Winner to be Honored at AirVenture

Phillips 66 Aviation has named Tom Meadows, a member in good standing of EAA Chapter 1073 in Truckee, California, the winner of 2023’s Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Young Eagles Leadership Award.

Presented yearly during the EAA’s annual AirVenture event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the Young Eagles Leadership Award recognizes exceptional Young Eagles volunteers who’ve resolutely supported aviation’s future by exceeding the expectations of their fellow EAA members and the Association’s leadership.

Mr. Meadows remarked: “I have so many stories of flying youngsters through the skies and seeing their faces light up with excitement and joy. From allowing youth to sit in the pilot’s seat to helping them taxi to the runway, flying with these kids is always an adventure.”

A retired Naval Air Crewman, Meadows served as the Young Eagles Coordinator for EAA Chapter 1073 for nearly five years—during which the chapter introduced a multitude of youths to aviation by holding Young Eagles rallies at various airports in smaller, Truckee-region communities without EAA chapters of their own.

Mr. Meadows has also flown, also, to more distant cities for purpose of helping the EAA chapters of such hold Young Eagles rallies. Meadows’s wife, Lynn, a private pilot, enjoys flying to and from the rallies, and serves as a ground volunteer while Tom provides rides to attending young people.

Mrs. Meadows set forth: “It is important to us that we make aviation instruction as accessible to young people as possible, so flying from airport to airport is exciting for us.”

Tom and Lynn both earned their pilot licenses in 1978, however Tom’s passion was ignited at a young age, as he would, on occasion, accompany his father to Dayton, Ohio’s Wright Patterson Air Force Base, where the senior Mr. Meadows was employed.

“My dad would drop me off at the Air Force Museum on the base, and no matter how many times I walked through that museum I never grew tired of it,” Tom recalled. “Later in life, my dad told me that when I was two years old, he had put me on his lap and gave me my first airplane ride.”

Tom holds several other certificates and ratings, including Instrument, Commercial, CFI and MEL tickets. While he stepped down as a Young Eagle coordinator in 2020, Tom and Lynn serve, still, as ground and flight volunteers at Young Eagles rallies near and far.

Mr. Meadows stated: “We have flown our Cessna 172 Sky Hawk to Ohio five times to attend my high school reunions, and we stop to visit friends and family members. If any of our hosts have age-eligible kids, I take them flying as Young Eagles. We are always looking for new families to share our spirit of aviation.”

Come autumn 2023, Tom intends to fly his two-thousandth Young Eagle mission. By then he will have donated 1,500 flight hours in the family Cessna 172, along with innumerable hours of volunteering on the ground.

“I am always mining for more Young Eagles. You never know when you are going to find a gem,” Meadows said. “The future of aviation is in the hands of these kids, and I am proud to be a part of their journey.”

FMI: www.eaa.org