Greeneville-Greene County Municipal Airport was a busy place on Saturday, with five airplanes and a helicopter taking youngsters on their first flights, 50 young people in all.

The "Young Eagles" event is held twice each year by Chapter 1355 of the Experimental Aircraft Association, said its president, Ted Hensley.

The purpose of the event is to introduce youngsters between the ages of 8 and 17 to aviation. Everyone involved was a volunteer, and the pilots supplied their own airplanes.

Though the club is made up of people with an interest in experimental aircraft, the planes used Saturday were not experimental at all. Several were Cessna 172s, a workhorse airplane that has a variety of uses.

Veteran pilot W.T. Broyles was an engineer on B-24s during World War II. He brought his 1969 model Cessna to the event.

Broyles earned his pilot's license in 1947, and estimated that he has logged about 4,000 hours in the air.

Broyles said Saturday was his 112th "Young Eagle" event.

For the first time Saturday, the event had a helicopter, a Bell 407 piloted by Bill Finney, of Piney Flats. Finney is with Edwards & Associates, Inc., which makes parts for Bell helicopters.

Sherry Hensley-Rhodes, who handled registration for the club, said members of the Johnson City Radio Controllers, who brought their scale model planes, had a connection with Finney that resulted in the helicopter being involved.

Youths who could wait long enough got a chance to experience their first airplane flight and first helicopter flight on the same day.

"It was a wonderful ride," said Noel Davis, a Boy Scout, as he walked away from the helicopter.

Skip Weller, of Johnson City Radio Controllers, said six members of that club brought 15 radio controlled aircraft, ranging in wingspan from about two feet to six or seven feet.

At 1 p.m., the airport closed for an hour to allow the radio-controlled scale models to take to the sky for a demonstration.