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Systems go for another Air Affaire

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 21, 2019

By Matthew Nash

Systems go for another Air Affaire
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Systems go for another Air Affaire
Michael Payne, director of the Port Townsend Aero Museum, talks to Emily Westcott about the planes he plans to bring to the Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire and Sequim Valley Fly-in on August 24. Tentatively, he and other pilots plan to bring three planes dating back to 1928. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Mateo, 14, and Diego, 13, Morales of Sumner look at a de Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk from 1959 inside the Port Townsend Aero Museum that will be featured at the Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire on August 24 at the Sequim Valley Airport. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
The Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire and Sequim Valley Fly-in hosts planes and aircraft on August 24-25. In its busiest year in 2017, the event hosted 75 planes. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Inside the Port Townsend Aero Museum and at the Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire, visitors can see this CallAir A-2 from 1949. It one of only 16 produced. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Inside the Port Townsend Aero Museum and at the Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire, visitors can see this CallAir A-2 from 1949. It one of only 16 produced. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Jacob Kirschbaum, a University of North Dakota aviation student from Silverdale, readies to fly a CallAir A-2. He is one of several students that works at the Port Townsend Aero Museum learning about aircraft. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Jacob Kirschbaum, a University of North Dakota aviation student from Silverdale, readies to fly a CallAir A-2. He is one of several students that works at the Port Townsend Aero Museum learning about aircraft. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
This Stinson SM8A “Detroiter” from 1928 inside the Port Townsend Aero Museum is one only 21 still in tact and three of them are in Port Townsend. Staff with the museum plan to fly it to the Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire on August 24. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
This Stinson SM8A “Detroiter” from 1928 inside the Port Townsend Aero Museum is one only 21 still in tact and three of them are in Port Townsend. Staff with the museum plan to fly it to the Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire on August 24. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
This Stinson SM8A “Detroiter” from 1928 inside the Port Townsend Aero Museum is one only 21 still in existence with three of them in Port Townsend. Sequim Gazette photos by Matthew Nash
This Stinson SM8A “Detroiter” from 1928 inside the Port Townsend Aero Museum is one only 21 still in existence with three of them in Port Townsend. Sequim Gazette photos by Matthew Nash

Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire and Sequim Valley Fly-In

When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday Aug. 24; 9-3 p.m.-Sunday, Aug. 25

Where: Sequim Valley Airport, 468 Dorothy Hunt Lane, Sequim

Cost: $10 Saturday, $5 Sunday per car load to attend

Events:

• Balloon rides 7 a.m. daily, fees apply; call 360-601-2433 or email to airboss@nwplace.com

• 9 a.m. both days, remote control plane demonstrations, car show, food, music, helicopter rides (fees apply), more

• Car show: arrive before 9 a.m., $10 fee on Saturday. Free on Sunday if you come on Saturday

For more: Visit olympicpeninsulaairaffaire.com or call 360-670-6294

Volunteers: Contact Kelly Jo Hill at olympicpeninsulaairaffaire@gmail.com or 461-3950.

As co-founder of the Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire and Sequim Valley Fly-in, Emily Westcott practices what she preaches from the air.

“I try to fly as often as I can,” she said.

Westcott, a super volunteer in the Sequim community leading the flower basket program, Christmas lights in downtown Sequim, and a weeding program across the city, took up flying in 1996.

She remembers driving nearly six hours to see friends on Orcas Island but felt it took too long and cost too much. So she chartered a flight because it was cheaper than two ferries and gas to drive. When she arrived back in Port Angeles, her mind was made up to take flying lessons, she said.

In 2000, Westcott bought her plane from John Davis, former owner of Port Townsend Airways, and now she takes weekly trips across the Olympic Peninsula in her plane.

For several years she’s also donated rides to various fundraisers and charities.

The Air Affaire/Fly-In is another long-standing effort of hers that runs 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25, at the Sequim Valley Airport, 468 Dorothy Hunt Lane.

Since its inception, the event remains weather-dependent for who flies in.

Two years ago, Sequim’s sunny skies held true and helped bring in 75 planes, Westcott said.

But last year’s forest fires brought a down year of about a dozen planes.

Westcott and other organizers recruit throughout the year to see who can come.

History flies in

A few historic planes from the Port Townsend Aero Museum visit on Saturday, led by the museum’s director Michael Payne.

Throughout the year, he and other staff and volunteers at the museum work with a number of high school and college students to restore aircraft, fly them and run the business-side of the museum.

Most of the students are en route to college prior to the Air Affaire, but Payne and others will bring a few of the planes from the museum at 105 Airport Road, Port Townsend.

One of the planes, a red and silver CallAir A-2 from 1949, is one of only 16 produced. Museum staff said it’s the same model that Kenneth Arnold was flying when he witnessed the United State’s first widely reported unidentified flying object near near Mount Rainier on June 24, 1947.

Two other planes include a Stinson SM8A “Detroiter” from 1928, one of only 21 left in existence, and a de Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk from 1959.

Westcott said the museum’s planes are beautiful and its building’s presentation is as nice as anything in big cities like Seattle.

For more information, visit www.PTAeromuseum.com.

Fly-in from afar

Staples like the Blackjacks of Arlington will fly by on Saturday in formation and dozens of remote control airplane pilots with the Sequim RC Aeronauts and Port Angeles’ Olympic RC Modelers will take flight Saturday and Sunday with the Tri-Area R/C fliers out of Chimacum as a fundraiser for Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County.

Captain Crystal Stout brings her hot air balloon along with another pilot and balloon who offer rides for $250 per person around 7 a.m. each day. Call 360-601-2433 or email to airboss@nwplace.com to schedule a flight. Tethered rides will be available both days for $15.

Atomic Helicopters also offers 10-minute rides for $60 per person around the Sequim area.

Around the airport, at least 10 members of the Experimental Aircraft Association show off their unique airplanes both days and the U.S. Coast Guard is scheduled to fly by.

Car, truck and motorcycle owners can also enter the car show for $10 on Saturday with a chance for awards. Those who enter on Saturday can return for free on Sunday.

As tradition, all planes are welcome to fly-in, too.

The Air Affaire features live music, food, drinks and more being added daily.

Look online to olympicpeninsulaairaffaire.com for more information.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.

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