college I was coming for 10 days and volunteering and we'll talk about the Young Eagles program in just a moment but I was able to take a couple of free introductory flights through the Young Eagles program, one of them in 2002 to kick off the Afternoon Air Show here at Air Venture and then I took one back at the Kenosha Airport a couple years after that.

uh... decided to pursue aviation as a career uh... unfortunately i'm colorblind so i have some medical restrictions as it relates to uh... when i can fly and types of flying i can do but i can still fly for fun

So if you would have asked me when I was 18 or 19 years old, what do you want to do for a living?

My answer probably would have been, I'd love to go work in Oshkosh for EAA, because the organization had just meant a lot to me to bring me a lot of passion for aviation.

So I went to college up at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, got a degree in aviation management while I was up there, and I got involved with one of our EAA chapters.

So we have 900 chapters around the country, really around the world, most of which are in the United States and Canada.

Through that chapter, I got to know some of the staff members here at EAA.

And my senior year, they just called me up one day and said, hey, would you like to intern for us for a little while?

And at the end of that internship, they said, hey, do you want to stick around full time?

And I've been in various departments here at EAA, but I've been overseeing the Young Eagles program now for about three and a half years.

But I've been here 10 years.

And it's pretty cool that now I get to work on a program that was sort of a major stepping stone for me into my aviation life.

as much as it's my day job, it's also just kind of my passion in my life,

so.

Yeah, I mean, Pat has done shows with me, particularly when in northwestern Wisconsin, Trigby and I have traveled all over the state, and I know that one of my favorite things is hearing stories like you, people who have a passion for something and then can end up doing it in Wisconsin, and I just love

that.

Yeah, I mean, it was really, it was kind of a match made in heaven for me.

I mean, I love the state of Wisconsin.

Growing up here, spending summers here, even winters, I mean, I love everything

about the state, especially the Fox Valley.

And when I went up to North Dakota, there was a bit of homesickness being up there.

And it became my home for the four years I was there.

But I always knew if I'd come back home, I wanted to be.

And it's really nice to be here in this area, and again, doing something that.

I would do it in my free time and I would use my vacation time on.

So I'm pretty lucky to do what I do.

I'm going to give Pat and Trigby a chance to admit it.

But first, tell us just a little bit, set this up.

What is the Young Eagles program and how, being the manager of that, what is your role?

Yeah, so the Young Eagles program was launched in 1992, right here in Oshkosh during AirVenture.

And it was launched with the goal of flying one million youth.

by the Centennial of Flight, which was December 17th, 2003, which was 100 years from when the Wright brothers took the first flight.

And EAA came up with this goal of flying a million kids by that date to help fuel that next generation of pilots and aviation enthusiasts.

So we launched the campaign then.

We flew a million kids by September of 03 that year.

So we met the goal.

And by the way, these are all done by volunteers free of charge.

It's volunteers that are spending their own time, money, fuel.

aircraft maintenance to fly these kids.

And since that time, the programs continue to go on.

It's matured a little bit.

We don't fly as many kids per year, but that's because we've now spun the program to be more about how do we give these kids the best gateway to aviation?

It's not just a numbers game, but even at that, we're now coming up on 2.5 million kids between the ages of eight and 17 that we've given their first introductory flight to, free of charge by volunteers.

Incredible, Pat.

Let me ask you, David, I know all the time you see people who, you're like kindred spirits.

You've wanted to fly as long as you can remember.

And that's great.

That's a wonderful fraternity, if you will.

But I'd rather hear about people who they come there and they're coming as spectators.

Maybe they even got dragged in there.

And you see them, and maybe the next time you see them, suddenly, now they're the ones that are interested.

Because I have to admit, I, as not being one of those folks, I don't see how.

how that changes, but other people do.

So talk about the experience of somebody who's not really sure if this is their thing and next thing you know, they can't get enough flight and planes and everything about them.

Yeah, you know, there's definitely plenty of examples of that.

And it's pretty interesting.

I think oftentimes the people who come over to this side of the fence, if you will, that maybe didn't expect to come

over.

are the people that maybe had a fear of flying or they had a misconception about what aviation actually is and it takes getting to know this community whether it be through a family member or a friend uh... i mean if you look at our membership in our people that are folks that are very involved

the vast majority say they got involved through word of mouth so really it's having a connection whether it's a good friend or maybe just an acquaintance that brings you in and kind of changes your perspective and oftentimes these for the kids it's the young eagles flights but we also do adult introductory flights called eagle flights and there's kind of a paradigm shift when you get them out to the airport you get them in the airplane and they kind of have this realization that so you're telling me I can come out to the airport I can get in this airplane and we can just go anywhere

We don't have to ask permission.

We don't have to, you know, there's no special, you know, permissions needed.

It's, nope, you get your pilot certificate and you've got a ticket to freedom quite literally.

And I always tell people you could fly theoretically from, not theoretically, people have done this.

You can fly from New York City to Los Angeles or, you know, within the metro area without ever once talking to an air traffic controller on the radio.

You can just get in your airplane and go.

And it is the ultimate form of freedom.

And really,

This is the only place in the world.

You can really do something like that.

We're speaking with David Lighting.

He's the young Eagles program manager here at the EAA.

We're in Oshkosh on location.

Trick me a minute and a half left before the break.

Have something?

Yeah, I mean, I think...

As you know, Todd, my daughter who just turned 16, got her pilot's license before she got her driver's license, which is nuts to me, and now she's over in Europe for the rest of the summer, and I'm going to get over there in a few weeks, and she's already working on getting hours in while she's over there, so it's pretty crazy.

As you were talking, I just keep thinking, it is amazing that in a state like Wisconsin, you have something like the Oshkosh Air Show, right?

It's one of those things that makes Wisconsin such a unique place, filled with opportunity.

And I'm sitting here thinking, I know Ula sometimes listens when I'm on on Wednesdays.

Mostly because she likes to listen to you and Pat, give me a bad time.

But you know, I guarantee you if she's listening to this one, which probably is, I'm going to get a phone call and a bit saying, why have you ever taken me to the Oshka Share Show?

I'm

sure you will.

I'm sure you will.

I'm pretty confident.

I have to get

her here next year.

Yeah, absolutely.

We're going to take a little break here and do a little business, as they say.

When we come back, we'll talk more with David Lighting.

He's the Young Eagles program.

manager going to ask him the question, how does one really start?

I mean, if you have a kid like like Trigby does and wants to get involved in young Eagles, is it just in Wisconsin or is it another places across the state?

We'll find that out more.

Also a quick check of weather, some rough storms rolling through parts of Wisconsin and much, much more.

We're live on location at the EAA Museum in beautiful Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Home with WISS is the all ball show across the state on the Civic Media.

We're Raging Network.

is eight miles

high by the birds.

You didn't very know

this.

Very, very theme song, very theme-esque.

I love that.

I love that.

Joining us, a cadre, a blessing, a cadre of folks here on the on the show today, as per usual on Wednesday, the host of mornings of Pac Crite Low.

Pac Crite Low is joining us from Lake Wissota, Mr. Trigvie Olson, Senior Advisor, Lincoln Project for Nations Capital, and here at the desk at the EAA Museum is David Lighting.

He is the Young Eagles Program Manager.

David, I don't want to, I want to make sure we get this in and don't run out of time.

To the question we were talking before we stepped away, if someone's listening, Trig V has a daughter getting her pilot's license before a driver's license.

If they're listening to you and they're like, well, that sounds pretty cool.

Do they have to come here to Oshkosh?

Are there programs throughout the state?

How does one become involved in the Young Eagles program in Wisconsin?

Yeah, absolutely.

So the beautiful thing about our organization, over 300,000 members strong, like I said, the 900 chapters, we've got our boots on the ground across the entire country, across the entire state.

So no matter where you're at, you can get involved.

And I always tell people getting involved in aviation, especially from a right from the jump when you don't know anything.

It can be a little intimidating.

You know, it's people think airports, they think fences and do not enter and all the security things.

But the good news is within our 900 chapters, we have members around the country that are there to help you, you know, get to the other side of the fence quite literally.

So I always tell people the first thing to do is find your local EAA chapter, reach out to them, say, you know, hey, my name's Joe, I live in your area.

I don't know much about aviation, but I want to get involved.

Maybe I want to learn to fly.

Maybe I just want to be around it as an enthusiast.

I'd love to come out and learn more from you guys.

At that point, they might be able to give you a free introductory flight and start to mentor you through how do you find a flight school that can work with you or a flying club or what's it going to cost or who are the flight instructors?

Because again, there's hundreds of questions, but having somebody in your own backyard that knows the community better than anyone to lean on is a great

asset.

Yeah, I mean one of the things that I found fascinating is we've kind of gone through this process is there's there's a lot of scholarships and other opportunities too for young pilots

Yeah, we actually

help with hours and all kinds of things.

Yeah, we launched a new scholarship program about six years ago Which now today it's a $12,000 flight training scholarship to fund the primary flight training of folks between the ages of 16 and 19

And we do about 220 of those scholarships annually.

So since we've launched the program, we are coming up on almost 700 or 800 pilots that have come out of that scholarship program.

So yeah, even just within EAA alone, we have hundreds and hundreds of scholarships annually.

Because I think that's a question that comes up a lot.

Well, do I have to come from a rich family to get into aviation?

And you're telling me between YouTube and you not necessarily know.

Yeah.

And the other thing is, even if you're, say you're a little bit older and you don't qualify for the youth scholarships,

There are some adult scholarships, and I always tell people at the end of the day it is going to cost money to be involved, but you know what else costs money?

Having a boat, having a lake house, having season tickets to the brewers or the packers, going on vacation.

It's all about where does this fit in with your kind of your life priorities.

And I have some friends in Appleton, a husband and wife.

She was a school teacher.

He was an engineer.

They have their very own airplane, but that's their, you know, they say that's our lake house, that's our boat.

our airplane and going on trips with that is our, you know, that's our life.

And the friend

that comes with that, as you said earlier.

Yep, exactly.

Yeah,

exactly.

Can you talk a bit about the community support for this?

Because again, something this massive can't happen with, you know, just paid staff or even a few supporters.

I mean, it literally takes more than a village.

It takes the city of Oshkosh.

Can you talk about community support for this event every year?

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, so the event moved here in 1970 permanently.

And one of the main reasons we ended up here permanently was because at that time, the community was so willing to support the event.

We have roughly 6,000 volunteers that come out and help put the show together, which completely dwarfs those of us that are on staff.

And I always tell people if the staff disappeared for a week,

the event would still go on because the volunteers just contribute so much.

But it's so interesting because you meet these volunteers, and many of which are from around the country, and they're tied to this event is that they are aviation enthusiasts.

But there's also a really large chunk of these volunteers that live in Oshkosh around.

They live in Fond du Lac, they live in the Fox Valley, and they don't have a tie to aviation necessarily, but their family has been associated with the event since it moved here in 1970.

And now for generations, it's grandma and grandpa, it's the parents, it's the kids, and they all volunteer together.

And this is their way of welcoming the world to Oshkosh.

David, what have we not asked you yet that you think is important for folks to know about the Young Eagles program here?

So I think the biggest thing about the Young Eagles program is, like I said, it's completely free.

There's no strings attached.

There's no expectation from the families or the kids.

What's really cool is...

The local chapters typically fly on the weekends where they put on these rallies.

Folks can find those at youngeaglesday.org, youngeaglesday.org.

Can't find an event in your area.

This week and next week we're not doing it because we've got a little bit of an event going on.

That's a few million people.

Just about...

200 yards behind us.

There's a grass runway called Pioneer Airport.

And all summer long, we do free young Eagles flights every day from about 10 a.m.

to 4 p.m.

Zomers will put it in the show notes.

YoungEaglesDay.org.

Get more information there.

David Lighting, young Eagles program manager.

I cannot thank you enough.

Please come back on the show again.

We'd love to have you.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks for having me, guys, and enjoy the museum while you're here.

Yeah, absolutely.

We certainly will.

Pat Krightlow, as always, thank you for joining us for this half hour.

And what's coming up tomorrow on mornings with Pat Krightlow?

Tomorrow, we speculate out loud as to whether you make an escape from Winnebago County and continue on with your road trip and head up toward Park Falls and Hayward.

We'll be wishing you all the best.

Also, State Senator Jeff Smith will talk about that missing funding for homeless veterans.

All right.

What's up with that?

We'll find out.

What's up with that?

What's up with that?

My favorite Kenan Thompson on

Saturday Night Live.

As a matter of fact.

We'll be listening to Pat Critello.

Thank you so very much.

Really, really appreciate you on making time for us today.

Join Pat.

every morning from six until nine on mornings of packed fight low.

And Trig Wilson sticking around for the next half hour, my friend.

I am.

All right, sounds good.

Trig will join us.

And also Daniel Schmick of the other side talking about the education side of the EAA young people as well.

Don't go anywhere.

We're live on location at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh across the civic media.

Ready Network.

here at the EAA Museum on location in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Glad to have you along.

35 minutes now past the hour of two o'clock.

Jane Matenair.

Greg Bach started things off earlier today with Matenair on air from 9 until 11.

We are simply trying to live up to their great show that they had.

So we're trying and every guest that we bring on helps.

So by the way, checked out always like checking out the local newspapers whenever we come to town.

Here is the Oshkosh Northwestern.

Look at that headline.

EAA air adventure starts next week in Oshkosh and has a beef B2 bomber.

right on the front page.

That's fantastic.

And then the Oshkosh Herald also says final preparations underway as EAA Air Venture arrives.

So making all kinds of news up here at this annual event.

Also making news before we continue with the show.

Just want to bring you up to speed here.

A tornado watch remains watch, which means the conditions are right.

remains in effect until 6pm tonight for most of the state of Wisconsin, say from south of highway 29, basically draw a line from Green Bay over to not quite to Eau Claire and then down to.

across everything south of that in the state of Wisconsin under a tornado watch.

Been some pretty heavy weather.

As a matter of fact, had a tornado warning expire at the bottom of the hour for listeners.

The Madison area that that's where the actual storms were over towards some prairie Stoughton, Lake Mills area, and those are moving now towards a water town.

I have been no longer a tornado warning, but some pretty heavy weather moving into now where we're at basically in the Oshkosh.

area.

So our great team will keep us up to speed on that.

Remember, if you encounter a storm like that, in this particular water over the road, don't drive through it.

As they say, turn around, don't drown.

On the roadways here today as we said Trig V Olsen our ongoing contributor and friend senior advisor at the Lincoln Project joins us from his home out in Washington DC or the suburbs thereof not talking so much politics today But his daughter as you said Trig V earlier one of your daughters just got her pilot's license so you can relate to what's going on here in Oshkosh

Yeah, a hundred percent.

I mean the I just I

I am, as I said on the earlier bit, she usually listens to the show when I'm on Todd and I'm going to get in earful that we're not out in Oshkosh for the show.

Well, next year we could we could play it.

Yeah, for sure.

Get her here next year.

Joining me now here at the desk.

We appreciate everyone from EAA making time for us at Air Adventure because it is a very, very busy time around here is Danielle Schmick.

She is the Arrow Educate Program Manager.

Danielle, thanks for making time.

Welcome to the program.

Absolutely.

Thanks for having me.

It's our pleasure.

Before we get into what your program does, tell folks a little bit about yourself, where you grew up and how you got into aviation.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I've lived within this area my entire life.

within about 10 miles from here.

I actually grew up in a small town, Winniconny.

My

dad coached wrestling at Winniconny years ago, buddy, go

ahead.

Oh, wonderful.

Well, I now currently have crossed over to Amro, which don't tell anybody because that's a big rivalry.

So I grew up there and went into education.

So I was actually a math teacher for 10, 11 years and then a middle school and high school principal for a number of years after the pandemic.

needed to kind of reset a little bit and needed to explore some other options that I could take my skill set and help kids.

And EAA was a great option and an amazing opportunity for me to just take those skills and translate them over here.

So I'm learning a lot about aviation.

I don't have a deep background in it growing up.

But, you know, taking, like I said, being able to take that information and teach kids in an effective and engaging way has definitely been a lot of fun.

So I guess I've

I've transitioned a little bit from being the stereotypical regional bystander of watching the Air Ventures show come and go as much.

I'd been here a few times for the show.

a little bit more, you know, kind of surrendered to the crowds for many, many years and just said, you know what, you guys can have Oshkosh for that week and we'll take it back when you guys are head out.

And now I'm in the thick of it, which is really exciting.

So it's interesting to see it from the inside versus the outside.

Trigvie, how many times on our trips around the state doing these, what makes Wisconsin great tours, have we encountered something and we're like, oh, I didn't know that.

I don't know about you, Trigvie, but to say that, oh, here is

a long time educator and administrator.

And now you're using those skills to educate.

When I drive by, I don't think, well, there there's a whole education program for this for kids.

Right.

And I think EAA has really emphasized youth education more so within the last five, seven years.

We've always had youth education, but with the addition of our education center, which just opened in 2022, Arrow Educate is our online program that launched in 2022.

So we

really expanded recently, which is really exciting.

But yeah, we're here to share what we have available because I don't know if many are aware of what we have.

I wasn't until we met you and this is what the great parts about these tours.

So tell us a little bit when speaking with Danielle Schmick.

She is the Arrow Educate Program Manager here at EAA, Arrow Educate Program.

So is it dedicated to K-12 kids?

What's the age range?

And what are the programs that you all offer?

Yeah, great question.

So Aero Educate is online.

It's a web-based program, absolutely free for our users, and it goes all the way down to kindergarten up through 12th grade.

The nice thing about it being web-based is now we can start a connection with kids pretty much anywhere.

Our chapter is doing an amazing job of connecting with kids in person, and those who can make it here on site is a way for us to connect with them, but not all kids can do that.

So it's really been a helpful resource for us to just start getting connected to these kids, get them excited about aviation.

But yeah, it is completely free for all those kids, thanks to our sponsors, United, Siemens, Piper, and Natca, have all really devoted to making sure that it's a free resource for those kids.

And

you have a website or somewhere where people can go to get more information?

UBAT.

Everything is at aroeducate.org.

There are online activities within the program.

There are hands-on projects that kids can do at home.

There's experiences that

they can try like go to an aviation museum or go to an air show, things like that.

And they get points for doing all these activities that are aviation related and they earn badges along the way.

So it's just kind of fun incentive.

Well, it's just amazing.

Trig V. Olsen, anything to add there?

Ask.

Yeah, I mean, I just think, you know, it gets to something that we talk about a lot.

Todd, how much education is the heartbeat of the small and medium size and big towns in the state of Wisconsin?

And it's.

you know, traditionally something that in no way should be red or blue.

It's

it's

it's green and gold, man.

Yes.

What makes

Wisconsin great.

Good one.

Perfect.

No, you bet.

I mean, this is something that that does cut through.

I would not only just political lines, but to me, and correct me if I'm wrong so often, intriguingly, I've done this show.

all over the state.

And this seems to be a program, you know, aviation and making it accessible and interesting.

Doesn't matter whether a kid's in a rural farm town, whether they're in inner city Milwaukee, doesn't matter whether they're white, black, Latino.

This is a boy girl.

This is something everybody should be apprised of.

Yes.

And when I really started with EAA, my very first question was what was the original mission and how does it relate to where we're at today?

Has the mission changed, right?

And.

The answer was Paul Pobrezny, our founder, wanted to have this organization accessible to anybody.

And this started in the 50s.

So that's pretty incredible that even at that time, like you mentioned, race, gender, socioeconomic status, nothing was a barrier at that moment.

We still have resources available for financial support.

You know, we might not be able to break down every barrier, but we are definitely a resource and continue to keep that mission going.

And I think that's why EAA continues to maintain and grow and even the air show.

I think everybody just feels welcome.

And again, because we drive by, we hear a lot about the fly-ins, and that's a huge part of

it,

right?

But all these other things that you're involved with, all these programs to educate folks, that's the untold story.

That's part of why we wanted to come up here, and thanks for doing this, because it means a lot.

By the way, if you're...

watch on the stream or if you can hear, no, we're not being invaded.

We're in a hangar.

We're one of these wonderful, beautiful hangars that have history, that have displays, and they're getting ready.

They're moving some of these big displays around because there's gonna be some big reception here, right?

Over a

thousand people.

Absolutely.

Big banquet in here, yep, on Thursday night of AirVenture, so gotta get it all set

up.

Yeah,

it

looks like they had the

US military passing behind you, Todd.

Yes.

Yeah, is that one of the historical tanks or one of the historical vehicles, I think?

I'm not sure.

They have military equipment and everything else up here.

So it's pretty cool trick.

You've got to make sure we get you out here next year for this.

I think, yep.

I think I know.

We'll have, we can, for sure, Ula's gonna wanna come along on that ride.

Yeah,

maybe fly out, maybe she'll

fly

out.

Probably wanna be Uncle Todd's guest on the show.

She's been before, we can get her on again.

Talk to us a minute, Danielle.

We're talking with Danielle Schmick, the Arrow Educate Program Manager here.

So, I came a few years ago, I think it was my second time.

My younger godson really was passionate about...

aviation and about aerospace.

He ended up getting a mechanical engineering aerospace degree at UW Madison.

And we came here and he went around some of the tables and talked to us a little bit about the opportunities beyond just flying for education, whether it's joining the military, going to school, that people can learn and bring their kids here and learn about.

Yeah, absolutely.

We have an area on the grounds called Aviation Gateway Park that is dedicated to

educating those who are looking for the answer to that question, right?

So we have anywhere from formal universities here that have any type of aviation program, military is also represented here, your trade schools, your tech schools, things like that.

So there's lots of options to really connect with those groups directly.

But we also have a lot of forums that you can attend where you can learn more about what all those options are and how to get your foot in the door or things that you can do today to get yourself prepared.

for that type of pathway.

So there's a lot of connections you can make directly, but also just information that you can learn at our forums and workshops as well.

I think it's incredible.

My youngest godson Jason ended up getting a job at the Department of Defense and works out in Bremerton, Naval Base, not directly aviation, but his kind of specialty in aviation aerospace was vibration stuff,

which is

applicable to other places in

the

military.

I think even just whether it's whatever pathway it is that you take.

I think there's a misconception or a lot of us just jumped at the conclusion that piloting is the option.

All

kinds of the jobs.

It's endless.

Pretty much anything you can think of.

I mean, if you're a carpenter, you could be building the cabinets in a private jet, things like that.

So pretty much you could use your imagination to find any connection to aviation, which is really exciting.

And if you come onto the EAA, you can find a private

jet.

If

you want to shop for private jets,

you can actually see.

Yeah, I

got those.

Bring your checkbook.

Exactly.

I wanted

to salt the X9.

I

just

can't

afford it.

No promises.

Me and Taylor slipped.

Oh, I love it.

It's fantastic.

If I had one, I would be in Oshkosh in about two hours.

See, but you don't trip me.

Sadly, but no.

Danielle, tell us, what have we not asked you yet that you think is important for folks across the state to hear about the Arrow Educate Program?

Well, I think just.

Getting started with it, checking out the website is one thing.

If you're coming to the air show, of course, we're going to have resources here to help share that information and get you more familiar with it as well.

But even when I think about the air show itself, just getting your child involved in aviation in general and knowing that aeroeducate can be a part of that.

Arriving here on the grounds, my first stop, whether you've been to AirVenture or not, and if you have kids, stop by our Youth Welcome Center.

We have, it's right on Celebration Way on the main drake.

plaza you can't miss it but it has arrow educate information there but also our young eagles information I know you're just talking to David before we have a fun activities inside the tent and a map that will show you where all the kids locations are on the grounds so that you know you have some direction and where to go so first step is just taking a step and as soon as you

branch into the aviation community.

It's so welcoming, so.

Minute left.

Fair to say that when I came up here, I was surprised how easy actually it was to park.

It wasn't really overwhelming.

They're like 10 seconds.

I don't know.

Everyone figures it out.

It reminds me of the airport.

Daniel Smith, thank you very

much.

We'll come back with tricky after this is the all ball show at Civic Media on the Civic Media radio network.

Back to the Talamo show, live on location from the EAA Museum in beautiful Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Glad to have you along here, live on location.

And many thanks to Danielle Schmick, the Arrow Education Educate Program Manager for being on.

Great job, always glad to have all these great folks here at the EAA joining us from our nation's capital via stream yard, Trig V. Olsen.

the senior advisor or a senior advisor at the Lincoln Project as we continue to tag team here with our great friends, Jane Mattener and Greg Bach of Mattener on air.

They started things out from nine until 11 today and now we're here and tomorrow.

Jane and Greg kick things off a beautiful butternut.

Gonna be talking to some artisans up there.

Jane and I are going to be involved in a clay throwdown where you see who can throw down a pot the quickest and then Greg Bach.

it's going to be doing some acrylics.

So we're looking forward to that.

Todd,

Todd, they're moving an atomic bomb behind you.

Yes, for those who are

watching on the stream, they're literally moving an atomic, but little

boy

is being moved.

That's what it's called, little

boy.

Maybe the end of Todd's show.

If

I have to go out, it'll be in a blaze of glory with an atomic

bomb.

Just the

end of Todd's show.

Is that

the thing we're most concerned about?

I just want to be the first one to tweet it going off.

Okay.

No, we're in this hangar here at the EAA Museum and for those watching on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, the like, they are moving an atomic bomb.

I'm hoping it's not been whatever you want to call it, lit.

It's like a rep.

a full like metal atomic bomb or whatever.

It's very interesting.

So they're moving, they're moving things around here at the hangar of the museum because they have a big event, big reception, I guess.

A thousand people are still here at the EAA.

So, so that's going on.

Also, I want to get to this, have some heavy weather moving through parts of Wisconsin at this hour.

Last week, checked tornado watch in effect until 6pm.

for for most of the state of Wisconsin, say from Green Bay over to just south of Eau Claire, and then everything kind of south of that, except for the far, far southwestern quarter of Grant and Crawford counties not involved in that tornado watch.

But the rest of the state is until 6 p.m.

Tonight, some heavy storms moving through the state of Wisconsin, trying to get my computer to reload here.

But I believe there is an actual tornado warning right now for parts of sock County.

So that is just south of

of Baraboo or just south rather of Wisconsin delves near the Baraboo area.

So if you are in central or eastern sock County, you have a tornado warning in effect right now.

So that would include a listeners on W R C E in Richland Central would be involved in that and perhaps the MDX out of Madison as well.

So.

to watch in effect until for about another half hour or so for parts of western or pardon me parts of eastern and central sock county.

And I believe it seals will pull up another one here.

Have another tornado warning now just being issued for parts central parts of Columbia County in south central Wisconsin and east central sock county in south central Wisconsin until 3 30.

this afternoon.

He's at 248, a severe thunderstorm capable of producing no tornado was located near Lake Wisconsin, moving northeast at 35 miles per hour.

Some of the places in included in the line of these storms, Portage, Lake Wisconsin, Merrimack, Interstate 90 94 exchange.

So be aware of that.

Again, a tornado warning until 3 30 this afternoon for Central

Columbia County in South Central Wisconsin and East Central Sock County as well.

We'll keep you apprised of that, so be aware.

Some pretty heavy weather moving through parts of Wisconsin at this hour.

Wonderful Terry Barr, one of the cohosts of Max Inc Radio every Saturday night on WMDX in Madison.

You could also stream them and find them on the Civic Media app via WMDX.

Terry watching in on YouTube today.

She says I love the EAA.

fortunate to have covered it for 14 years while at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and at Fox 11 in Green Bay, we'd anchor our news on site on top of an RV.

How about that?

Riding on an experimental plane and the Concorde?

Wait a minute, Terry Barr rode on the Concorde Trig V.

Well, that

doesn't

surprise me really.

Geez,

I never rode on the

Concorde.

How about

you?

Yeah, exactly.

I wouldn't get in an

experimental plane.

No way.

You know, it's

crazy.

For someone who spent as much of my life on airplanes,

I have

really not a thing enough.

I like flying well enough, but

it

still makes me a little nervous.

Well, but you fly well.

We'll just say that.

Well, if you fly enough, you fly well.

All right.

He's a man of the world himself, Trigby Olson.

Trigby, a couple of minutes left here in this special show.

Any reflections on our time here at the EAA or any memories?

Again, it's just part of one of these things that makes Wisconsin great.

Yeah, it is.

I mean, think about all the things that make Wisconsin great.

All of this sucking on limes and lemons that you hear from the politicians.

You got summer fest.

You got EAA.

You got the Packer training camp starting up soon.

You've got colleges and universities.

You got, you know, like, in fact, Todd, I didn't tell you.

So this year, you know, Ula's starting college hunting.

So we're going to go, we're going to go and do the University of Wisconsin.

Go to a Badger football game, which they've never done, and they

want to jump

around.

And then

we're going

to go to a Packer game that's same weekend.

Wow, that's fantastic.

Good for you

guys.

That's why we do these.

People

forget how much great...

how many great things there are to do in Wisconsin.

Yeah, and I think that's why we do these things a large part to remind if nothing else right ourselves because we heard this would Pat and I were up at the northern Wisconsin State Fair in Chippewa Falls last week.

I ran into people who said I just don't do straight news anymore through mainstream media or whatever because I can't take all the negativity.

It just brings me down my mental health.

And so I think these are good.

Not the gloss over the important things we still talk.

talk about that, but to remind people, there are wonderful things that bind us together in this state.

Well, and here's the other thing.

I was thinking about this.

You're in Oshkosh.

Wasn't our fan who came and had

lunch with

us in Seattle?

She's a nurse in Oshkosh.

That's right.

Shout out to her.

Trivial, some senior advisor at Lincoln Project.

Thanks so much, my friend, for joining us for this part of the show.

We'll see you next week.

I'm staying for this or that, Todd.

Oh, you're going to stay for some...

On Location, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Albaugh, along with our producer and engineer, Mr. Aaron Zommers, on the board at the World Headquarters.

We are on location here at the EAA Museum in beautiful Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Welcome into hour number two, everyone.

It is the 16th of July.

It is Wednesday.

That means it's... Pump day.

That's right.

We have transported the camel all the way from Madison to Oshkosh.

via an airlift, not a cheap ticket, but we got him here.

So glad to have you along.

Thank you to everyone who made the first hour of the show so fantastic.

Getting ready here for hour number two of the program in just a little while.

We're going to be talking to Red and Scott, who is vice president of business development and events here at EAA at the museum.

We're going to play a little What's Worse and also stated by here in the wings.

We have Chris Henry, the museum manager who is overseeing this fine facility that we have the absolute

honor and privilege broadcasting from today.

But before we get back to the show, I want to bring people, our listeners, some very important weather information at this hour, particularly our listeners on WRCE in Richland Center and WMDX in Madison.

We have a tornado warning in effect until 3.30 this afternoon for parts of Columbia and Sock County.

Again,

Columbia, particularly for Central Columbia County until 3 30 this afternoon.

Right now it looks like areas included that will be impacted by the storm include Portage Lake Wisconsin.

Merrimack and Interstate 90 94 exchange.

Why do I say virtual and center RCE and Madison WMDX?

Because those are the are two closest stations right now to this warning area.

People might be driving in that direction.

Certainly if you're going to be going anywhere near that interstate exchange, please do not go there.

If you're not there already, pull over, take shelter.

If you're in a car, if you're in the path of this storm, go to the lowest level.

your building.

If you don't have a basement, get into an interior room such as a bathroom and make sure that you cover up again.

Atortial warning remains in effect until 3.30 this afternoon for Central Columbia County.

Now for the rest of the state, draw a line from Green Bay basically across over to Stevens Point and then down to the cross.

Everything south of that line in the state of Wisconsin is under a tor-

a tornado watch, which means conditions are right for a tornado until 6 PM this afternoon or tonight.

So at 6 o'clock and.

just getting some brand new information in here as we're talking here.

Looks like now the National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for Fond du Lac and Dodge counties until 3.30 as well.

So this would affect listeners right where potentially listeners.

W I S S here in Oshkosh.

It might be listing in again now the National Weather Service issuing a tornado warning for Fond du Lac and Dodge counties until 3.30 this afternoon.

Southwestern Dane County, West Central Jefferson County could also be less the earlier storm.

Pardon me.

So repeat the latest announcement we have the National Weather Service issuing a tutorial warning for fondle I can dodge counties until 3 30 this afternoon.

The watch remains in effect for the southern part of the state until six o'clock.

We'll continue to update that busy, busy day here.

Let's try to get this in as 10 minutes past the hour of three o'clock time once again for what's worse.

Let's

go.

time once

again for what's worse no prize money giveaway nothing involved in terms of cash value but it is your chance to have your voice heard across all 11 stations on the civic media radio network this is a good one appropriate our writer cp has done himself well this week with all of our what's worse is today is what's worse fear of flying or fear of heights fear of flying or fear of heights

If you'd like to weigh in on this all important question on the lighter side, give us a call 855-752-4842-855-752-4842 or you can text us on the Civic Media app or put it in the comment section as well.

What's worse, fear of flying or fear of heights?

Trigby Olson, give a quick answer before we get to our guest.

Fear of heights, Todd, by

far.

I'm terrified

of heights.

I didn't

know that about you,

necessarily.

Oh my god, open heights like that guy.

Once we were at Zion National Park or like when we went to the Grand Canyon, I'm just terrified and watching like my kids get up along the rim.

Oh yeah.

In fact, we were hiking.

I quit.

I quit.

I got so freaked out.

That's it.

All right, we'll continue to text call in.

We'll take our take some answers here a little bit later.

What's worse fear of flying or fear of heights 855-752-4842 855-752-4842.

Now joining tribute I here at the desk here at the EAA Museum.

He is the manager.

In other words, the guy who said yes, let that crazy guy.

Matt Nair was fine.

They said, Jane Matt Nair, Greg, want to come in the morning.

We're fine with that, but we actually had to pay him in order.

No, I'm just kidding.

He is Chris Henry.

He is the museum manager here at the EA A Museum.

Chris, welcome to the show.

Thanks for letting us do this.

Oh man, this is awesome.

Thank you guys for being here and we just we're having a great time with y'all.

Love to see a interview and most of our EA family here and we just thought it'd be a fun thing for you guys to get to see a little bit of the

set up behind the curtain of air ventures.

So

we're having a great time.

It couldn't end again for those watching in the stream.

Maybe people can hear us on the radio.

Lots of activity going on.

There are some beautiful planes for Jane and Greg show in here earlier on the ground.

You can see a couple suspended from the rafters if you're watching on the stream right now.

But Chris, tell us what's going on here.

The activity.

What's this about?

So what you're seeing in this hangar is we're prepping for our gathering of Eagles.

This is a big fundraising event for the organization, and this truly gives us the horsepower we need to go out and do the mission the rest of the year.

People like Margaret Brill and our wonderful foundation team spearheaded, and this is where our wonderful donors will gather for the event Thursday night of the event.

So a lot of prep work that goes into it that you don't see

If you come back here on Thursday, you wouldn't even be able to tell this is what we have here normally.

But normally, this is our eagle hanger, which is our hanger.

part of the museum that's dedicated to a military aircraft.

So we're spanning everything from World War One to Vietnam and we're looking at what's down the road for like Gulf War and things like that.

Wow, absolutely incredible.

Let's go where we went with our other guests today because I think people watching and listening across the state, they're interested to know who we're talking to.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you grew up and how you kind of got into aviation and in your current gig.

Absolutely, I'm born and raised in Pittsburgh.

Like I said before, I got my Aaron Rodgers.

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh.

My dad was a steel worker.

And with that came a lot of blue collar pride, very similar to the Green Bay, I think.

community and something we're, you know, very proud of.

I wanted to be a construction worker until my uncle took me to see a movie.

He told my mom that he was taking me to see a Disney movie and instead he took me to Top Gun when I was just six years old.

Yes, what a great uncle.

Oh, he's awesome.

He's an awesome uncle.

And that really ruined me.

I mean, all I wanted to do was be around airplanes.

I didn't know what, but I wanted to be around them.

Went to college for air traffic control along the way.

I worked ramp control for the airlines and it was a medical

helicopter dispatcher back in Pittsburgh, and then got hired to be an air traffic controller.

I did that for years, and then came here almost 13 years ago, and I've never looked back.

I came here on a guy's trip in 1996 for my first time.

I was 16 with a bunch of buddies, and I was just like, man, this is it.

One day I want to work here, and I am.

It's something very special.

I think it's amazing talk to us and you know again when we go to other places we we view it as you've invited us into our living room we like we like to respect whether it's you or anybody else we go to

we

don't get too far down the road into the partisan politics so we do this but obviously air traffic controllers have been in the news a lot

there have

been some unfortunate tragedies

particularly

where Trivia is at out in DC and as someone who went through this as an air traffic controller what what are your thoughts on this is

It might sound like a dumb question, but the people are saying, is it still safe to fly?

What are your thoughts on this?

Our air traffic control industry is the best one in the world.

Those air traffic controllers that work at take their job seriously.

And I can tell you that not one of them goes into that tower that day without thinking that they're the best there is.

Accidents happen, you know, luckily in our country they don't happen very often.

But unfortunately when they do, you know, they're headline news.

And the DC one was, you know, there's nothing.

Nice about it.

That was an unfortunate tragedy, but it is still very safe to fly.

I'd get on an airplane right now if I enticed me with a cold drink at a beach somewhere.

So no, for anybody who's maybe worried about flying, it is absolutely safe.

And we have the best network in the world for aviation.

We're in a good place.

Could it use some tweaking and fixing?

It does.

You should always be looking at how to go ahead and go forward and fix what fixes need, but those are great people that work in those towers.

Talking with Chris Henry, he is the museum director here at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Trigby?

Yeah, talk a little bit about some of the planes that you have there.

What's your favorites?

Boy, that's a tough one.

It's like someone asking me, like, what's your favorite kid?

And the ones that I've gotten a chance to maybe work on or enhance, I think, become

your favorites.

We're sitting next to a Huey from Vietnam.

I was part of the crew that we worked to receive this aircraft.

I've become very tight with the veterans who flew this one in combat.

ours is a three-tour combat vet.

It actually has the battle scars and patches and stuff on it.

Our course there was flown by Tom Hudner, our F4U, a World War II plane.

If you remember Black Sheep Squadron, Robert Conrad, same type of airplane, except ours flew in Korea and was flown by a Medal of Honor recipient.

who crash landed his plane on purpose to try to save his wingman Jesse Brown who had gone down on December 4th 1950.

These guys Jesse Brown was our country's first black naval aviator.

Tom Hudner was a white pilot who had gone to the Navy Academy.

At this time those two guys couldn't drink from the same water fountain and here they are half a world away and they're risking their lives for each other.

behind enemy lines.

That says something about the character of both those guys.

And we're honored that we have an airplane that was flown by Hudner.

And we have that one restored as it appeared on the USS Leyte in 1951.

But if I could just stop here, we've got about a minute and a half here, but we'll come back and talk after we have to do a little business.

But how many times, and you look at history, particularly the military, do we find that the military was ahead of where the rest of this country was in terms of race relations?

I don't care what color your skin is, I want you to have my six when I'm out in the battlefield.

Well, and very much so.

They were usually the ones who, I think, were the tip of the sword on breaking those barriers.

And for not just people of color, but for women, the WASP program, where women were allowed to fly high-powered military aircraft.

I mean, that was another one during World War II.

During World War II, it's important to know that everybody fought World War II.

Kids had receptacles where they could take their toys and recycle them to be made into ordnance.

It was literally, there wasn't anybody that didn't fight that war.

And Korea, Vietnam, same thing.

And as part of what I think culturally bound our country together and made that truly the greatest generation,

to

your point, everybody at some level was involved.

Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

Talk to anybody alive during World War II and they'll tell you, I mean, that was, which is getting harder and harder to do, but they all had a part in it.

Yeah, absolutely.

We're going to come back and chat more with Chris Henry.

He is the program of the Museum Manager.

Pardon me here at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

And we'll catch up on what's worse, the fear of heights or the fear of flying.

We know where Trigby stands.

Keep his feet on the ground.

No high heights.

Come on back.

It's the All-Ball Show on location Oshkosh, the Pacific Meteor, ready to go.

We have a number of tornado warnings.

I wanted this means that a tornado has either been spotted

the ground by a train spotter or via radar.

Right now there's a tornado warning in effect for until three

30 for Southwestern Fond du Lac and North Central Dodge County.

Toriel warning until 3 30 for Southwestern Fond du Lac and North Central Dodge counties.

Also, we have a Toriel warning.

It affected till 3 45 this afternoon for South Central Wasara County in Central Wisconsin.

also have a tutorial warning it affected till 345 for north central columbia county north central in north central wisconsin marquette county as well so columbia and marquette county also a uh

tornado warning in effect until 345 this afternoon and set to expire in about 10 minutes.

A tornado warning remaining in effect for parts of central Columbia County until 3 30 this afternoon.

Basically, if you take a line.

I go some from just north from Portage up through Monticello up to whatoma, red granite, that whole area in there and then everything east of that.

That is where people need to take shelter lowest level of a building.

If you don't have a basement, get to an interior room.

If you're driving and encounter these storms, best thing to do.

Pull over if you can safely get out and lay in a low line ditch.

Also off for close to upon the city.

in one of these tutorial warnings as well.

And that is moving towards Fond du Lac.

And yes, folks, right where we're at as well here in the Eagle Hager at the museum.

So we'll keep you up to date on that.

Just want to make sure we're giving all of our listeners the information and a tour to watch in effect for central and southern Wisconsin until six p.m.

Today, Trent V. Olsen out in our nation's capital, joining us on Wednesday, per usual.

I want to get to more with our guest here at the desk.

He is Chris Henry, the

museum manager here at the EAA museum uh Chris Trigby was asking during the break in fact Trigby why don't you follow up on a couple of questions about the planes because this is one of your things you're really passionate about

yeah i was just asking about the flying fortress and you were telling a little bit about the flying fortress that you have

We do, we have a B-17 flying fortress, ours is named the Loom Overcast, and really it has been an absolute honor to get to work near that aircraft.

It's one of, she's only about 50 airframes left of that type, meanwhile they built just shy 13,000 of them.

But that's what it took to really beat the German and Japanese forces into surrendering.

The 8th Air Force was the big operator for the B-17, and they were the spearhead of the American Daylight Bombing Campaign over Europe.

So if you've seen the Rose Recent miniseries, Masters of the Air, that really is a good example in getting a good idea of what it was like for those guys.

But truly amazing guys.

I mean, average age of the gunners in the back were 19.

Pilots were 21, 22 years old.

I mean, that's just incredible when you think about what we asked these young guys to do.

Talk to us a little bit if we could Chris about who comes here most as a school groups are the people coming aside from these two weeks when you get people over the world but in a general day when it's not the EAA event who comes here how much does it cost?

Absolutely so right now it's a $15 mission if you remember you're free and we have pricing for school groups families and things like that and if you're an EA again if you're an EA member a family member it's free

I always tell everybody, if you're going to come more than once in a year, you should probably just join, especially if you're a family.

But we have all, we have, where this city, or where the Fox Valley is really, Air and Space Museum.

Everybody's always welcome.

And we really are proud to bring the history of flight, the history of airspace, or air and space, hopefully to people's doorsteps.

I think it's interesting when you start talking about, you know, you think about an astronaut.

You're like, well, I can never be an astronaut.

But when you start breaking down their background, where they were football players in high school first, and then, you know, they played the trombone, you know, and suddenly it's like, well, oh gee, they were kind of like me.

And maybe I can work in the space program or something like that.

It's very important for people to hear that.

So the people that visit us.

all walks of life, EA members, visitors from other countries.

There are people that just have always wanted to hit this museum.

And then there's the local community, school groups with our education team.

It's fascinating.

We get right in the neighborhood of about 100,000 visitors a year here.

Now, granted, about 40,000 of those are coming next week.

Well,

I said earlier on the show, I have two gods sons and my youngest god son graduated.

You'll be Madison with Mechanical Engineering Aerospace, but he came up here a couple times.

Talked to NASA when they were here.

It ended up he worked for the Department of Defense out in Bremerton, doing ships and submarines.

But the premise of aerospace he worked in, is it vibrations or whatever it's called, you know?

And so I think kids, young people that come here, they might discover their path forward by simply coming to the event or to the museum.

You're absolutely right.

I have seen people that come in here not knowing what they want to do.

And this is their first sort of taste of like, wow, maybe airplanes are for me, maybe a career in aviation.

It doesn't have to be a pilot either.

I mean, there's a lot of people that are thinking like, well, maybe I want to be a mechanic or air traffic control or anything.

And I think it's our duty to make sure that, A, we let people know that there's an avenue that's open to them.

What's those next steps forward?

What do you do when you come here and you're interested in it?

How do I get involved?

And then also the history of it.

Here's the people who came before you who fought that good fight so that you have the freedom to do it today.

So that's kind of what we try to.

Educate everybody on

here.

If people have more information, is there a website they could go to?

Absolutely, EA.org.

We'll take you to the museum.

EA.org will get you into our organization and at least let you know what avenues are open to you.

If you're a young person thinking about maybe you want to fly, I mean the Young Eagles program is fantastic.

If you're not in the Oshkosh area, we have chapters all over the country and that you can join wonderful people to give them their time to get young people involved in aviation.

Chris Henry, the museum manager, thank you so much for a while.

to do this and thanks for all you do.

Hey, absolutely.

Thank you guys for being here.

It's part of what makes what's great.

Trink me.

Thank you very much.

We'll see you next week, my friend.

Welcome.

Be safe out there.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Come on back.