AVIORE: AVIATION’S By Dick Knapinski
In this age of wildly popular box office sensations, like the Marvel Comics’ franchise, The Avengers, Spiderman, Black Panther, and so many more, it’s about time that aviation has its own superhero. Well, it does, thanks to EAA and Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee (yes, THAT Stan Lee). Aviore was gifted to EAA by the Stan Lee Foundation, with a mission to promote The Spirit of Aviation and the EAA’s Young Eagles program. Lee himself visited EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2017 to introduce Aviore on the 25th anniversary of the Young Eagles program, the world’s most successful aviation youth outreach initiative. The Young Eagles program has given more than 2 million youngsters their first flight in a GA
“Stan Lee and EAA CEO/Chairman Jack Pelton (in suit) are joined by a host of Marvel Comics heroes and Aviore, a new superhero that Lee donated to the EAA Young Eagles program. Photo from The Gathering of Eagles fundraiser, 7/27/2017 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.” (EAA photo/Erin Brueggen)
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aircraft, with the help of 50,000 pilots and 50,000 ground volunteers.
“We cannot express deeply enough our appreciation to Stan Lee and the Stan Lee Foundation for their support of Young Eagles,” said EAA CEO and Chairman Jack J. Pelton. “With their commitment, we will bring Young Eagles even more visibility and participation in the next quarter-century.” “It’s very important that we get young people more interested in aviation,” Stan Lee said. “One of the problems is, it doesn’t seem as exciting or glamorous to them today because it’s all jet planes, and they have the notion the pilot gets in the cockpit, sits down, presses a button, and goes to sleep while the plane does the work. We’ve got to find a way to let the young people know that there’s something very heroic and glamorous about [flight], and it’s not as easy as it looks.” THE ADVENTURES OF AVIORE As you might imagine, the centerpiece of the Aviore story will be a series of comic books. And EAA is happy to announce that Issue #1 (sure to become a hot collectible!) will be available at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, July 23-29. If you’re there, be sure to grab your free copy. A digital edition of the comic book will also be available online at www.Aviore.org.
