Concerned over the safety of pilots and their passengers, the Longmont chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association has canceled an event for young aviation fans.

Longmont’s EAA Chapter 648 decided to call off its “Young Eagles Rally” event that was set for Saturday at the Vance Brand Airport. The airport is owned and operated by the Longmont city government.

The decision was made out of an abundance of caution amid the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation of a report that a person shot at an ultralight aircraft near the airport.

“We just felt that it was too much of a risk to put our kids in an airplane,” EAA chapter president Chad Rennicke said. “Safety is our top priority.”

On May 9, the Sheriff’s Office heard that a Longmont city employee received a concerning voice message, according to a news release. The caller reportedly claimed to have shot at an in-flight ultralight aircraft near the airport.

On Thursday, the Sheriff’s Office served a summons to a 74-year-old woman accused of leaving a threatening voicemail to the airport, according to a news release. The woman owned a starter pistol that was unable to fire live ammunition, the release said. The summons is for allegedly obstructing government operations, which is a class 2 misdemeanor. The Longmont Times-Call policy is generally to not name people unless they’re charged with felonies.

The Young Eagles program is designed to introduce aviation to kids from 8 to 17 years old. At a Young Eagles Rally event, pilots take young aviation fans into the sky as passengers in their planes, and give them flight logbooks.

“It’s a great event,” Rennicke said. “These kids dream about aviation. That’s why they sign up to come over and do this.”

Rennicke said there were 24 kids registered for the Saturday rally. This weekend’s event was to focus on serving students in the aviation program at the St. Vrain Valley Schools Innovation Center.Rennicke said registrants were told that safety is the chapter’s top concern and that members thought it would be best to cancel the event. The decision to cancel the rally was made by the EAA Chapter 648 board.

The EAA chapter does not have plans to reschedule Saturday’s event. The organization’s event calendar can be viewed at chapters.eaa.org/eaa648.

Rennicke has a hangar at the Vance Brand Airport and regularly flies his plane out of the facility. He said even if the woman who was issued the summons only claimed to have fired at the ultralight aircraft, the incident still created a major safety concern for Longmont-area pilots.

“It’s disturbing that there is a safety problem with the fact that somebody could be shooting at airplanes,” he said. “That’s just unacceptable behavior.”

According to the news release about the summons, the Sheriff’s Office does not have information that there was a credible threat to the aviation community using the Vance Brand Airport.

Last year, the Vance Brand Airport hosted an air show that drew a large number of spectators.

“To me, that shows that there’s a whole lot more support or acceptance of the airport than there are people that are really unhappy and complaining,” Rennicke said of the air show.

The investigation remains ongoing, the release said.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s Office tip line at 303-441-3674.