Gone West: Remembering Eddie Clements (From EAA AirVenture)

Original Article by Beth E. Stanton, 27 July 2018, AirVenture, EAA.org

Founder and general manager of High Country Aviation Workshop for Kids (HAWK) leaves behind extensive education legacy
By Beth E. Stanton

Remembering Eddie Clements: Courtesy and Copyright 2018 EAA AirVenture Jack Fleetwood, Photographer
Courtesy and Copyright 2018 EAA AirVenture
Jack Fleetwood, Photographer
Remembering Eddie Clements: Courtesy and Copyright 2018 EAA AirVenture Jack Fleetwood, Photographer
Courtesy and Copyright 2018 EAA AirVenture
Jack Fleetwood, Photographer

Eddie Clements, EAA 841022, a founder and general manager of the High Country Aviation Workshop for Kids (HAWK) at Mack Mesa Airport in Colorado, died unexpectedly on July 21 shortly after arriving at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018 with the HAWK students and mentors. He was doing what he loved until the end: flying airplanes and passing along his passion for aviation to the next generation.

HAWK Aviators (whose story was featured in the April 2018 issue of EAA Sport Aviation, “Spreading Their Wings”) is a nonprofit organization that is the brainchild and extension of EAA Chapter 800. HAWK mentors expose youths to multiple facets of aviation: building, repairing, designing, and flying airplanes and balloons. Participants earn flight time in exchange for assisting aircraft maintenance or building. “The reason why we are where we are today is because we had Eddie who put in so much time and effort,” volunteer John Caldwell said.

Eddie’s aviation career spanned decades and a variety of capacities, creating a vast network of contacts he was able to draw upon for resources to help support the HAWK program. His enthusiasm for hot air balloons was all consuming, and he competed and instructed in them for more than 30 years. Eddie recited the Balloonist’s Prayer to his passengers countless times over the years. Now those whose lives he touched say it for him:

The winds have welcomed you with softness.
The sun has blessed you with its warm hands.
You have flown so high and so well
that God has joined you in your laughter
and set you gently back again
into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

Eddie’s son, Tres, was one of the reasons for the founding of HAWK. Tres, a former Scaled Composites employee, owns an aircraft engineering firm in San Luis Obispo, California, and is the pilot and caretaker of Burt Rutan’s Boomerang. In an interview, Eddie said, “I started HAWK because I watched Tres grow up around aviation and watched the effect it had on him. If I can pass the good aviation does to other kids, then HAWK is a success. I have had a front row seat as to how aviation improves kids’ lives.”

Original Article


We would appreciate receiving any memories you have of Eddie. Please email them to [email protected]

Images and thoughts from friends: Remembering Eddie Clements

Obituary: https://hawkaviators.org/obituary-edward-laverne-clements/

Eddie Clements

It is my sad duty to report that Eddie Clements has passed away while at AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI. As Eddie was our founder and the visionary leader behind HAWK, we are all feeling his devastating loss. It will take some time to determine how to best carry Eddie’s vision for HAWK into the future. We will provide updates as they become available. As the HAWK board, we ask you to give his family the space they need to be together and grieve.

Sincerely,

John Wilson
Secretary, HAWK

We would appreciate receiving any memories you have of Eddie. Please email them to [email protected]

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh HAWK Piper Cherokee Images 2

The HAWK Piper Cherokee & team
on the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Flickr pages.

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh images can’t be downloaded.
However, we can link to their site.
Click on the title or on the link below. A new page will open to the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh page.
Scroll down to until you see the Cherokee with our team in red.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eaaairventureoshkosh/page9
The team is also found in red on this page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eaaairventureoshkosh/page13

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh HAWK Piper Cherokee Images

The HAWK Piper Cherokee & team
on the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Flickr pages.

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh images can’t be downloaded.
However, we can link to their site.
Click on the title or on the link below. A new page will open to the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh page.
Scroll down to until you see the Cherokee with our team in red.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eaaairventureoshkosh/page9
The team is also found in red on this page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eaaairventureoshkosh/page13

HAWK Youths Arrive in Aircraft They Restored

From: https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-airventure-news-and-multimedia/eaa-airventure-news/eaa-airventure-oshkosh/07-27-2017-hawk-youths-arrive-in-aircraft-they-restored

Colorado group aims to interest young adults in aviation

By James Wynbrandt

HAWK Youths Arrive in Aircraft They Restored Colorado group aims to interest young adults in aviation From https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-airventure-news-and-multimedia/eaa-airventure-news/eaa-airventure-oshkosh/07-27-2017-hawk-youths-arrive-in-aircraft-they-restored by James Wynbrandt Courtesy & Copyright Andrew Zaback, Photographer
HAWK Youths Arrive in Aircraft They Restored
Colorado group aims to interest young adults in aviation
From https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-airventure-news-and-multimedia/eaa-airventure-news/eaa-airventure-oshkosh/07-27-2017-hawk-youths-arrive-in-aircraft-they-restored
by James Wynbrandt
Courtesy & Copyright Andrew Zaback, Photographer

Tail Logo HAWK Youths Arrive in Aircraft They Restored Colorado group aims to interest young adults in aviation From https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-airventure-news-and-multimedia/eaa-airventure-news/eaa-airventure-oshkosh/07-27-2017-hawk-youths-arrive-in-aircraft-they-restored by James Wynbrandt Courtesy & Copyright Andrew Zaback, Photographer
Tail Logo
HAWK Youths Arrive in Aircraft They Restored
Colorado group aims to interest young adults in aviation
From https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-airventure-news-and-multimedia/eaa-airventure-news/eaa-airventure-oshkosh/07-27-2017-hawk-youths-arrive-in-aircraft-they-restored
by James Wynbrandt
Courtesy & Copyright Andrew Zaback, Photographer

July 27, 2017 – What does it take to get youngsters involved in aviation? Simply the opportunity to do it affordably, according to Eddie Clements, founder and general manager of High Country Aviation Workshop for Kids (HAWK). Eddie and seven of his young HAWK members arrived at Wittman Regional Airport flying a group of aircraft, which includes a Cherokee 140 the kids restored themselves.

Based at Mack Mesa Airport in Mack, Colorado, HAWK’s goal is simple: Introduce the youths of Mesa County to the world of aviation. The group, formed three years ago, rebuilds and restores aircraft, and then members fly them to earn their pilot certificates. Every Saturday, HAWK holds workshops where young members spend the day working on aircraft. Along with the Cherokee, the seven-aircraft fleet includes an airworthy Dakota Hawk, while a Velocity, Zenith 601 and 701, and Cessna 172 are undergoing restoration.

The group also has two hot air balloons. HAWK works closely with EAA Chapter 800, whose members help the kids refine their building techniques. A&Ps oversee all of the work done on the aircraft. For each three hours of work a HAWK member puts in, they receive one hour of free aircraft use for flight instruction. Braden Hobbs, who has about 25 hours and has recently soloed, said he’s spent just $66 dollars for use of an aircraft since he started flying, plus $1,500 in fuel. Braden, 16, flew in a recently completed RV-14 with owner and builder Bill Marvel.

The HAWK group, seven youngsters strong, is camped in Row 86 in the Vintage area, with the Cherokee, N9606W, that sports a beautiful new blue and white livery, applied gratis by West Star Aviation at its Grand Junction, Colorado, paint shop. All materials the nonprofit 501(c)3 HAWK uses are donated, and lunch is provided during their Saturday sessions.

Meanwhile, it’s not only kids that the program inspires. After Logan Boe joined, his mother — a lapsed pilot — was inspired to get back into flying. She recently purchased a Cessna 172, with the assistance of HAWK. As a result, Logan and his mom flew to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this year in the Cessna. “I’m learning how to rivet, and learning how to preflight,” Logan said. “It’s just such a great educational program; anyone into aviation should participate in it.”