Linda Goering, from Bend, Oregon, feels that Goering Ranches Airport (50OR) is the perfect location for an airpark that will attract aviators from near and far.

“We started building the runway…in 1984 on what was a 200-acre property,” Goering said. “As we saved money, we bought more and more pieces, so that we ended up with a square mile surrounded by thousands of acres of BLM [Bureau of Land Management] land, yet just minutes from downtown Bend. So, it’s totally private around us, and we can’t really be encroached upon, which is important for a private airport. There are 360-degree panoramic views, including the seven-peak mountain view of the Cascades.”

Bend, a town of roughly 100,000 and home to Epic Aircraft, is touted as both a great place to visit and live. Recreational highlights range from local shops, restaurants, and golf courses to hiking trails, museums, and resorts.

“Bend has become one of the most desirable resort towns to live in this country, located along the Deschutes River in Oregon,” Goering said. “It is known for the great weather, natural beauty and year-round outdoor activities, often being called the outdoor playground of the west.Mount Bachelor Ski Resort is just minutes from town, and the crystal-clear water of the Deschutes River offers kayaking and floating the river even right through downtown. The numerous high lakes of the Cascades offer endless mountain camping and hiking opportunities.

“It is a beautiful mountain getaway with a cosmopolitan downtown appeal. The historic Old Mill District offers an outdoor amphitheater with summer concerts, more than a dozen riverside restaurants, premier shopping, a 16-screen movie theater, and many signature golf courses. Bend is known for its local 22 breweries in the area. The downtown area is filled with art galleries, boutique shopping, spas, and all types of restaurants, many with outdoor seating.”

Goering explained that the 40 year-old airport is protected into the future, so she, her husband, and others will be able to enjoy it for many years to come.

“In Oregon, we have the Airport Protection Act, which [means], if you can prove you’ve had an airport in existence for a certain amount of time, you’re pretty much protected [from it being closed],” she said. “It’s a nice little safety net. Our runway runs from north to south and is hard-packed gravel and is a little bit longer than a mile [at 5,500 feet]. My husband has flown 690 Commanders and all kinds of other planes into here.

“When we started, we got our county approval, then state approval, and finally FAA approval. Our dream has been to see if we could do an airpark. It has been a lot of work doing that, because Oregon has a lot of land use laws and state goals you have to meet for anything you do.”

In 2006, the couple began working to get approval for a fly-in community. A considerable amount of work has been done since to overcome the zoning hurdle and ensure the feasibility of an airpark.

“This ultimate destination airport development took many years to get this exclusive zoning in place,” Goering said. “It was created to provide one of the longest and most private airport facilities on the West Coast of the United States. We hired land use consultants, attorneys, and others and created this really cool zone called a ‘rural aviation community,’ a ‘RAC zone.’ The purpose of the RAC zone is to provide for private aviation and aviation housing uses within the community.”

Now that the correct zoning is in place, with the provision for clustering (cutting down on infrastructure costs), the Goerings are still planning to have their property become a fly-in community. But they have taken a step back and determined that an experienced airpark developer can better execute their vision. 

“For years, my husband has bought and sold airplanes and got into the ag aviation business,” she said. “We rebuilt turbine Thrush aircraft here, put Garretts on them. We put out about two and a half planes a year. So right now, that’s really the only things on the property, our house and hangar. There are various ways to develop this property within the approved RAC zone, depending on the intended use of residential and or aviation industry use or both. All sites would have runway access, common areas, and open spaces throughout—including walking and biking trails, a community gardening area, and outdoor gathering space for all to enjoy.

“The goal of the development…is to recognize and appreciate the existing beautiful character of the land while providing and supporting aviation activities and related uses. With a PUD (planned unit development) being put in place, zoning will allow homesites to be clustered, yet some sites could be platted as large as 80-plus acres if desired. We’ve had a lot of interest in people wanting to buy lots. But we have to have the developer in place before selling lots. This is the ultimate destination where dreams take flight it is finally ready to market.”

The Goerings plan to continue living at the private airport and keep their home and business hangar, meaning they expect there will be up to 30 homesites available for development.  

The post Oregon Airpark Development Aims to Create Access to ‘Outdoor Playground of the West’ appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

On Monday, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy thanked the public and local law enforcement for helping find the door plug that flew off Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 shortly after takeoff from Runway 28L on Friday. The aircraft made an emergency landing at Portland International Airport (KPDX).

There was no loss of life, but the 171 passengers, two pilots, and four flight attendants were understandably shaken up, noted Homendy, adding that the flight crew acted heroically in the chaotic situation.

According to preliminary information the NTSB gathered, the explosive decompression was the result of the failure of  a door plug located in Row 26 of the Boeing 737 Max 9. The door plug is a space in the fuselage that allows for an additional emergency exit door to be installed if the customer desires. Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the two largest U.S. customers for the Boeing 737 Max 9, have opted for fuselages with door plugs. From inside the cabin, you cannot tell there is an option for a door.

When the door plug on the left side of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 blew out, seats 26A and 26B, which were adjacent to the door plug, were empty. Parts of the seats were ripped away, and the remaining seat frames twisted by the force of the decompression. There was damage throughout the cabin but no serious injuries.

The door plug was found over the weekend in a Portland neighborhood west of the airport. Bob Sauer, a high school science teacher, discovered it in his backyard. The NTSB recovered the door Monday. Since it was dark when the incident happened, residents west of KPDX didn’t know there were parts of the aircraft falling from the sky until the light of day. When Sauer realized what it was, he sent a photo of it to the NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov. One of his neighbors, meanwhile, found part of a headrest from a seat on her back patio, and two cellphones were found nearby. There were no reports of injuries or damage from the falling objects.

• READ MORE: NTSB Finds Missing 737 Max 9 Door Plug in Teacher’s Backyard

During the Monday NTSB briefing, Clint Crookshanks, an aerospace engineer and part of the agency’s structures team, explained the design of the door plug, stating it is held in place by 12 stop pads on the opening that interface with 12 stop pins on the plug to prevent it from blowing out of the fuselage.

The installation of the door plug requires guide tracks and roller guides to get it into position. There is a hinge on the bottom of the door plug that allows it to be moved out approximately 15 degrees for maintenance. There are four stop bolts designed to keep it from moving upward and disengaging the stops.

“The exam to date has shown that the door did in fact translate upward, [allowing] all 12 stops became disengaged allowing it to blow out of the fuselage,” Crookshanks said. “We found that both guide tracks on the plug were fractured. We have not yet recovered the four bolts that restrain it from its vertical movement, and we have not yet determined if they existed there. That will be determined when we take the plug to our lab in Washington, D.C.”

The search for evidence continues, said Homendy.

“We are still looking for the bottom hinge fitting and a spring,” she said. “It is a pretty large spring. The fitting is a green circular piece with a hole in it.”

The NTSB will put the parts under microscopic examination in an effort to determine why the failure occurred.

Flight Telemetry Tells the Story

Although the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was overwritten because it was not removed from the aircraft before its two-hour cycle was up, investigators do have information gleaned from the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) for the January 5 flight.

At 17:06:47 p.m., Flight 1282 took off from Runway 28L at KPDX.

At 17:12:33, the recorded cabin pressure dropped from 14.09 to 11.64 PSI. The aircraft was at approximately 14,083 feet at an airspeed of 271 knots. At this time, the cabin altitude greater than 10,000 feet warning was activated.

At 17:12:34, the master caution activated as the cabin pressure dropped to 9.08 PSI. The aircraft was at an altitude of 14,850 feet.

The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 16,320 feet then began a descent to 10,000 feet and returned to KPDX.

Homendy noted that the agency aircraft systems team is focusing on the cabin pressure control system, as there were three occasions when the auto pressurization light illuminated. She said this computer-run system has a triple redundancy with one primary cabin pressure controller, a secondary controller, and a manual controller. If the primary and secondary computer-run systems fail, the crew activates the system manually to maintain safe cabin pressurization.

“If either one of the computer systems is inoperative, the FAA allows the operator to continue flying the aircraft,” Homendy said.

The NTSB has verified the maintenance logs of the aircraft that indicate the redundant system “operated as designed on December 7, January 3, and January 4.” The flight crew notified maintenance of the warning light illumination as required, but it has not been determined if the warning lights were “correlated in any way to the expulsion of the door plug and the rapid decompression.”

The investigation into the blowout could take months.

In the meantime, the world’s 737 Max 9 fleet is grounded, resulting in hundreds of flight cancellations and delays. The FAA is working with operators to develop an inspection process.

Alaska Airlines, the FAA, Boeing, and Spirit Aero, the makers of the fuselage of the 737 Max 9, are working together to identify the issues so that the aircraft can safely return to flight.

The post NTSB Identifies Part That Failed on 737 Max 9 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The loss of the door plug resulted in what has been described as “explosive decompression.”

During a media update Sunday, Homendy noted that the teacher took photographs of the refrigerator-sized door and contacted the agency via witness@NTSB.gov.

Homendy described the door plug as a “yellowish green on one side, which might make it blend into the vegetation, and white on the other, measuring 26 by 43 inches and weighing 63 pounds.”

The NTSB chief called the door plug a crucial piece of evidence in the investigation into what caused the incident aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. The aircraft took off from Portland International Airport (KPDX) just before 5 p.m. PST on Friday, then as the aircraft climbed through 16,000 feet en route to Ontario, California, the door plug blew off the aircraft, triggering explosive decompression.

• READ MORE: Alaska Airlines Grounds 737 Max Fleet Following Explosive Decompression

The door plugs are located in row 26 of the aircraft. The seats adjacent to the left side door plug were not occupied at the time. Homendy noted the force of the decompression damaged seats and sucked loose items, such as cellphones, out of the aircraft. No serious injuries were reported to the 177 persons on board.

During the media update, Homendy stressed that the part that departed the aircraft was a door plug and not a door, because it is not usable for entry and egress of the aircraft. The right-side door plug, which is still on the aircraft, is undergoing a detailed inspection on Monday.

The agency is working with Boeing to obtain technical information about the door plug and shared a description of the part, stating it has two hinges on the bottom that allow it to open for inspection about 15 degrees. In addition, the door plug has “12 stop fittings, six on each side, which are essentially circles on the door plug that line up with circles on the airliner. The purpose of these stop fittings is to prevent the door plug from being pushed out of the airframe.”

According to Homendy, the NTSB’s structures team spent the weekend studying damage to the aircraft and what are called “witness marks” on the airframe and identifying components that will be sent back to the agency structures lab for analysis. The components will be inspected under a microscope to look for paint marks, fractures, deformation, and evidence of shearing.

The aircraft systems are also under scrutiny, as the team noted the auto pressurization light illuminated on flights on December 7, January 3, and January 4. The flight crew followed procedure, activating the backup and reporting the issue to the airline’s maintenance staff. It was checked out by maintenance, and the aircraft returned to service with restriction that it not be flown to Hawaii as a precaution.

Homendy said the airline had ordered an additional maintenance inspection of the light, but it was not completed before the decompression flight.

The NTSB has requested documentation of “all defects of the aircraft since its delivery on October 31 of 2023.”

Damage to the Aircraft

According to the NTSB, there was no external damage to the aircraft. However, there was on the interior, including torn parts of plastic trim and insulation and damaged interior plastic windows—none of which is considered structural in nature. Damage was reported in rows 33, 32, 31, 27, 26, 25, 12, 11, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

The door plugs are located in row 26 on the 737 Max 9. The headrests from seats 26A and 25A were torn, the seats were “torqued,” and the seat back and tray table of 26A are missing. Homendy noted seats 26A and 26B were not occupied during the flight, adding, “We have 178 seats on this plane, 171 had passengers in them.”

The oxygen masks were deployed as a result of the decompression. Homendy said the tubing for oxygen masks in 26A and 26B were found sheared off.

There were three infants aboard the flight being held in the laps of their caregivers. They were not harmed, but Homendy noted that while the FAA permits children under the age of 2 to be held on the lap of an adult during flight, the NTSB, FAA, and Alaska Airlines recommend that caregivers carry their children in car seats, purchasing a seat for the infant and strapping them in just as they would in an automobile.

Four unaccompanied minors also were on the flight. Homendy said that when the incident happened, the flight attendants were very focused on making sure the minors had their lap belts and oxygen masks on and praised them for their actions during the emergency. Homendy said the NTSB is gathering information from the flight attendants as part of the investigation.

The Flight Deck

According to Homendy, the flight crew reported hearing a loud bang, and the flight deck door sprung open. The copilot “jolted forward, losing her headset, and the captain lost part of his.” They immediately put on their oxygen masks. The quick reference, laminated checklists that were in front of both pilots were sucked out of the aircraft, so the captain grabbed the quick reference handbook kept in a pocket on the flight deck and handed it to the first officer.

The flight deck door slammed against the lavatory door, and was pinned there, but there was no one inside. It took a flight attendant three tries to get the flight deck door closed. Communication between the flight deck and cabin was very difficult because of the noise.

The Investigation

The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) were sent to the NTSB lab on Sunday. The information on the FDR is helping the agency narrow the search area for evidence.

Businesses and homeowners in the area have been asked to check their roofs for parts of the aircraft or other items that may have been ejected from the jet. Two cellphones were found along a road in the vicinity of the door plug.

Homendy noted that citizens in the area were using drones to search for evidence, and she asked that homeowners and businesses with security cameras to check for any video of the event, which happened at 5:11 p.m. PST on Friday.

“If you see something, please report it to us, [at] witness@ntsb.gov, or please call local authorities,” Homendy said.

Homendy said the investigation may be hampered somewhat because the CVR would be no help.

“[It was] completely overwritten,” she said. “There is nothing on the cockpit voice recorder. …There was a lot going on the flight deck, and on the airplane it was a very chaotic event. The circuit breaker for the CVR was not pulled. The maintenance team went out to get it, but it was at the two-hour mark, and it was completely overwritten—at two hours, it rerecords over it.”

She noted that since 2018 the NTSB has done four investigations where the CVRs were overwritten, among them a situation in San Francisco when an Air Canada flight came within 60 feet of landing on a taxiway where four other aircraft, carrying a total of 1,000 people, were holding. The Air Canada flight executed a go-around.

Homendy said the NTSB is appealing to the FAA to increase the time on CVRs from two hours to 25, “which is consistent with Europe and many other countries.” She added that the time used to be 30 minutes before overwriting took place.

The FAA has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to extend the CVR overwrite time on newly manufactured aircraft but not on aircraft already in use. Homendy suggested the FAA adjust the NPRM to include retrofitting of aircraft already in service, pointing out that airliners often have a lifespan of 40 years or more.

“I am calling on the FAA to change the rulemaking for 25-hour CVRs, not just new but retrofitting aircraft,” she said. “If the FAA won’t do it, we hope Congress will in the FAA authorization bill to ensure that it does happen.”

Homendy added that the NTSB may be on the Portland scene for weeks.

Alaska Airlines immediately grounded all of its 737 Max 9s  following the incident.

A few hours later, the FAA grounded all 737 Max 9 aircraft, mandating they be inspected immediately. As a result, there have been hundreds of flight cancellations for airlines that fly the 737 Max 9, among them Alaska and United.

Spirit AeroSystems, the Wichita, Kansas, manufacturer of the Boeing 737 Max jets, is assisting in the investigation. Boeing also has a technical team supporting the NTSB probe.

The post NTSB Finds Missing 737 Max 9 Door Plug in Teacher’s Backyard appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Jump Aero, a manufacturer of eVTOL aircraft for emergency response, on Tuesday announced it is working with the Oregon Department of Aviation to bring its JA1 Pulse to the state’s rural population. 

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the partners cements Oregon as the latest state with plans to introduce the model, which Jump Aero bills as the “world’s fastest sustainable personal aircraft.” 

Capable of reaching a top speed of 250 knots in short dashes—above the speed limit under Class B airspace around many metro areas, but suitable for rural areas—it’s designed to cut emergency response times in half, allowing first responders to fly within a 31 sm (27 nm) radius in as little as eight minutes under certain limitations.

The announcement follows Jump Aero’s collaboration with the Utah Department of Transportation’s Aeronautics Division, which is exploring how the Pulse could augment the state’s first responders.

“We are confident that the JA1 Pulse will be a critical lifesaving tool in Oregon and look forward to working with first responders there and in the growing list of partner regions,” said Carl Dietrich, president and CEO of Jump Aero. “This MOU and the work it represents is directly in line with Jump Aero’s mission.”

The MOU predicts that Oregon will need up to 126 Pulse eVTOLs to “ensure that a trained professional is on the scene as quickly as possible.” The agreement also states that the aircraft “can make a dramatic impact by helping save lives of Oregon residents and tourists” because of its ability to traverse long distances and challenging terrain in as little as eight minutes.

According to research from the Journal of the American Medical Association, emergency medical services typically take seven minutes to arrive on scene after a 911 call is made. However, the median response time rises to 14 minutes in rural areas, with about 1 in 10 victims waiting close to half an hour for personnel to arrive. Such trips can span longer distances, but winding roads and hilly geography can pose obstacles for ground-based support.

“We look forward to building a long-term relationship with Jump Aero as we explore providing rapid first response to our rural communities with the JA1 Pulse,” said Kenji Sugahara, director of the Oregon Department of Aviation. “We are excited to be bringing cutting-edge solutions to Oregon residents which will positively impact their health and lives in such a dramatic way.”

The Pulse’s 330-pound payload allows it to carry a pilot as well as emergency supplies, though it will not transport patients. And despite its VTOL architecture, the aircraft won’t replace helicopters.

Rather, Pulse is designed to complement ambulances and rotorcraft by providing initial on-scene support to locations where helicopters typically can’t land, such as a two-way residential street. An ambulance would also be dispatched in this scenario, though the expectation is that it would arrive later. 

The tail-sitter biplane—which stands nose-up on the runway—can be deployed in less than 60 seconds, while piston- or turbine-engine rotorcraft take a bit longer to start and initialize for flight. While fully assembled, it’s compact enough to fit in a flatbed trailer, allowing personnel to transport and deploy it where needed.

The Pulse cruises on a pair of fixed wings and runs on eight independent batteries powering eight motors, four on each set of wings. During takeoff, the pilot stands upright before transitioning to a prone position—à la Superman—as the aircraft tilts forward.

A large belly window gives the pilot—who would be looking straight down—an unobstructed view of the ground below, helping to enable trickier landings on slopes as steep as 10 degrees. Safety features include simplified flight controls with full envelope protection, ballistic airframe parachute, and adaptive flight controller. The aircraft can continue hovering at about 9,500 feet with a failed propulsor.

So far, Jump Aero has yet to announce a hard entry-into-service deadline for the Pulse. Some eVTOL manufacturers, including Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation, hope to launch commercial air taxi services as soon as 2025. Others, such as Wisk, are looking further out, eyeing the range of 2028 to 2030.

When Pulse is eventually rolled out, it will have a few early customers. In an announcement unveiling the design, Jump Aero revealed that Falck Ambulance Services purchased an option to order a single aircraft, making the Danish firm its first prospective buyer. Just a few weeks later, a second customer, Australian sustainable innovation holdings company Electro Ventures, placed an order for 10 aircraft.

Jump Aero is backed by AFWERX, the innovation arm of the U.S. Air Force—a recent $1.8 million tactical funding increase (TACFI) brought its total contract value with the department to $5.4 million. AFWERX will partially fund Jump Aero’s first full-scale, proof-of-concept prototype and work with the company to mature its technology.

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The post More Than 100 Electric Aircraft for First Responders May Be Headed to Oregon appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Known as the “first stealth fighter,” the aircraft with its distinctive angular lines is one of 10 displayed in a museum. The official welcome party will beNovember 11 in honor of Veterans Day.

Tickets for the event were sold out by Wednesday, noted Alissa Kobe, museum marketing manager, demonstrating just how much people like this aircraft.

“Everyone is excited about this,” said Kobe.

The airplane, also dubbed  as “The Lone Wolf,” will take its place in the museum’s space wing next to a Lockheed SR-71.

“Few individuals have been lucky enough to see this aircraft in person, and we have the unique privilege of being the only museum in the Pacific Northwest to provide this experience to our guests,” said museum CEO Tyson Weinert. “Sharing the Lone Wolf’s restoration journey from this first moment adds a new dimension to our community engagement.”

The keynote speaker at the welcome event will be Major General Gregory A. Feest, the Air Force chief of safety, at  U.S. Air Force headquarters in Washington, D.C., and commander, Air Force safety center at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. He is a command pilot with more than 5,600 flying hours, including several in combat flying the F-117.

About the F-117

The design for the F-117 began to take shape in the 1970s during the Cold War. It was a top secret project, as classified as it gets. Much of the early design and testing was done in “secret places in the desert,” and it flew for the first time in 1985. When the aircraft was finally unveiled to the public, it looked so unusual that there were some who swore it was alien technology. The faceted design was ostensibly created to give the aircraft a lower radar profile.

• READ MORE: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force – Stealth Aircraft

The Nighthawk was used extensively during the first Gulf War. According to Kobe, the museum’s F-117, serial number 85-0816, was credited as dropping the first bomb in Desert Storm and went  on to fly 39 missions during that conflict and another eight during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The aircraft was retired on October 12, 2007, and put into storage in Nevada. It had to be dismantled to be moved to Oregon.

“We had to do fundraising to move it here from Tonopah, Nevada, and now we are fundraising in order to begin the restoration of the aircraft,” said Kobe, adding that the pace of restoration is being driven by the amount of donations the museum gets from the community.

When aircraft like this are delivered to museums, they often arrive in shifts like a giant puzzle.
The day FLYING spoke with Kobe, the wings of the aircraft and a box of smaller parts arrived at the museum. Kobe stressed that the aircraft will be viewed from the outside only at this time and that all the “top secret bells and whistles” were removed from the airplane prior to its shipment. Although the F-117 was officially retired from its Air Force combat role in 2009, a few are still flying, and their technology is still classified.

The restoration process will be a long one, according to Kobe, but the museum plans to make the most of the educational opportunity by reaching out to schools that have 3D printers and asking for their help in making parts. The museum will have the assistance of those who were part of the development of the aircraft, and it will also be able to reach out to Lockheed for consultation.

The museum is encouraging donations to facilitate the restoration project.

“The faster we get the money, the faster the project can be completed,” said Kobe.

For more information visit evergreenmuseum.org.

The post Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum Accepts Rare Bird appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

According to the late aviation historian Peter Bowers, the Adcox Student Prince began as a design by Basil Smith intended to be a two-seat, open-cockpit biplane and used as a trainer. The airplane was built by students at Adcox Trade School near Portland in 1929. According to Bowers, the airplane was built on contract for Jerry Wildman, a Portland-area pilot who financed the project.

The design was such a hit that Adcox decided to mass-produce the aircraft. A factory was built outside of Portland, on Swan Island along the Willamette River.

The Student Prince is not a terribly complicated design. The fuselage and tail surfaces are welded steel tubing, and the wings used wooden spars and wood-truss ribs at first. Pressed sheet aluminum was later used for the ribs. The fuel tank, fitted in the center section of the wing, holds approximately 22.5 gallons.

The powerplant of the aircraft varied. The one-off Adcox Student Prince had an 85 hp Cirrus Mk III, later a 90 hp Ace engine. The Kinner K-5 also became a popular choice. 

Unfortunately, the Great Depression was underway at the time of its inception, and the airplane market was soft to nonexistent—the lack of customers and flooding from winter rains closed the factory down.

“Less than six of the aircraft were produced and only three were certified. Number 101, 102, and 103. Those were the last three that were built before the economy tanked,” says Tim Talen, a pilot and aircraft restorer from Springfield, Oregon. Talen, the founder of the Oregon Aviation Historical Society, has been restoring vintage aircraft since the 1970s, “taking them from basket case to award winners,” he says. Talen owns Student Prince No. 101: “The prototype for the certified airplanes,” says Talen. “The Student Prince was the first certified production airplane built in Oregon.”

Student Prince No. 101

Talen had heard stories about a Student Prince in the Pacific Northwest, and he went looking for it. He learned about Skeeter Carlson, a vintage aviation pilot with a Student Prince in Spokane. Skeeter told him he had another Student Prince that was a basket case and asked Talen if he would be interested in a trade.

“A few years later, I had a Fleet airplane and I asked, ‘How about trading the Fleet for the SP?’” says Talen. Unfortunately, the airplane was without an engine. “I was trading for a complete airplane and engine, but no, Skeeter said just the airframe, so I had to go out and find my own engine. I got a Kinner.”

Missing parts are often part of the challenge when restoring a vintage aircraft, says Talen, and the restorer often finds themself searching for an airplane of the same make and model to take measurements.

A Student Prince was operated by Bert and Fred Zimmerly, who opened a flying service in 1934 in Lewiston, Idaho, according to a story in the April 1941 issue of FLYING.The brothers used the airplane as a trainer while they developed their commercial opera-tions serving the community along with a seven-placeZenith. The pair moved operations to Clarkston in1938. Turns out, this was Student Prince No. 101.

Charlie Brown, Serial No. 102

Now, Student Prince No. 102 certainly belongs to Charlie Brown of Sandpoint, Idaho. Brown, an octogenarian pilot and aviation mechanic, estimates he’s restored around 23 aircraft. He also acquired his Student Prince from Skeeter Carlson. It was one of many projects left unfinished after Carlson’s death.

“He had a lot of airplanes,” said Brown. “He bought [the Student Prince] in 1947. He had taken it apart some 35 years ago so he could recover it, and basically it didn’t happen. After Skeeter died, his family wanted to get rid of the airplane stuff and I found it in his barn. I acquired it in 2016—it was about 90 percent there. It took about four years to restore it.”

Brown notes it had the original seats. “The seats are Naugahyde and tall and narrow, and it’s stamped on them they were made on Swan Island near Portland, Oregon.” According to Brown the instrument panel is basic, “A tachometer, a compass, airspeed, oil pressure and temperature, and that’s pretty much it.” He notes his airplane sports a 145 hp Warner, more powerful than the other Student Princes.

Brown’s Student Prince is orange, which is a creative choice, he says. “I have seen some original 1930s pictures of the Student Prince and I think they were all silver back then,” he said, adding that it is difficult to tell since the images are in black and white.

During the restoration, Brown, like Talen, sought out a fully intact Student Prince for reference—that Student Prince No. 103, belongs to Summer Martell of Port Townsend, Washington.

Summer Martell, Student Prince No. 103

Summer Martell is a 15,000-hour ATP-rated corporate pilot and designated pilot examiner from Port Townsend, Washington. According to Martell, her airplane was the last one the factory finished before it shut down. She’s been flying the airplane since her teen years—it belonged to her father, who was known as “Flyin’ Bryan.”

Martell’s parents were divorced and she was living with her mother in Palmer, Alaska, when her father was learning to fly. He started in tricycle gear airplanes but soon made the transition to tailwheel.

“He saw the Student Prince in a hangar at an airport, and he said it smiled at him, and he knew he had to have it,” she says. Her father sent her photographs of himself next to his newly acquired Student Prince, and it wasn’t long before Summer joined her father in Washington and started taking flying lessons in the antique open-cockpit biplane, which her father christened “Lady Summer.”

Father and daughter would spend the summers barnstorming. Summer’s job was to haul cans of gas, and collect the money while her dad gave rides.

When she was 16, she learned to hand-prop the airplane to get it started as it doesn’t have an electrical system or starter. Martell learned to fly in the Student Prince, soloing at 16. A year later, after her father’s untimely and non-aviation-related death, she inherited the airplane.

She put herself to work as a modern-day barnstormer as she built her hours and became a professional pilot. There’s still nothing she loves more than giving rides at airshows and fly-ins.

When other Student Prince owners need information on a part, it’s Martell’s aircraft that is photographed and measured. 

“It underwent a complete restoration in 2009,” she says, adding that she learned to buy and hoard Kinnerparts whenever she could. Recently, she added a Kinnerstarter to the airplane. 

“I’ve been hand-propping that plane since I was 16. The convenience and safety a starter will add outweighs the nostalgia of hand propping,” she explained.

Martell flies the airplane about 50 hours a year, mostly in the summer.

“My father used to tell me that flying was my inheritance. His words proved to be prophetic, and the Student Prince has been the key to that kingdom. It has affected, influenced, and shaped my life more than anything or anyone. When it comes to the two of us, I will always be the student, and it will forever be my Prince.”

Adcox Special Student Prince

The rarest of the rare, the Adcox Special Student Prince N10471, also resides in Washington state, owned by Keith Dyson, an AP/IA and commercial pilot. Aviation runs in the family, as it was Dyson’s father Hank who found the Adcox parked at the Kennewick, Washington, airport in 1957.

“It had been modified by having the original American Cirrus engine removed and replaced by a Kinner B-5 that had swallowed a valve,” says Dyson. “Dad trucked it home, removed the Kinner and replaced it with a Continental W670, which it still has. It was given a full restoration—back in the air in the early 1960s.”

It was in that airplane that Keith Dyson, age four, took his first airplane ride. “The event forever hooked me into the world of aviation,” he says. “Dad kept the airplane until 1968 when he traded it for building materials and construction equipment to build a very large home on the family homestead near Eatonville, Washington, but he always kept track of where the Adcox traveled. During his final year with United Airlines in 1988, he used part of his retirement to purchase the airplane back, and it has been back in the family ever since.”

The senior Dyson flew west in 2012, leaving his son to care for the antique. 

“I am currently putting N10471 back together following rebuilding new floorboards. Fortunately for me, the Adcox has not required another full-on restoration, and I’ve not had to deal with anything other than routine maintenance.”

The best part of being the caretaker of the Adcox Student Prince—because no one really ever owns an antique airplanes, they are simply caretakers—says Dyson, is “knowing I’m working on a piece of history that has been touched by so many extremely talented people that loved antique open cockpit biplanes. I plan to hold onto this great old bird as long as I can. 

“I was so incredibly fortunate this great airplane chose me!

The post A Tale of Four Princes appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The May 15 incident occurred during a routine training mission around 3:15 p.m. PDT at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls. The jet is assigned to the Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing.

“Upon landing the aircraft left the paved surface and came to a stop in the Bureau of Reclamation irrigation canal at the south side of the runway,” the 173rd Wing said in a statement.

• READ MORE: Army, Air National Guard Helicopter Accidents a Result of Human Error, GAO Finds

The pilot, who is an instructor, was able to walk away from the mishap and was transported to a local medical facility as a precaution and for evaluation.

Following the incident, efforts were made to minimize the potential environmental impact, Air Force officials said.

• READ MORE: Higher Rates of Cancer for Military Pilots, Ground Crew, DOD Study Finds

“We don’t believe the aircraft is leaking any petroleum products based on our initial assessment of the water in the canal,” Colonel Micah Lambert, 173rd Fighter Wing vice commander, said in a statement. “Minimizing the environmental impact is one of our main priorities; we have taken precautionary measures and placed absorbent booms around the aircraft to prevent the flow of fuel, or other substances, downstream in the event there is a leakage.” 

The Air Force is working with local and federal agencies, including the Bureau of Reclamation, to remove the aircraft from the canal. A team of officers has been assigned to investigate the incident.

The post Probe Underway After F-15 Skids Off Runway Into Canal appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

History of the B-52G

The Museum’s B-52G Stratofortress was built in Wichita, Kansas, and delivered to the United States Air Force on September 23, 1960, to be part of the Air Force’s Strategic Air Command.

In 1963 the aircraft was transferred to the Air Force’s 397th Bombardment Wing at Dow Air Force Base in Bangor, Maine. According to Christian Gurling, the Curator of the Tillamook Air Museum, in 1964 the city of Bangor was given honorary ownership of the airplane and the bomber was christened The City of Bangor by Sheryllee Kay Jones, who held the title of Miss Bangor, having won a beauty contest that was a precursor to the Miss America pageant. A bottle of champagne was ceremoniously broken on the nose of the airplane.

The former pageant winner, now Sherry Lowe, will be traveling to Oregon to help the museum re-christen the airplane as Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead.

The airplane has had many names and many missions over the years, both in the U.S. and overseas. Among the most notable, in 1972, the B-52 took part in Operation Bullet Shot and Operation Linebacker II over North Vietnam.

In 1991 the museum’s B-52 was part of the first Gulf War.

“Along the way, the airplane was also given several more names,” says Gurling. “In addition to City of Bangor, the aircraft was called Soiee, Armed & Ready/Make My Day, Heavy Metal, and Boodrow.”

In November 12, 1991, the airplane was retired to the Aircraft Storage & Disposition Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, colloquially known as “the boneyard.” Per the disarmament treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the aircraft was cut into five pieces. The cockpit was obtained by the now-defunct Southern Utah Aviation Museum with a plan to restore it. When the museum closed, the cockpit was sold to Doug Scroggins of Scroggins Aviation Mockup & Effects, a company that supplies Hollywood with aviation mockups for movies.

A series of small misfortunes followed. According to Gurling, “After Scroggins Aviation took possession of the piece, the cockpit was vandalized with spray paint. To remove the spray paint, the airplane was power washed, which unfortunately ruined the airplane’s paint job.”

Scroggins Aviation subsequently loaned the B-52 to the Tillamook Air Museum. The cockpit has been under restoration since September 2021. It will be restored to the configuration and colors it wore during the first Gulf War.

Additional Cockpits on Display 

The museum takes great pride in its collection of cockpit trainers which are on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.

“All the instruments are there, everything is complete,” notes Gurling. “Since we have had them at the museum people have been allowed inside them.”

The trainers are located on a runway display and represent a Corsair, A4 Skyhawk, and Sky Warrior.

The post Invitation to a Cockpit Party appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Those were the first words out of my mouth when I laid eyes on the Hughes Flying Boat, aka the Hercules, colloquially known as the Spruce Goose. Not terribly poetic, I know, but it was from the heart.

The last time I was inside the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, was 20 years ago, when the facility was under construction. At the time, the Spruce Goose was across the street in pieces, shrink-wrapped and waiting for installation. The museum was in the excavation stage, and I stood in the 7-foot deep pit that had been dug to hold the hull of the behemoth aircraft. 

On Friday, November 4, 2022, I was back, and face to face with one of the most iconic and impressive feats of aeronautical engineering ever achieved. Up until that moment, the largest airplane I had been physically close to was a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy that Dad had taken me to see when I was a kid. For the record, the Spruce Goose wingspan bests the C-5 by approximately 97 feet, and the tail of the wooden behemoth is over 100 feet tall. I submit the exclamation was warranted.

Let’s Take a Tour

The museum campus sports three buildings: a theater, a wing for more modern aircraft, spacecraft and the SR-71 Blackbird, and the structure that houses the Hughes Flying Boat. There are also several aircraft outside on static display, including multiple military jets, a Douglas C-47 that towed gliders on D-Day, a Boeing 747 painted in the livery of Evergreen Flying Service, and a McDonnell-Douglas VC-9C that served as Air Force Two for decades. There is also a waterpark, Wings and Waves, for those who desire a more kinetic experience.

The star of the museum, of course, is the Flying Boat, the largest seaplane in the world, which was apropos for my visit on a really rainy day even by western Oregon standards—ducks were donning rain gear and frogs were wearing flotation devices. 

Barry Greenberg, the secretary/treasurer of the museum, chairman of the collection and acquisitions committee, and founder of the Spruce Goose Advisory Board, escorted me to the center of the main building where the Flying Boat reigns supreme.

I had been warned that the aircraft is so large that it’s hard to comprehend as you approach it. This is true. It takes you a moment to realize that the big silver-gray thing that is overhead is a wing. The aircraft sports eight Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major 28-cylinder, air-cooled radial piston engines with four-bladed propellers—each blade longer than I am tall. I was told the hull measures 265 feet wide and the mid spar of the wings measures 322 feet.

Although the hull is countersunk into the floor by about 7 feet, a staircase is necessary to reach the main boarding door of the aircraft. There is a platform there with an informational plaque and a cadre of well-informed docents waiting to show you the aircraft.

We were greeted by Wayne Swanson, one of the docents who specializes in tours of the Spruce Goose. The docents at the museum wear green vests covered with military patches. The first thing Swanson showed me was a sample of the material from which the airframe is crafted—Duramold. The sample Swanson pulled from his pocket looked more like the layers from a Kit Kat candy bar rather than a slice of modern plywood. Duramold is a composite material made from birch wood impregnated with phenolic resin, then laminated and put under heat and pressure resulting in something as light and strong as steel.

“The skin is made of nine plies, but don’t call it plywood,” he said, as he tapped gently on the fuselage. The sound is unmistakably wooden. According to Swanson, 8,000 nails were used to hold the wood layers together as the three different types of glue and heat were combined to cure the material that would become the wings. A special nail gun was developed to put the nails in and another tool created to take the nails out when the wood and glue layers had cured.

Inside the Engineering Marvel

You enter on the cargo deck and the ceiling is high above you. It is almost like stepping into a cathedral. The aircraft smells different from the other restorations I have been aboard—it took me a moment to realize I was smelling the wood. Most large aircraft smell of plastic and metal. The first thing you want to do when you enter the flying boat is look towards the aft section. The museum has taken care to light the aft deck so you can see allllllll the way down the tail—a distance of approximately 200 feet down a tunnel of ribs that become progressively narrower. You get the impression of looking into infinity.

• READ MORE: When the ‘Spruce Goose’ Took Flight

Using a flashlight—a necessity as for the most part, the lighting inside the Spruce Goose is subdued—Swanson pointed out the details of the great airplane. For example, the

I-beams are made from laminated wood and are “super strong,” and the corner brackets—also made of wood, some of which are as thin as a playing card or a credit card, depending on the angle.

How can something so thin be so strong? Swanson explained, “In the 1940s they rotated the grain of each ply. The first one was vertical, the second was 45 degrees off, then 90, so everytime they put a ply in, they rotated the grain. Today they call that engineered plywood.”

Swanson proceeded to tap on the aircraft as he described the ribs of the aircraft, which measure 3 by 5.5 inches and larger where the wing joins the fuselage.

“That wing is 322 feet long,” he continued. “That’s end to end, and so big that you can’t build it in one piece. You have to build it in at least two pieces. They had a left half and a right half as you couldn’t even transport a 322-foot I-beam.”

The aircraft has a gross weight of 400,000 pounds. “[It’s] the same as a 747 and could hold 120,000 pounds of cargo,” he said.

Fuel Tanks

A lighted hatch leads to a bilge that holds the fuel tanks. The aircraft burned the 130 octane aviation gasoline available in the period. “Each tank has 900 gallons, and there are 14 tanks, which gives you 12,600 gallons,” Swanson said, adding, “Multiply that by 7 because each gallon weighs 7 pounds and that gives you almost 100,000 pounds of fuel.” (I did the math: it comes out to 88,200 pounds of fuel.)

Fuel hoses run from the bilge to each engine. Electric pumps moved the fuel. Hughes liked redundancy, noted Swanson. “Everything is in parallel. There are two fuel hoses and two pumps on each engine so if one fails, the other one takes over. He did an analysis of everything that could fail on the airplane, everything that could keep the engines from running and made sure it had two sources so there are two fuel sources, two oil sources, two hydraulic sources, two electric sources.”

The wings and the engine compartments are large enough for a man to stand in. The engines are placed at 20-foot intervals on the wings. According to Swanson, the original engines were rated at 3,000 hp, but then they were modified to 3,500 hp.

“A person can go to that engine in flight and adjust the throttle or tighten up hoses and things as all the accessories are on the back of the engine,” he continued. “A series of intercom radios enabled Hughes to communicate with the crew, which on the flight consisted of a pilot, [a] copilot, and [an] engineer for engine instruments, and a second engineer for utilities such as hydraulic pressure.”

A hydraulically actuated control system—developed by Hughes—was a necessity, as the size and therefore the weight of the control surfaces were far beyond anything that had come before. The ailerons, for example, measure 140 feet long. Although they were covered with fabric, it was said it would take the strength of 200 men to move them if the aircraft was rigged with cables and pulleys like the multiengine bombers of the day.

Fire Extinguishers and Beach Balls

Inside the cargo hold just behind a stanchion rope there are 16 red fire extinguishers—two for each engine—and a pile of inflated red, yellow, and blue beach balls. The beach balls are there for buoyancy should the aircraft go down on the water.

The application of the beach balls was a take on Hughes’ 1938 around-the-world flight where concerns about ditching at sea inspired him to load his aircraft with 80 pounds of ping-pong balls in the wings and fuselage to keep the aircraft afloat in the event of a water landing.

“He couldn’t get enough ping-pong balls for this airplane so he went with beach balls,” Swanson said, “although there is some controversy as to if they were on board during the one and only flight.”

Another Hughes engineering marvel was an electrical system of 120 volt DC, which allowed for the use of smaller cables and wires, saving considerable weight despite the miles of wiring required for the system.

The Flight Deck

The flight deck is above the cargo hold, accessed through a circular staircase. One of the first things you will notice when you get there are rows of what look like theater seats behind the raised platform where the pilots sit. This flight deck is spacious in every sense of the word. On the port side, there is a series of plexiglas windows that were installed when the aircraft was on display in Long Beach, California—the other side is solid bulkhead, leading a person to wonder how dark the aircraft was back in the day, when the only source of natural light came from cockpit windows.

The aircraft featured built-in coffee urns. [Courtesy: Meg Godlewski]

Hughes was known for eccentricities but he did like his comforts—there are built-in coffee urns on the flight deck.

The flight engineer’s station is located aft of the pilots’ seats on the starboard side of the fuselage. It is a wall of dials stacked 11 high and eight across next to panels of annunciator lights and switches. The dials measure manifold pressure, tachometer, oil temperature and pressure, fuel pressure, cylinder head temperature, and fuel flow—that’s how you keep track of eight engines. The other panels display the output of the three electrical generators, and monitor the aircraft systems for fire—a bad thing in any aircraft but particularly dangerous in one that is made primarily of wood.

Across from the engineer’s station are monitors for a series of strain gauges installed for the taxi tests. “They ran the engines when the aircraft was under construction but they couldn’t run them under load until the test flight,” Swanson explained, adding that the wing load of the aircraft had an arc of 13 feet “so they needed to structurally test where it was overbuilt or underbuilt.”

The information from each strain gauge was recorded on magnetic tape.

I was offered the chance to try out the left seat—and, of course, I had to put on the Hughes-esque hat that you must wear when you do this. Barry graciously took the right seat for the full effect.

The first thing struck me about the left side of the cockpit was the throttle quadrant—eight levers in all. As a multiengine pilot, I’ve had the experience of having to bring both throttles up simultaneously. I very gingerly stretched my hand out to see if I could get all eight levers at once. I didn’t move them—but hovered over them. The answer is yes, I can reach all eight at once. I share this as one of my siblings, when we were watching the movie, The Aviator, asked if I would be able to fly the Spruce Goose. I said yes, as it was all physics—bring the throttles up to get enough thrust to get airflow over the wings and up she goes.

There is another set of throttle levers on the copilot’s side—Hughes’ redundancy again.

The arrangement of the instrument panel is confusing by today’s standards. Most of the aircraft I have flown are post-1967 designs with the standardized placement of the so-called six pack: airspeed on the top row, far left; the attitude indicator then altimeter; then on the second row, left to right, the turn coordinator/slip skid indicator, heading indicator, and vertical speed indicator.

On the Spruce Goose, I had to spend a few minutes looking for these instruments—trying to do an IFR scan in this airplane would definitely be difficult. Some of the instruments are located below the pilot’s field of view, underneath the yoke.

The airplane has a slip skid indicator—two actually—without the upside-down “doghouse” markings, although there is a yaw indicator next to the one on the pilot’s side at eye level. The attitude indicator is the 1940s-style black ball with tick marks at the top to indicate bank angle and a stylized aircraft for pitch. The vertical speed indicator is located directly beneath the attitude indicator.

On the lower part of the panel there is the other slip-skid indicator, a radio direction finder and another AI.

There are dials to show aircraft trim for aileron, elevator, and rudder, which are managed by a joystick on the left side of the cockpit. There is a centralized gauge to indicate pitch. “DOWN” is in red. In addition, there is a mark on the windscreen, sort of a first-generation “heads up display” to help the pilot determine aircraft attitude.

The avionics, which were likely state-of-the-art at the time, consist of an ADF (automatic direction finder), an RMI (radio magnetic indicator), and a radio direction finder. (Hughes didn’t like getting lost.)

To the right of the pilot’s seat is a console filled with toggle switches and annunciator lights for all the aircraft systems—Hughes was known for always wanting to be in control, and this console is a testament to that. By comparison, the copilot’s panel feels rather sparse in instrumentation.

Directly over the cockpit is a roof hatch, which, if you are tall enough, gives you a great view of the top of the aircraft—and/or the harbor when you’re on the water.

During the one and only flight of the Spruce Goose, it only flew for 1 mile at an altitude of approximately 70 feet above the surface of the water; some say it never got out of ground effect. We will never know what its service ceiling was or how it handled during maneuvers—but that doesn’t take away from the feat(s) of engineering required to build it.

What the Visitors Say

I was not the only visitor that rainy Friday—there were several children, a few accompanied by parents and at least one school group. The children were as impressed as I was—I heard the exclamation “WHOAAAAA!” several times as they walked around the museum. One can only hope the next generation is inspired.

The post Inside the ‘Spruce Goose’ appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

“We’ve had fly-ins impacted by adverse weather before,” says WAAAM’s director Stephanie Hatch. “If people can’t fly in, they drive in. This year we had 200 airplanes, which is a pretty good number. They represented a good variety, we had the older style biplanes and antiques that are near and dear to everyone like the Stearman to modern aircraft fly in.”

It is estimated that approximately 2,000 people attended the event, which is a major fundraiser for WAAAM. The museum is located on the airport named after Oregon native Ken Jernstedt who, in 1941, resigned his position as a Marine Corps fighter pilot to volunteer with the Flying Tigers to fight in China. He was credited with multiple victories in the air and the destruction of 15 enemy aircraft on the ground. After the war, he returned to Hood River and became a successful businessman.

The airport has a paved runway 7/25 measuring 3,040 feet by 75 feet and a grass strip alongside, which makes it a great place for aircraft that go back to the golden age of aviation when turf runways were the norm, not the exception. The airport is a non-towered facility located along the Columbia River. The area is known for rapidly changing weather patterns that often involve rain, fog, and mist, and pilots who routinely fly in the area become adept at learning to read and evaluate weather forecasts.

The airport became a haven for vintage aircraft in 2007 when WAAAM opened. The museum was founded by Terry Brandt, an aviation enthusiast who wanted a lasting place for his aircraft collection and the opportunity to share it with other people.

The annual fly-in/drive in event attracts vintage aircraft and car owners from all over to show off their machines.

The pilots often fly in a day or so early and camp on site. This year an early arrival proved a good move because by Saturday, smoke from wildfires to the east and south filled the air over Washington and Oregon.

The smoke column extended thousands of feet in the area. Throughout the weekend, a low pressure system kept the particulate-laden air stagnant, resulting in ash falling in some areas and reduced visibility—conditions not favored by any aircraft, and certainly not those that are often open-cockpit and require navigation by visual references.

Participants of the fly-in noted that the air directly over the airport was flyable, but pilots who tried to depart the area often turned around and came back, because of the wall of smoke they encountered.

The pilots who were able to get in before the smoke settled did so using the visual NOTAM, which plainly depicted the visual reporting points near the airport, along with the warning that not all aircraft are equipped with radios—nor are they required to be as the airport lies in Class E airspace—therefore, all pilots were reminded to be extra vigilant.

Museum Brings Out Its Finest

This is not one of those fly-ins that relies on visiting airplanes, says Hatch, as the museum has over 325 large objects that are kept in flying and driving condition. All they have to do is open the hangar doors and move the aircraft, motorcycles, and cars out to the ramp.

Among the more rare aircraft are the newly acquired Ford Tri-Motor, the crowd favorite Stearmans, and on the automobile side, a 1914 Model T Ford, a Studebaker, and a smattering of muscle cars from the late 1960s and early 1970s that make you want to reach for your bell-bottom jeans and puka shell necklace.

READ MORE: Taking Wing: Stearman Patrol

Approximately 97 percent of the aircraft and two-thirds of the cars are owned by the museum; the others are on loan. The museum also has vintage engines on display for the gearheads who really want to get down to the heart of the machines.

One of the stars of this year's event was the Ford Tri-Motor. When it started up, people pulled out cameras and smartphones and captured its taxi and takeoff on video.

For the people who wanted a new perspective on the fly-in, there were also rides in the museum's 1930 New Standard.

"This was the first time we were able to do this," says Hatch."Our crew out there did an amazing job and a lot of people got to see the fly-in from the air which is really special."

Legacy Home for Vintage Aircraft

The Pacific Northwest has always had a strong vintage aviation contingency. For decades, Evergreen Field (59S) was located in Vancouver, Washington. The airport was founded in 1946 by Wally Olson. At the time, the airport was located outside the city limits. Olson made a name for himself as a flight instructor and it was known that if you wanted an antique airplane, you sought Olson's counsel as he knew who the best mechanics were, from spinner to tail and all the fabric in between, you could get your airplane repaired at Evergreen.

In 1964, the Northwest Antique Aviation Club (NWAAC) was founded at Evergreen. Once a year, pilots came from all over to show off their dawn of flight and golden age of aviation machines and swap pilot stories while sitting on a bench under "the tree of knowledge." The event was known as the Evergreen Fly-in.

Over the years, the open space that had surrounded Evergreen Field gave way to homes and industrial development. By the time Olson died in 1997, the airport was surrounded by suburbia. His heirs continued to operate the airport, but it wasn't long before they considered closing it and selling the property. By the early 2000s, the NWAAC started looking for other venues to host the annual antique fly-in, eventually settling on Hood River. Evergreen Field was closed in 2006—WAAAM opened its doors at Hood River in 2007 with the first annual Hood River Fly-In.

WAAAM Director Hatch says the museum helps fill the void left behind by the loss of Evergreen Field.

"You could say we are the successor to the Evergreen Fly-In," she says, adding that the facade of Olson's wooden hangar was saved from the bulldozer and is displayed at WAAAM, much to the delight of visitors who recognize the wooden doors and are compelled to share a story about Wally.

Fun at the Fly-In

It's not all fun and games at the fly-in—pilots have the opportunity to attend informational seminars covering safety topics. There is always a lot of food, usually put on by service clubs. But for the most part, the weekend is about seeing aircraft that represent the history of aviation and for the pilots to share their stories with visitors.

The event is a fundraiser for the museum. The price of admission ranges from $10 for youths ages 5-18 to $20 for adults and seniors, or a two-day admission deal of $25 for adults and $13 for youths. Admission to the fly-in includes access to the museum.

Visitors were also encouraged to vote for their favorite aircraft—this People's Choice Award is coveted among the visiting pilots. The winner gets a trophy.

This year, the 1931 Student Prince owned by Summer Martell of Port Townsend, Washington, took home the honor. When asked about the PCA, Martell responded with an Academy Award-style acceptance speech, saying, "I want to thank God and Kinner engines, and my wallet." The Student Prince also took home the award for Best Antique.

Martell is a corporate pilot who has been flying since her teen years. She was brought into aviation by her father, who told his daughter he decided to buy the Student Prince when he saw it in an open hangar and, "The airplane smiled at him."

When she was 18, she was on the television show Northern Exposure. The television show was set in Alaska but was actually shot in Rosalyn, Washington. Martell was the pilot double for Maggie, the character who was an Alaskan bush pilot.

Martell, who is also a designated pilot examiner, was encouraged by the number of younger vintage aircraft owners in attendance at the fly-in. "There were a lot of them in their 20s. It made me happy to see young people, young men and women in vintage aviation," she said.

Pilots like to play pranks on each other, and Martell inherited her father's puckish sense of humor. During the fly-in, she pranked a number of pilots using a toy snake that she herself had been pranked with in 2012 by a CFI who surreptitiously dropped the faux cobra into her flight bag. (Martell discovered the snake a month later during a check ride, uttering a scream which startled the applicant bringing some much-needed levity to a stressful situation.)

Using her People's Choice trophy as a microphone, she channeled for Dateline NBC as she interviewed  one of the pranked pilots.

Fundraising at the Fly-In

As this story was slated for publishing, the revenue for this year's event was still being tallied, but it has already been earmarked for more museum expansion.

"We need the space," says Hatch. "We don't want to take out a loan or borrow money, so we raise the funds we need plus 20 percent before we even break ground."

If you would like to participate in the annual fly-in, put it on your calendar now—the event is always held the weekend after Labor Day.

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