FALLBROOK ---- Pilot Don Evans pulled back on the yoke of his 1972 Rockwell Commander, a blue-and-white single-engine plane, and took off from the runway Saturday morning at Fallbrook Community Airpark.

Once airborne, he turned the controls over to his 11-year-old copilot, Michael Hodge of Fallbrook.

"We're gonna do some turns, and the turns are going to be nice and easy," Evans instructed.

Gripping the yoke, the excited but slightly nervous youth dipped the plane a little too quickly in a stomach-turning roll to the left. But soon the plane was cruising south over the fields and communities of North County, with Camp Pendleton visible on the right and mountains shrouded in clouds to the left.

"You're doing good. Nice and easy," Evans said. "Not too hard, is it?"

The thin, dark, quiet 11-year-old grinned in response, his eyes shining behind his glasses.

Michael was one of 39 area youths to get a chance to fly a small aircraft for the first time Saturday during a Young Eagles flight rally at the airpark. The rally was sponsored by Chapter 1279 of the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Friends of the Fallbrook Community Airpark, which have held such events since the late 1990s, organizers said.

Young Eagles rallies have been sponsored nationally by the Experimental Aircraft Association since 1992, they said.

At the end of Michael's 20-minute flight, Evans took the controls again and set the plane down smoothly on the landing strip. Michael said it felt amazing to pilot the plane.

"I thought it would be much harder to control it," he said. "It was pretty easy."

The youths' enjoyment is why many area pilots come back year after year to volunteer their time and their plane for the event, Evans said.

"We just enjoy it. We get a lot of kids coming back just grinning from ear to ear," said Evans, a Fallbrook resident who first flew with the Marines in 1962 and then for Continental Airlines until he retired in 2000.

The Young Eagles flights at Fallbrook take place in January, May and September, and usually are given to youths from Fallbrook, Camp Pendleton, Murrieta or Temecula, organizers said. Often, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, church youth groups and other organizations are invited to the rallies.

This time, however, organizers didn't have enough youths, so they advertised in newspapers and attracted participants from all over North County.

Courtney Fike, a 10-year-old from Carlsbad, didn't seem to handle her flight quite as well as Michael. She said she was nervous throughout the flight, but she loved the view.

D.J. Kraklow, 13, of Camp Pendleton, said flying was fun but the turbulence was bothersome.

"It turned my stomach a lot," he said.

Despite the occasional case of nausea, most of the children appeared excited at the end of their flights.

"We want to make it an experience that the youngster is going to remember the rest of their life," said Steve Williamson, president of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Many of the pilots ---- 14 of which flew with the children ---- said they were inspired to become pilots after their first airplane experiences as children. Perhaps some of the children who participated in Saturday's event may become pilots as well, they said.

"I took my first airplane ride here at this airport," said pilot Tom Wilson, who's lived in Fallbrook for most of his life and is a member of the airpark friends organization. "I rode up on my bicycle and hung around, and finally somebody gave me a ride."

Skip Slater, a pilot for American Airlines and a Temecula resident, said he knew when he first set foot on an airplane at age 6 that he wanted to be a pilot.

"Having your own airplane is like a gift, and you just want to share that," Slater said.

Contact staff writer Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.