Students with the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Eagles Flight Team are used to dropping items from their airplanes when they compete in the National Intercollegiate Flying Association’s annual competition.
But recently they were dropping something besides the containers used in the competition. They were dropping teddy bears for foster kids.
Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, the students teamed up with Kada’s Promise, a Florida non-profit that delivers toys to children in foster care, hospitals, and shelters.
They dropped the bears at 200 feet in the air at roughly 85 knots. With just 20 feet to go, a plastic parachute opened and the bears landed safely near their targets.
“It really came down perfectly,” said Luke Wadsworth, a sophomore, who named the bear he dropped Amelia Bearhart.
“We try and hit a barrel at the competition, and we usually get within 30 feet of the target, which is remarkable,” said Carson Ruhnke, a sophomore who is the team’s assistant chief pilot. “It’s an event we train especially hard for and not a lot of other schools do it.”
James Hanover, the flight team’s head coach, worked with Jennifer Capri and her 12-year-old daughter Gianna, ambassadors for the organization, on the project for April’s National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
On April 4, 2026, nearly 30 members of the flight team gathered with the Capris at Massey Ranch Airpark in Edgewater, Florida, to parachute several bears as part of an effort to raise awareness about Kada’s Promise.
“This is a great way for us to engage with each other and still do everything we love using airplanes while also helping the local community,” said Jak Kalvin, the team’s chief pilot.
“The Eagles flight team are some of the best and brightest students at Embry‑Riddle,” said Capri, who works as quality assurance manager in the Flight Training Department. “I hope this will inspire them to continue community service no matter where they land in life.”
The Capris delivered about 50 teddy bears to Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health in DeLand, where they were given to foster children.
“I love stuffed animals. It was exciting to see,” said Gianna. “I’m glad they came out to support us.”
For more information: ERAU.edu
Somewhere out there beyond our known horizons, “Berlin Candy Bomber” Colonel Gail S. Halverson is proud of what the Embry-Riddle Eagle Flight Team is doing.