The summer flying season got off to an excellent start last month with fly-ins held in Valdez and Talkeetna, aviation days in Anchorage and Fairbanks, and numerous other events across the state as the Alaska Air Show Association traveled in celebration of Alaska's centennial of flight.
On the weekend of May 10, Valdez saw more than 150 aircraft in town for their annual fly-in, which included a bulls-eye on the "flour bomb" event for pilot Josh Griswold and "bomber" Lauren Boyle of Anchorage. There was also a new youth outreach component that ended in a T-6 flight with pilot John Hartke for one lucky student at George H. Gilson Junior High School, Linnea Langseth.
Langseth, 13, won the school essay contest on "how vital aviation is to Alaska". When asked how she approached the topic, she explained that she wrote about flying with her family and how aviation is important to bring food and mail to the villages. She was surprised to win the contest but delighted with the flight.
"We pulled 2 gs!" said Langseth, referring to the force exerted by the speed of the aircraft. "It was fast and really cool; I didn't get sick, I just enjoyed it a lot." Her fellow students were there to see Langseth take the 20-minute flight and although she has no plans to pursue aviation professionally, she does enjoy flying with her father and would like to do that on her own someday. "It was just a lot of fun," she says. "The flying was great and I'm really glad I won."
On May 17, the Air Show pilots were greeted by more than 300 school children in Cordova who were permitted easy access to two T-6s and an L-13, all owned by Chuck Miller who serves not only with the Air Show Association but is also a board member of Alaska Aviation Museum. As reported by the Cordova Times, the pilots were delighted to be there.
"Representing 100 years of aviation in Alaska is about the most fun you could have with your clothes on that I can remember," the Cordova Times quoted pilot Danny Davidson as saying.
The Hudson Memorial Fly-in in Talkeetna celebrated its fourth year on the weekend of May 18 and saw 30 aircraft and approximately 150 attendees who were also able tour the Build-A-Plane facilities and get a look at the work-in-progress there while participating in an aerial scavenger hunt and watch the Cliff Hudson Story documentary at the Sheldon Community Arts Hangar.
Contact Colleen Mondor at colleen(at)alaskadispatch.com