July 2025 – EAA Chapter 240

Chapter Fly-Out to Luray Caverns, VA (LUA)

We’re going underground! Trying to seek shelter from the hot weather, the chapter is going on a little speleological adventure. Grab a good pair of walking shoes and join us Sunday, August 3rd, for a trip to Luray Caverns airport in Luray, VA.

Home to the similarly named caverns, the airport is approximately 150nm WSW of New Garden, which will take us about one hour and thirty minutes to fly. Once there, we’ll get a short car ride to the cavern themselves, and we’ll head on a mile and a half long trek through the caves. Bring a good pair of shoes!
At the end of the tour, if time permits, we’ll explore some of the other attractions near the caves and go for a quick bite at one of the local cafes, before heading back to New Garden,

Meet at the chapter hangar at 8:30am for a 9am planned departure time.
As usual, planes and pilots are always needed! Pilots, when registering please let us know how many seats you have available, and total useful load. Passengers, make sure to include your weight and phone number. Use the link below to sign up for the event.
REGISTER

Questions or more information?

New Garden Airshow 2025 – Calling for Volunteers!

Help us make this fundraiser a successful one!

Hopefully everyone is back from Oshkosh and had time to rest for a bit. Now it’s time for your next adventure. We’re only four weeks away from New Garden’s biggest event of the year: 2025 Festival of Flight Air, Car, & Tractor Show.
Returning as a weekend event after a few years of constant TFRs, everyone is expecting a large crowd to be present, and we’re hoping the crowd will be a hungry and thirsty one!
We will be providing a pancake breakfast for both Saturday and Sunday, and will be selling hot dogs on the airshow grounds throughout the event on both days.
The airshow will take place from 2pm to 10pm on Saturday, and from 10am to 5pm on Sunday. Other events (including a 5k race) will take place in the morning before the airshow, which will also draw crowds.
This has the potential to be one of our biggest fundraiser events of the year, but we will definitely need your help for that. With both days (and especially Saturday) being long days, we’re looking at two (or even three) sets of volunteers for each day.
We’ll have to transport supplies Thursday, Friday and maybe even Saturday (Aug 21-23). If you have a pick-up truck or a large van we could definitely use your help.
We’ll plan on doing most of the set-up work on Friday (Aug 22nd) afternoon, and we’ll need a few volunteers for that.
A pancake breakfast will be served to airshow participants and members of the public on both days, and then we’ll be serving hot dogs at the airshow in the afternoon and evening on Saturday and morning and afternoon on Sunday. We’re hoping to have enough volunteers to split the hot dog sales teams into two groups for each day.
At the end of the day on Sunday, we’ll need a few volunteers to break down and store all the pancake breakfast and hot dog equipment/tables/canopies.

Here are the volunteer group breakdowns:

Fri 5 PM to 7 PM (clean hangar and set up for breakfast).
Sat 6 AM to 12 Noon ( serve and cook breakfast, clean up, about 10 AM set up Hot Dog stand, sell hot dogs)
Sat 12 Noon to 6 PM ( sell hotdogs)
Sat 6 PM to 11 PM (sell hot dogs, clean up)
Sun 6 AM to 12 Noon (serve and cook breakfast, clean up, set up for hot dogs, sell hot dogs)
Sun12 Noon to 6 PM (sell hot dogs, clean up, move supplies back to the hangar)

As you can see, it’s not a small endeavor. We’ll need all the help we can get, but the more people we have, the easier it will be for all of us.
One significant perk for our volunteers: they will receive a free airshow pass. That’s a $50 value right there.

Please use the links below to register for the event segment (or segments) you’d like to volunteer:

SUPPLY TRANSPORT
FRIDAY SET-UP
SATURDAY MORNING
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
SATURDAY EVENING
SUNDAY MORNING
SUNDAY AFTERNOON

If you’d like to make other volunteering arrangements, drop us a line at airshow2025@eaa240.org.

Fun Saturday at the Chapter!

Saturday was a very eventful day at New Garden Airport!

Despite the overcast and occasional morning showers we were able to get airborne for our Young Eagles event! Nineteen young pilots took to the skies, most as their first experience in an airplane, and all landed excited and energized from the experience. Many were able to experience flying the plane and communicating on the radio. Parents were so thankful that Chapter 240 could offer such a wonderful opportunity to their young and eager children! Our local Civil Air Patrol members were also present to help with safety as excited Young Eagles boarded planes and proud parents snapped pictures.

As an added bonus we fired up our hot dog stand and served a delicious combination of hot dogs, chips, and a drink! That also was our practice run for the New Garden Air/Car/Tractor Show where we will put our culinary skills to the test. New Garden FBO also hosted a Rusty Pilots presentation. Those who participated also saw many excited kids and parents as well as enjoying a delicious hot dog lunch!

Thanks to all who volunteered and brought excitement to a dreary weather day!!

We will be sending out a call for Airshow volunteers in the next few days. We’re looking at a couple really busy days, with breakfasts being served both mornings, and hot dogs served in the afternoons both days and Saturday evening. Consider helping us with that (it’s one of our largest fundraisers of the year) and register using the links that will be provided in the upcoming e-mails and announcements.

Flying Hot Dogs and Young Eagles this Saturday!

Join us Saturday, July 19th for a Flying Hot Dogs event. Replacing our Pancake Breakfast, we’ll be serving hot dogs instead, to get our feet wet before the main act, which will be the New Garden Airshow on August 23-24.

We’ll start serving hot dogs around 8:30, planning on wrapping up around noon. If you’d like to volunteer for this, drop us an e-mail at events@eaa240.org.

We’ll also be flying Young Eagles, starting at 9am, weather permitting. If you’re between the ages of 8 and 17, join us for a free flight. If you’d like to help us with this event, e-mail the Young Eagles coordinator at YoungEagles@eaa240.org.

On the topic of volunteering, if you’d like to help us with our breakfast and food service during the New Garden Airshow, it’s time to mark your calendars and let us know. We’re planning on running a morning and an afternoon shift on both days. Drop us a line if you’re interested in helping us at events@eaa240.org.

Cloud surfing – FDK fly-out report

Well, the white puffies put up a fight and tried to hold some good men (and one lady) down, but EAA 240 wasn’t having it. Our skilled pilots safely slipped the surly bonds of earth with instrument flight rule (IFR) flight plans and made their way to Frederick, MD to visit one of our esteemed sister chapters: EAA 524.

Despite a delay of a couple of hours, we were just in time for lunch at Airways Inn with our beloved EAA compadres. Following a nice bite and trading flying stories, we were fortunate to tour EAA 524’s facility and their projects. Wow! These guys really don’t like to let an airplane sit on the ground too long!

Thank you, EAA 524, for your hospitality and your service to the flying community. You guys are doing some really cool stuff. We had a blast and are grateful to have a front row seat last Saturday! Hope to see you at one of our pancake breakfasts or another fly out soon.

For now, blue skies and tailwinds!

Departure Delay: Chapter Fly-Out to Frederick, MD (FDK)

Hello EAAers! Who wants to go tour a sister EAA chapter? Well you’re in luck, because EAA Chapter 524 in Frederick, MD has invited us over this weekend to come tour their facility and have lunch at Airways Inn. Destination is FDK, 78 nautical miles from New Garden, or just under an hour and a half flight.

Please note the time change: The plan for now would be to meet at our chapter hangar Saturday at 10AM and we’ll shoot for a departure at 10:30. We’ll get to park in front of EAA 524’s hangar and tour their facility, followed by a nice lunch down the flight line at Airways Inn.

Please note that weather is changing and we’ll need to keep an eye on it! Please be prepared for a departure as early as 8:30/9AM, if necessary, and even a switch to Sunday. We’ll try to stick with the plan as much as possible, but be sure to check eaa240.org for updates or a cancellation message.

Reply back to events@eaa240.org. Planes and pilots are always needed. Pilots, when registering, please specify number of seats and useful load available. Passengers, please provide an accurate weight. Make sure to provide a contact number/e-mail to ensure we keep you up to date on our plans.

Blue skies and tailwinds!

Cruising down the Chesapeake! (TGI fly-out report)

After a couple weather-related cancellations, the chapter took to the sky again! Despite a forecast that couldn’t seem to make up its mind, and a president that threatened us with a TFR for our initial destination (subsequently canceled), we kept our options open and chose to fly to Tangier Island.

Four aircraft and ten chapter members departed New Garden around 9am, arriving in Tangier after a smooth and pleasant flight. Some of us took advantage of the restricted areas being inactive to climb to higher altitudes, keeping things cool and providing even more spectacular views on the way there.

Tangier Island was a hot place Sunday. Since the restaurant was still closed when we arrived, we decided to do a quick tour of the island first. For the first-timers, they got to experience first-hand the unique nature of the island and the community that it harbors. We were all more than happy to make it back to the restaurant, just in time for it to open and welcome us with its nice, air-conditioned interior.

We all ordered our favorite seafood, sharing stories and re-hydrating while checking the weather for the return trip. A few pop-up thunderstorms were threating us in the afternoon, so we all decided to depart a bit earlier than initially planned, just to be on the safe side. The plates were empty by the time we decided to head back to the airport, though.

The flight back was uneventful. A few fluffy white clouds provided an amazing backdrop as we cruised high, enjoying the natural air conditioning provided by the higher altitudes. An hour and a half later, we were back at New Garden, concluding another successful fly-out.
Many thanks to the pilots that joined us for this event – we couldn’t do this without you! We had a few passengers that had never been to Tangier before, and we’re happy we gave them the chance to visit the place.

Our next fly-out is Saturday, July 12th – we are going to Frederick Municipal Airport. Mark your calendars and we hope to see you there!

EAA240 Events Team

Month: July 2025