Recap of my Virginia Aviation Ambassador Challenge

The Virginia Aviation Ambassador Challenge is a fun challenge for every aviation enthusiast. You don’t need to be a pilot to partake in this challenge but you can. I am not a pilot (yet) and finished the challenge. It is an intense challenge if you try to complete at its top level but it is also a lot of fun. Let me tell you more about this challenge, what it is, how I found out about it and how I managed to complete it. 

Discovering the Challenge

I didn’t even know that such a challenge exists. It is hosted by the Virginia Department of Aviation and they have a lot of information about it on their website, but who looks up their website if you have no related business with them? Well, I didn’t. For me it was a coincidence that I found out about this challenge. 

I was at Ronald Reagan National Airport in D.C. and went to the info counter of the terminal to collect their Airport Trading Card. The volunteer I talked to didn’t know at first what I was looking for and he told me he knew about the stamp they had. This sparked my curiosity and I asked him to tell me more about this. He didn’t know much, just the name of the program and that you need a passport which gets stamped. While looking to see if he had passports, he also found the trading cards for DCA. After I got back to the hotel, I googled for the Virginia Aviation Ambassador Program and found it quickly. I emailed them via the contact information on their website, and they were so grateful and mailed me a passport right to my hotel in D.C.

That meant I could start collecting stamps right away. Which I did. On my first day off from work, I went back to DCA, to collect the stamp as I knew exactly where it was.

What is the Virginia Aviation Ambassador Program?

It is a challenge made for pilots and aviation enthusiasts. You will collect stamps from public use airports all over Virginia. There are three distinct tiers which require you to collect a certain amount of stamps and complete other challenges as well. More about that in a little bit. This program is open to everyone. You don’t need to be a resident of Virginia, neither do you have to be a pilot. If you choose to do so, you can drive to all the locations and acquire the stamps. That’s what I did. If you can fly, it will be even better, as it will save you a lot of time on the road.

Levels & Rewards

As of writing of this post these were the three levels you can achieve and their respective requirements. Each level will reward you with a different price and requires you to fullfil different tasks. 

Airport Stamps

As you can see, you have to visit a certain amount of airports and collect a stamp at each location. Besides just collecting a certain amount of stamps, there is another challenge you have to overcome to earn the rewards. For each level, you need a certain amount of stamps but you also have to have at least one stamp from 1 of the 7 regions in Virginia. That makes it a bit tougher as you can’t just visit the 25 closest airports to you and complete the other tasks below to get your reward. I created a complete list with all airports and their respective regions in my guide on how to find the stamps. The guide also includes a map which you can copy to your phone for easy access on the go.

Joker: If you can’t get a stamp, you can take a photo at the location to prove you were there. This is possible for a maximum of two locations. I would recommend you to not use these two jokers too early in your journey, as you never know when you will need them.  

Aviation Museums

There are numerous aviation related museums throughout Virginia. You need to visit at least four of them for each level. A visit to a fifth museum can count as your fly-in stamp.

Fly-Ins

Fly-Ins are a great event where people fly into an airport to meet up with other pilots to hang out chat and head back home. You don’t need to be a pilot either to get this stamp. You just have to attend a fly-in where the Virginia Department of Aviation is Present to collect your stamp. Because of Covid the rules got adjusted and you can now visit a fifth aviation related museum instead of attending a fly-in. I have all participating museums listed in my guide on where to collect the stamps.

Safety Seminar

The probably easiest part is the safety seminar. Because of Covid the FAA put most of their seminars online. All you need is an account with the FAA Safety Team (FAAST) and select one of their online courses. Pretty much all of them are on-demand and free of charge. The only thing you have to invest is a bit of your time. Some of the courses are actually very helpful not just for pilots but also in general.  

Remember: The FAAST account is different from your regular FAA account if you have one. Your credentials won’t work and you need to create a new account.

Levels

A list with the up-to-date information about each level can be found on the Virginia Department of Aviation website.

Gold Level

1. Visit all 66 of Virginia’s Public-Use Airports.
2. Visit four (4) aviation museums in Virginia.
3. Attend one (1) safety seminar in Virginia.
4. Attend a designated fly-in.

Premium Gift: Leather Flight Jacket   

Silver Level

1. Visit 50 of Virginia’s Public-Use Airports (at least one from each of the 7 regions).
2. Visit four (4) aviation museums in Virginia.
3. Attend one (1) safety seminar in Virginia.
4. Attend a designated fly-in.

Premium Gift: Flight Bag   

Bronze Level

1. Visit 25 of Virginia’s Public-Use Airports (at least one from each of the 7 regions).
2. Visit four (4) aviation museums in Virginia.
3. Attend one (1) safety seminar in Virginia.
4. Attend a designated fly-in.

Premium Gift: Virginia Aviation Ambassadors Cap and Lapel Pin    

Mission Accepted – My Recap

As mentioned earlier, I love challenges like this. It’s not just about earning cool rewards; it is also a way to get out and explore. This challenge definitely brought me to places I would have never visited without the challenge. I also made some friends along the way and talked to a lot of cool people all in love with aviation. It was just great. 

Many of you probably know, but I don’t live in Virginia. I was there for a longer project in Washington D.C. and I am always looking for stuff to do on my time off. My time off was very limited due to the nature of the project but that might be different for you. After I received my passport at the hotel I used the first free day, which was a Sunday, to start collecting stamps. I looked up the closest stamp locations to me and decided to head south towards the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

This is a fantastic museum, which you should visit either way. I wasn’t sure how it would work out with the passport and to get the stamp. After spending way too much time in the museum and checking everything out, I asked at the info counter near the entrance if they could stamp my passport. To my surprise they knew exactly what I wanted and got my passport stamped within seconds.  

I was totally surprised. As mentioned earlier, when I ask for the airport trading cards, nobody at the airport has ever heard of them and it is a tough challenge to get these cards. Here, however, no problem. 

After that I headed to the nearest airport, which was Stafford and Shannon Airport. Here, I was worried about the same thing. Would they even know what I am talking about when I ask them to stamp my passport? Again, I got very positively surprised and the people in the airport knew exactly what was going on. 

But these were also two very small airports, just a small terminal building, nothing you are used to when you fly commercial. The only thing to keep in mind is to show up during their hours of operation. Most airports have their stamps inside and behind the counter. Most likely you will have to talk to someone to get the stamp. There are quite a few exceptions and I covered them all in my stamp location guide. This first day, I collected six stamps. All of them were super easy to get. I just went to the airports, walked in and asked for the stamp. It couldn’t be any easier. I got a few more stamps over the next few weekends. I always planned trips from my hotel to go in one direction and have a route in mind to collect as many stamps as possible in a day. 

When I start a challenge, I am hyper-focused on achieving the highest level as well as finishing the challenge as quickly as possible. With my job it’s tough, because I never know how long I will be in one spot before moving to the next project. 

The majority of the stamps were collected over Memorial Day weekend. I started Friday and finished my 4-day stamp-spree Monday night. First, I thought it would be a bad idea to spend basically most of the time in the car over a long weekend. However, it turned out to be a very bad weekend weatherwise. Lots of rain throughout the whole state. Memorial Day ceremonies were even cancelled due to the amount of rain. It was the best choice I made to go hunting for stamps.

However, it was not all positive. Because of the holiday weekend a few of the airports shut down during certain days of the weekend and nobody was available to stamp my passport. I even tried to pay the service fee, to have a guy come to the airport after hours just to stamp my passport, but they were all on vacation and hours away from the airport. At this point, I got a bit better organized and started calling ahead to the various locations on how long someone will be there. At one place I got lucky because staff stayed late to finish up stuff, at another location the guy actually walked me through over the phone how to get the stamp. Overall, everyone was super helpful and nice. One airport was nice enough to hide the stamp outside for me so I could stamp it after hours. That was so nice, as it saved me hours of circling back to that airport.  

Unfortunately, I had to go back to some airports as they were closed on specific days or it was just to late in the day and past their business hours. I stayed overnight in hotels and booked the hotels always a few minutes before arrival, as I never knew how far I would get in a given day. I saw so many pretty places, which I put on my list and have to go back to explore them more. 

The toughest location is definitely Tangier Island. It sits in the Chesapeake Bay and is only accessible by plane or boat. Tangier Island and Accomack County Airport were the last two stamps missing. I got up super early on a Sunday, drove the four hours to the airport, collect the stamp and rushed back to Onancock from where I would take a small ferry boat over to the island. I tried to go Saturday, but the ferry was already sold out for that day. I spent the whole day on the island and had a great time exploring. Wadding through flooded streets, getting up close with a Blackhawk helicopter and overall, just exploring the island.  

Tangier Island is a hidden gem and you should come here and explore it. I will post more about it in a different post. I got my stamp at Lorraine’s Seafood Restaurant where I also had a great lunch break. The waitress I talked to initially didn’t know about the stamp, but I didn’t give up as I called ahead a few days before my trip there and they told me they do have the stamp. She asked a co-worker and I was able to get my stamp. This was the last stamp I needed. 

Now, I had to only finish a FAAST safety seminar online, which is very easy and straight forward. Creating the FAAST account also helps you if you want to complete the “Explore Maryland by Air” Challenge (EMBA). It is very similar to this one, but you have to do more safety seminars, as there are not as many airports in Maryland. More about this challenge also in a different post. 

Verifying my Passport and test-fitting my Jacket

Since I aimed for the Gold level anyway, I didn’t even bother to send my passport in to get the rewards for Silver and Bronze level separately. It is recommended to come in to the Virginia Department of Aviation office in Richmond, VA to test fit the jacket if you qualify for gold level. I set up an appointment and met with Tony who is in charge of this program at the department. I had to fill out some paperwork while he was verifying my passport.  

We test-fitted the jacket to see which size fits the best. What a cool jacket that is. I am so excited once I can have mine. For a little upcharge you can have your name, tail number or whatever else you want put on the jacket as well. I opted in to have my name put on the jacket as well. It is just more personal this way. If you won’t add any additional stuff like name, tail number, the jacket is completely free of charge and the Virginia Department of Aviation will cover all costs for the jacket and shipping.  

Tony showed me around the departments and I was able to take a peek inside their hangar where they have the state’s plans parked which will fly people from the state to different locations. That was so cool to see it and even walk on some of the planes. These are the planes the governor and other politicians and dignitaries fly in. I even got a chance to sit in their Icon A5 they have and tour around to spark interest in aviation.

Conclusion

That is it! I visited 66 airports and all of the nine official aviation-related museums. I met many awesome people along the way and saw so many great places I have to come back to. 

This challenge is nothing you do on a Sunday afternoon. It requires some dedication to complete it, especially if you want to get to Gold level. I really enjoyed this challenge. The Ambassador Ceremony of 2023 will be on September 30th at Hummel Field. However, the department will mail your jackets before that to you or you can pick it up at the ceremony. I am really excited to meet fellow ambassadors and hear their stories.

As of writing this, I also just finished the Explore Maryland by Air (EMBA) challenge. I have to send off the passport now with all the copies of the FAAST certificates required. I don’t know how it will work with their jackets, if they will do a fit test as well. I just know that you can collect your jacket only during the annual event which is held around April. I am too late for it for this year, but it just gives me another reason to go back there next year.