Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
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Minnesota Aviation Trades Association (MATA) members and guests gathered at Thunderbird Aviation in August for its annual meeting. After attendees enjoyed a pleasant picnic in an open hangar, long time MATA member Darrell Bolduc was awarded the Meritorious Service Award for 37 years of service to the aviation community. Andre Schmidt received a MATA scholarship for $2,000 towards aviation education. A wild-land fire fighter with the U.S. Forest Service, Schmidt obtained his private pilot's...
"That should about do it." John set the big camera down and turned to the lap top that rested on the work bench. Another biz jet taxied by the Weeks hangar. Light rain continued its dreary patter on the big hangar's roof. Deftly, he adjusted the contrast to eliminate a tiny bit of glare near the faded letters of the crew bomb tally. At Oshkosh, in 2015, I had run into Atlanta photographer John Slemp by the Stinson. When he showed me a photo from his bomber jacket art project – a photo that w...
There are nearly 5,000 airports around the country that have many things in common regardless of their size, number of based aircraft, or runway length. At nearly every one of these locations there is a coffee shop or lunch counter, an FBO, or hangar that always seems to be inhabited by a cross-section of the pilot and former pilot, community. This is where stories of past adventures, triumphs over adverse situations, and dreams of the future abound. This is where anyone can have "20/20 vision"...
Photographer Ray Pittman attended the Burnett County Airport Gandy Dancer Fly-In/Drive-In in July to enjoy the day and get a few shots of the days activities. For the hungry, a wild rice pancake breakfast served by the Ag Club of Burnett County. For those on the ground there were static aircraft displays, local emergency vehicle displays, inflatable bounce houses for the kids, classic cars to view. A variety of aerobatic performances kept eyes of attendees skyward for much of the day. While many...
"With the constant and rapid changes in technology that have been the norm for the past few decades, it is exciting to see where we were and where we are today. Just look at the changes in the capability of telephones. Twenty years ago a cell phone was only something corporations could afford. Those phones made and received calls, but did almost nothing else. Now you have phones that are more computer than phone and can do nearly anything a laptop or desktop computer can do. Some technologies,...
The Board of Directors of the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame is proud to announce the names of the 2017 Hall of Fame Inductees. The families have been notified. The new inductees are: Edward J. Chapman, the late Alvin Grady, Bruce Jaeger, the late Robert Peterson, General George Schulstad, and James Brodie. Watch this magazine for more information about the inductees and next Spring's induction banquet. At this time the Hall of Fame is soliciting nominations of candidates for induction into...
Every year, when I return from the EAA Convention (nobody calls it Airventure), people ask, "How was Oshkosh?" Usually they don't mean how was the city, and they don't mean how was the show? Most people mean "What did you learn there?" People have been going to Oshkosh since, well, since the EAA Convention moved there when the Convention outgrew Rockford, Illinois. The Convention had become so popular that it also outgrew its own self-proclaimed boundaries as a convention of builders of home-bui...
Tom Foster "Life is not a dress rehearsal." Both pilots and Irishmen are naturally philosophical, so it should be no surprise to learn that these are words of wisdom from Joe Dooley. Better known as the Flying Irishman, Mr. Dooley was a local pilot and long-time supporter of the Hutchinson Municipal Airport. He learned to fly in 1977, but got bored with just flying around so he taught himself aerobatics. That turned into a long airshow career. Dooley did over 500 performances in his stock Pitts...
The Minnesota Department of Transportation, office of Aeronautics collects taxes, safeguards the long-term viability of the state airports fund, plans and promotes a statewide system of airports, distributes state and federal aviation funding, provides navigational systems, enforces state and federal safety standards, offers technical resources, fosters aeronautics and aviation safety, and provides air transportation to state employees. Our Minnesota aviation system is funded by aviation user fees generated from aviation fuel tax, aircraft...
Giuseppe Bellanca came to New York from Sicily in 1911 with a degree in engineering. By 1914 he was running a flight school at Mineola, NY. One of his students went on to become a Caproni bomber pilot in WWI and later mayor of New York City. That student was Fiorello LaGuardia. Bellanca believed an aircraft's function was to transport people and payloads efficiently. His Columbia high wing monoplane set an endurance record of 51 hours and 11 minutes flown by Clarence Chamberlain and Bert Acosta...
We are fortunate to have many long sunny days throughout the spring-summer-early fall seasons. That abundance of sunshine can turn thoughts to using that solar power at Minnesota’s airports. While that might be advantageous in the not too-distant future, there is much that needs to be considered and planned for, well before the commitment to solar is made. Solar power systems are rapidly growing in many areas and industries of our nation and the world. Airports across the US are beginning to bui...
