Kids are on top of the world at Aviation Day event in Vienna

The event drew attention to the airport and aviation.
& lt;a href=mailto:skolnick@vindy.com & gt;By DAVID SKOLNICK & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
VIENNA -- About 2,500 feet above Trumbull County landmarks such as the Eastwood Mall, the county fairgrounds, Mosquito Lake and the Delphi Packard Electric Systems plant in Warren, 13-year-old Mark Sember -- his hands on the control wheel of a Cessna 172 airplane -- said, "It's cool."
Indeed it was.
Mark, of Howland, took his first airplane flight in the four-seater, and Richard Pirko, co-owner of the Cessna, allowed him to turn the control wheel to the left.
Pirko, of Southington, was among a few dozen plane owners who participated Saturday in Aviation Day at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport's Alpha Aviation Hangar. He spent most of his day taking kids such as Mark in his plane, teaching them about aviation and exposing many of them to their first flight experiences.
During the 20-minute flight, Mark kept repeating "I like it a lot," and "That's pretty cool," as Pirko carefully explained how to fly the plane and pointed out the sights below them.
When the teen got off the plane, he went up to a friend and said, "It rocked!"
Purpose of event
Aviation Day was organized by Kathy and Ron Carroll, aviation safety counselors for the Federal Aviation Administration, as a way to drum up interest in the Vienna airport, the Youngstown Air Reserve Station and aviation. Also, FAA safety seminars were held for pilots.
"We've got a nice facility and not enough airplanes here," Kathy Carroll said. "We need to get people to the airport. People are afraid to come here since 9/11, but we're working to get them to come back."
Among those who returned Saturday was Ray Knight of Liberty, with his 7-year-old son, Conner. The two used to routinely visit the airport before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to watch the planes take off.
"Before 9/11, we used to come all the time," he said. "When we heard about this, we decided to come back and watch the planes, and it's been great."
Dave Nuss of Cortland, secretary of the local Experimental Aircraft chapter, said that after 9/11, things changed at the airport.
"More planes flew out of here [Saturday] than in the past month," Nuss said. "We're trying to introduce people to flying. Years ago, you could go anywhere at the airport. Now, there are fences, and you can't go anywhere. This is our way of opening the airport to people."
& lt;a href=mailto:skolnick@vindy.com & gt;skolnick@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;