The clubhouse of the Russell Flying Club was absolutely packed with kids and their parents this past Saturday. In just a few hours, seven members of the Russell Flying Club worked together to have 82 kids taken up for flights around the area.

As they have (almost) every year for more than a couple of decades, the members of the Russell Flying Club took kids up in their personal planes, donating their gas and their time.

Bruce Christopher, a long time member of the club explained that every year, the grade six students of Major Pratt take a Theory of Flight unit in school. “We go in and have a chat with the kids who are taking the class,” he said. “The idea is to get kids interested in flying and these flights give them a practical application to the theory they’ve learned in school which is why we have an age limit on the kids we take up.” Whenever possible, the kids who have taken the flight training at school are put up in the front seat, next to the pilot, giving them a hands on take at what they’ve learned. This year, the addition of another pilot, Bruce said added a special element. “We had a young lady from Roblin flying this year,” he said. “Which was really nice to have the young girls seeing a female pilot.”