Georgia Archives Lunch and Learn Program for December

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Morrow, GA, Nov. 21, 2017 – On Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, from noon until 1 p.m., the Georgia Archives Lunch and Learn program will be The History of the Candler Field Museum and the Youth Aviation Program: Where History Comes Alive and Education Lights the Future by Dave Moffett and Scott Coile. Lunch and Learn Programs are free and open to the public. No registration is required.

The original Candler Field is now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport. Candler Field Museum recreates the original Atlanta Airport as it existed in the 1920s and 1930s. The museum’s purpose is to restore and preserve antique airplanes, autos, and machinery in an operational museum with a period time setting.

The Museum is located in Williamson, Georgia, on an old airstrip that has been in operation since 1967.

In keeping with the mission statement of the museum, a Youth Aviation Program was started in December 2013. It is the goal of this program to teach students the skills of restoring, repairing, and maintaining aircraft. In return for the hours students volunteer in the program, students are given the opportunity to earn their private pilot license. In addition to the flying opportunity, time logged in the students’ maintenance logbook can be applied toward the minimum hour requirements for an Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Certificate. To date, there have been five students who have earned their private pilot license and others who have soloed while working toward that goal. The program has one student working as an apprentice mechanic in the Youth Program who will soon test for his A&P license.

Speaker Dave Moffett learned to fly in high school. He earned his private license at seventeen and a commercial license at eighteen, along with other ratings. He did some commercial flying and instruction throughout college.

After college, he went in to Air Force pilot training and flew in the Mississippi Air Guard for 15 years. He was hired at Delta Air Lines and flew for 31 years before retiring in March 2017.

He has flown general aviation airplanes continuously for 46 years and built his own aerobatic airplane, which he has flown for 18 years.

Moffett has been volunteering at Candler Field Museum since its beginning and works as "Air Boss" at various fly-in events. He also is a museum pilot and flies passengers in a museum biplane. He is the tour guide to groups that visit Candler Field Museum.

Speaker Scott Coile, mentor for the Youth Aviation Program, said: "I always wanted to learn to fly and be a pilot since I can remember. I had to start wearing glasses when I was in first grade. In my teen years I found out the military required uncorrected 20/20 so, I basically gave up, not knowing any better and not having a mentor to lead me. I started working for Lockheed Air Terminal when I was 18." He enjoyed working ground support for the commercial aircraft and eventually worked his way up the ladder.

In a monthly newsletter put out by Ron Alexander in 2013, he read about the idea of starting a Youth Aviation Program and went to a meeting. His 11-year-old son was very interested in flying and he thought this would be a great opportunity for him, one he never had. He said: "I attended the sessions so often that Ron eventually asked me to be an official representative of the program and share updates with the Board of Directors for the Museum." That led to Coile helping Jim Hoak, Bill Hammond, and AC Hutson run the program. Hammond eventually got too busy with work and the team ended up hiring A&P Mechanic Dave Holec, who now helps them run the program full time.

The Georgia Archives is a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. The Georgia Archives identifies, collects, manages, preserves, provides access to, and publicizes records and information of Georgia and its people, and assists state and local government agencies with their records management. This work is done within the framework of the USG’s mission to create a more highly educated Georgia.

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For more information, please contact Penny Cliff: Penelope.Cliff@usg.edu.

Georgia Archives – 5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, Georgia 30260 – 678-364-3710