ARLINGTON — Stanwood 9-year-olds Sam Pearson and Ethan Robinson rode in flight simulators for the first time Sept. 19, but the experience made them more apprehensive about the real thing.
“We didn’t like how the planes would go sideways when you turned the controls,” said Sam, who hasn’t flown in a real plane yet.
Fortunately for the Arlington Airport’s annual “Appreciation Day,” most of its young attendees were far more enthusiastic about the prospect of going up into the air, including Marysville 5-year-old Carsen Klinkers, who sat in the cockpit of a Blanik L-33 glider while it was still on the ground.
Tony Puglisi, who runs Evergreen Soaring with his partner, Movses Babayan, explained that the glider is taken up by a tow plane, and is equipped with wheels on the tips of its wings and its tail to help it land.
“To fly a glider, you have to be very aware of the weather,” Puglisi said. “You have to locate rising columns of air. Those will allow you to stay up all day. You can rise as high as the bottom of the cloud cover.”
Kevin Hoirup had plenty of “Young Eagles” eager to hear about aviation, even before they went up for flights in light-sport aircraft.
Hoirup drilled the potential future pilots on safety and preparation basics such as maintaining an appropriate distance from the propellor, even when it’s stopped, to checking the tires’ inflation and accuracy of the gas gauges. “It’s a lot easier to fix these things on the ground than it is in the air,” he said. “Have you seen many gas stations in the air? Well, neither have I.”
Snohomish County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Quistorf showed off a 1970 Bell UH-1H helicopter, that his department had acquired in 1993 and completely refurbished in 2011.
Quistorf noted that this helicopter was directly involved in the Oso slide rescue and recovery efforts.
Helicopter rescue team coordinator Oyvind Henningsen agrees with Quistorf, but has hopes of his own when he meets kids at airport appreciation days.
“I want them to know they can do this,” Henningsen said. “Especially the girls, because we have female team members, so seeing them helps those girls realize their gender is no barrier. I love being part of a professional team that trains for the same purpose, to help people in need.”
