Morristown, TN EAA Chapter 1494

10/29/2026

RV-12iS Youth Build Celebration:
On Monday evening, our Chapter celebrated our three-year journey leading to the completion of our RV-2iS Youth Build Program! Five youth builders, seven instructors and volunteers, and numerous visitors and supporters along the way came to join in the festivities.

With a slide show running in the background that chronicled our journey, we all enjoyed a buffet and reminisced about some of the events along the way and how much our youth builders had grown into young adults.

We then moved on to presenting certificates to all the youth builders who were present, each with the number of hours they had contributed to the program, along with a certificate to verify the successful completion of the program. We concluded with having the builders talk about what they enjoyed the most, what they learned, and how it will help them in their future endeavors.

A short re-cap of our timeline:
Beginning in November of 2023 in a humble “T” hangar we affectionately called “Old #7”; with no insulation or climate control, our team endured the blistering heat of summer and the chilly cold of winter with only fans and heaters to keep us comfortable.

Then, in August of 2025, we had to pack up all our belongings and move to a temporary shared space in the Alpha Aviation hangar while our future home was under construction. What a treat it was to be in an insulated building with running water!

And finally, in November of 2025 (almost to the day we began two years ago) we again packed up and moved into our new home at the EAA Chapter 1494 Aviation Learning Center where we finished our build program and took the RV-12iS for its maiden flight on September 29, 2026.

In summary: Over 134 weeks, our builders contributed 1,682 hours, our instructors and volunteers contributed 2,996 hours, for a program total, 4,678 hours.
Vince Miraldi

10/27/2026

Last Wednesday, our Chapter hosted 27 cadets from Morristown-Hamblen JROTC! In addition to each of them receiving a Young Eagles flight (for some of them, their first flight ever!), they participated in some hands-on activities in our hangar. These included making an aviation bracelet, a pulled rivet assembly with the same tools and materials used to build our RV-12iS, an introduction to Radio Controlled airplanes and how control surfaces maneuver the airplane, making a simple nylon washer on a machine lathe, and an introduction to model rocketry.
As always, many thanks to our volunteer pilots, Marc H, Mark W, Bob D, Mitch L, Myron T, and Kadi W, as well as other Chapter volunteers who perform registrations, the ground crews, and those manning the hands-on activity stations.
Vince Miraldi

10/22/2026

FOOD TRUCK @ Morristown Regional Airport (MOR)
Monday, Oct. 26 - 11am to 1pm
Location: Parking lot at 340 Piper Street

Mondays at Morristown!
Monday, Oct. 26th, GrillBilly Smoke Food Truck will be at the airport! They will be located in the parking lot of the TCAT AMT School, 340 Piper Street.

This is outside the gate, so you can easily drive over and grab a great lunch from their food truck. They were at this year's Fly-in at the Morristown Airport and received great reviews!

You can also fly over and park in front of the EAA 1494 Aviation Learning Center Hangar and walk through the person gate to the food truck.

We'll have the hangar open and tables set up if you have time to linger and eat at the airport.

We hope to make this a recurring Monday food truck event. We hope you can join us this Monday, Oct. 26th and stay tuned for more food truck opportunities at the airport!

Karen

10/16/2026

ALC Ribbon Cutting:
On Wednesday of this week, our chapter celebrated the opening of our Aviation Learning Center with a ribbon cutting event. In conjunction with the Morristown Chamber of Commerce, this long awaited event was a huge success and well attended under perfect weather conditions.

We also took time to recognize two of our youth builders for their dedication to the RV-12iS youth build project over the last 134 weeks! The leader, Jonah D’Lugos, has logged 273 hours and in a close second, Hailey Williamson with 183 hours. We will be hosting a formal celebration with all the builders and volunteers in the not too distant future.

Those in attendance were the Morristown Chamber of Commerce, representatives from Morristown Regional Airport, the City of Morristown, the Citizen Tribune, Barefoot Academy, students and instructors from our neighbors at TCAT, Chapter members, and guests.

Stay tuned for an upcoming article about this event in the Citizen Tribune.
Vince Miraldi

10/16/2026

Monday's @ Morristown Airport (MOR)

Monday, October 26th
11am - 1pm
Food Truck - GrillBilly Smoke will be at the airport!
Location: Parking Lot (outside the fence) at 340 Piper Street. This is the TCAT A&P School parking lot.

We'll have the person gate open if you want to fly over and park on the ramp in front of the EAA 1494 Aviation Learning Center and walk through to the parking lot to the truck.
We'll have tables set up in the hangar if you want to get your food and hang out a bit with your meal.

All are welcome to check out the great food provided by GrillBilly Smoke and spend a little time at the airport!

Please email us if you have any questions.
[email protected]
Karen

Send a message to learn more

10/16/2026

There's still time to register for this class that is happening tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 17th @ 6pm at MOR.

Class will be held in the Aviation Learning Center, 349 Piper Street, Morristown, TN.

Here's the link to see details on the topics and to register ($30): https://eaa1494.square.site/product/rv-12is-low-wing-aircraft-ground-school/WCW2MBHGPYTQW54BUXCMM7H5?cs=true&cst=custom

10/03/2026

Breakfast Fly-In Oct. 3, 2026.
Despite the rainy weather, we had an amazing turnout of guests for our October fly-in!
Although there were no planes parked on the ramp, we still had tables filled with hungry aviation enthusiasts.
We would like to think that everyone comes out for the planes, but maybe today proved that the bacon and sausage bring out our guests! Either way, we had a great time and still got to be in the hangar with two awesome airplanes and a lot of neat people.
Whether you were here for the planes or here for the food from our amazing volunteers, thank you for joining us!

If you missed this month’s fly-in, don’t worry! We still have one more breakfast on the first Saturday in November before we wrap up the year with our holiday feast on the first Saturday in December.

-Katherine J

10/03/2026

EAA 1494 Breakfast is rain or shine this morning at the Morristown Airport (MOR)!

We'll have the golf carts rolling to help get you from parking to the hangar.

8:30 - 10:30
349 Piper Street
Morristown, TN

09/26/2026

Week 132 of the RV-12iS build has come to a close.
Monday, September 21st: The baggage bulkhead panel was reinstalled in preparation for the cabin interior while the interior kit was prepped and numbered to make installation go smoothly.
All of the interior was weighed and added to the plane’s total weight in the weight and balance sheet.
Once weighed and prepped, installation of the floor interior begin as the baggage bulkhead panel was buttoned up.
Left and right side floor/wall panels were installed while the baggage area interior began installation.
The interior was installed without the seats and runs through the entire cockpit, while the baggage interior starts at the fuel tank and covers the entire baggage bulkhead.
The Velcro attachments take 24 hours to cure before they are permanently stuck in place.
Minor adjustments were made in the interior to accommodate for wires or corners in the baggage area.
Once the interior kit was finished, the seats were reinstalled to complete the kit.

Thursday, September 24th: The day we have all been waiting for…
At 10am the plane was thoroughly inspected and had its first Pre-Flight walk around before it was pulled out of the hangar. Paper work was printed and triple checked as all the legal documents were installed in the new baggage compartment.
Mitch Lock, our test pilot, prepared for the flight and gave a briefing in the hangar before engine start up. The handheld radio that would be used on the ground was set to the local traffic frequency and then would be changed to 123.450 for private communication with Mitch while he ran through his tests in the air.
At 11:30 everyone was out on the ramp, including the TCAT aircraft mechanic students who had also been anticipating the flight from the neighboring hangar.
The RV-12 started right up and was taxied to the beginning of runway 5. Mitch performed a high speed taxi on the runway to insure the proper engine power was being produced and that the instruments were in the green. He taxied back to runway 5 and then began the real-deal.
The plane that we have all put so much hard work into was up and airborne before it had even made it to the 1,000 foot markers down the runway.
As Mitch flew in our direction we were all overwhelmed that something we build was flying over our heads!
Bob and Nancy were on FaceTime to be a part of the big moment while they were driving through Nebraska.
Mitch circled and climb over the airport until 3,000 feet above the ground where he performed his tests and checks. We switched to our private frequency where he gave periodic updates on engine and control surface performance. Everything worked beautifully!
After about 45 minutes, Mitch was satisfied with the flight and came back in with an amazing first landing and a big welcome from all of the on lookers.
The first flight concluded a chapter in our book while beginning another.
The “build” portion of this story is officially complete. We are now moving on to the “flight” portion as we are well underway with the Flying Club that officially owns the RV-12.
Yes, the week-to-week build updates are done. You can now be on the lookout for flying updates!

We want to take a moment to thank all of the volunteers and builders who spent months to years of their lives on this project. We could never recreate the friendships and memories made in the last 2 years and 11 months, so we want to recognize this time as something special. For the youth, there are lessons learned that will and have carried on into adulthood. For the volunteers, they were empowering and inspiring the next generation of aviation.

Thank you to our volunteers:
Bob Daugherty
Nancy Daugherty
Vince Miraldi
Karen Hughes-Collins
Nelson Collins
Ernie Rice
Mark Doherty
Mitch Lock
Bill Mulins
Christy Mulins

Thank you to our builders:
Ayden Rodes
Caden Epling
Gavin Malone
Hailey Williamson
Hayden Williamson
Holden Williamson
Hope White
Isaac Ramos
Jonah D’Lougas
Katherine Jett
Maddox Atkins
Mollie Johnson
Neva Williamson
Trey Dixon

Thank you to everyone who supported, encouraged and stopped by to see our plane come to life! We appreciate each and every one of you!

Thank you for reading and being on this journey with us!
Check on our page to see a video of her maiden flight.

-Katherine Jett