EAA Sport Aviation - January 2010

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PHOTO BY MARK LA CIURA

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PHOTO BY POPLAR GROVE AIRMOTIVE

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Schweizer 300C helicopter
Snohomish Flying Service,
Harvey Field Airport (S43),
Snohomish, Washington

This reliable and fun-To-fly piston rotorcraft has been in production for more than 50 years, and its bumblebee-like look is recognized the world over. Also known as the Hughes 300 and now the Sikorsky S-300C, Schweizer designed the 300C as a trainer; it’s stable, docile, and relatively roomy. Though not very fast, even by light copter standards, it’s the perfect speed for exploring the Snohomish River Valley, which lies along the Cascade Loop, the state’s scenic highway route, which National Geographic called “One of America’s grandest, most spectacular drives.” Imagine what that would look like by helicopter—or find out for yourself!

Harvey Field is home to an EAA chapter, hot air balloon company, sky diving, banner towing and aerial tour operations, and the Buzz Inn airport eatery. “It’s a real family. Everybody knows everybody,” says Erin Shaughnessy, Snohomish Flying Service’s lead dispatcher. The airport is just north of Seattle’s Class Bravo airspace, making it easy to get to and fly out of.

RequiRements: Rotorcraft rating with 50
hours rotor and 10 hours dual in make and
model with a school CFI or be a graduate of the
facility’s rotor wing training course.
Cost: $240 per Hobbs hour; instructor, $60
per hour. www.SnohomishFlying.com
DG Flugzeugbau
DG-1000 sailplane
Skylark North, Mountain Valley
Airport (L94), Tehachapi,
California

locaTed on The wes Tern flank of the Sierra Nevada range, Tehachapi is one of the world’s foremost soaring capitals. It’s the launch site for many record-setting sailplane flights. Rent a high-performance DG-1000 here and set a record of your own. With a 20-meter wing the German-built DG-1000, first flown in 2000, has a glide ratio of 1-to- 46. 5 and is certified for limited aerobatics. “It’s a very beautifully handling sailplane,” says Jane Barrett, who owns the facility with husband, Larry. Skylark, in business for 30 years, is where the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Naval Test Pilot Schools, among others, send their students for glider training. Currently, Skylark allows only local flights (“They better come back here or have a good reason,” says Barrett), but plans to permit cross-country flights in the DG-1000 beginning sometime this year. The facility also rents Schweizer 233 and the Schleicher ASK 21 sailplanes.

RequiRements: Glider rating and checkout,
which may require from one to a half-dozen
flights, based on pilot’s skill level.

Cost: $120/hour; instructor, $40; Tow: 1,000 feet AGL, $41; 2,000 feet AGL, $55; 3,000 feet AGL, $71. Skylark North: 661-822-5267; www.SkylarkNorth.com (website under renovation)

Cessna 140
Poplar Grove Airmotive,
Poplar Grove Airport (C77),
Poplar Grove, Illinois

fly a classic cessna Taildragger at a quintessential residential airpark. The C-140 was Cessna’s answer to the anticipated post-war general aviation boom. The boom fizzled, but the 140 took its place in the pantheon of great tailwheel trainers and knock-around airplanes, its spirit infused with aviation’s promise. “We have trained a lot of people [in the C-140] with no tailwheel time who’ve gone on and bought a T- 6 or gotten a Stearman,” says Tina Thomas, co-owner of the facility with husband, Steve. And, she says, some students have gotten their tickets in the C-140 to carry on a family tradition: “A few kids whose dads or grandfathers have flown [C-140s] have chosen to do that.” As for solo destinations, Tina noted one of their pilots flew the C-140 to AirVenture 2009.

Poplar Grove, near Rockford, is one of the nation’s top residential airparks, home to some 400 flying aircraft (many more undergoing construction) and the Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum, and it’s worth a visit in its own right.