Bay Area Boy Scouts earn aviation badges at Buchanan’s Young Falcon program

CONCORD, CA (Oct. 8, 2023) — Boy Scouts representing 18 troops, from communities around the Bay Area to Sacramento, gathered at Buchanan Field Airport on Saturday, Sept. 30, to take part in the Pacific States Aviation’s Young Falcons program and earn their aviation merit badge.

Participants took part in a class on how airplanes fly, toured the airport tower, and gained information from personnel of the Contra Costa Fire Protection District and the fire rescue units based at Buchanan and Byron Airports about the role first responders play.

The day wrapped up with a demonstration of fire truck hose equipment. The day’s itinerary also included scouts going aloft to see Contra Costa and Solano County from the air after seeing how their pilots conduct pre-fight checks of the planes being used for their flights.

Scout Master Jason Biggs served as the leader on site for the day. Members of the Civil Air Patrol also assisted as escorts around the airport grounds during the day.

David Scholz

David Scholz is back in journalism as a freelance writer and photographer after nearly two decades in education. Prior to moving into teaching in 2000, he worked as a full-time journalist since 1988 for rural community and small daily newspapers in Central Ohio and Northern Nevada, and later in California with The Business Journal in Fresno and dailies in the Bay Area, including The Oakland Tribune and The San Francisco Chronicle. More recently Scholz also worked in an editing, writing, and page layout role with the Rossmoor News.