OOTBA Party Time

Another great party at Out of the Blue - this time just for the staff, and a couple of wander-in guests (you know who you are, Geoff!). We had lots of delicious food and a fair amount of tall tales flying around. Happy Holidays to all!!

Me and the girlz got started on the Holidays with a big Aviation Open House.  We had delicious soups, yummy cookies, delightful music (thanks Paul Ninehouse!), and best of all, lots of friends to celebrate with. 

Have I mentioned before that this is the best "job" in the world?

Goodbye old friend

I had very mixed feelings to see my old "warbird" Aeronca Champ dismantled and shipped off to Philly. This is the second aircraft I ever bought and the first I ever sold. How hard to let her go!

I had many fun hours flying this little slow bird. My favorite part was coming in too high - is it a problem? - and slipping her down to land. I loved prop starting her, and the simplicity of those six little round gauges on the panel. Nothing fancy, nothing fast, no flash. Just flying at its most basic level.

N83547 will always hold a special place in my life. Fly long and well, old girl!

Fall BBQ and Light Sport Day

We had an awesome day last Saturday, enjoying the gorgeous weather by flying our Remos all day without the doors. What a blast that is! You can fly that little bird low and slow, feeling a lot like a bird yourself. The more I know of that aircraft, the more I like it.

Another Pilot in the Family

Despite breaking his thumb several days earlier, my son Kennan successfully passed his private pilot checkride on Wednesday! After a lot of hard work, and with a full hand cast, he still managed to fly well enough to complete all the maneuvers. I couldn't be more proud of him! Now, he's off to college and a whole new set of challenges and adventures. But something tells me that aviation will always be a part of his life.

Summer is almost here . . . .

The sun is starting to shine in the Northwest and the flying season is getting busy! This Saturday is my favorite event of the year - our annual Poker Run, which involves aviation, gambling, winning prizes, eating king crab legs, and tellin' lies with flying friends. What could be better than that?

Pictures and stories of the day's exploits coming soon . . . .

Local Pilots Are Winners!

Winners from the International Women of Aviation week were just posted. Arlington won 2011 ‘Most Female-Pilot-Friendly Airport in the World’ - 1st runner up with 144 Girl-Flights in one day! An airport in MD was just ahead with 185 . . . if we had decent weather, we would have topped that! Woohoo!!
Anyway, that means KAWO pilots have access to a FREE live GPS training seminar. Check out the link above.

Some of our awesome pilots were winners too:
Marla Patterson: 2011 ‘Most Dedicated Female Flight Instructor in the World’ with 17 flights.
Casey Cowan: 2011 ‘Most Supportive Male Flight Instructor in the World’ with 23 flights.
Laith Barnhill: 2011 'Most Supportive Male Pilot in the World’ This earns Laith a ZULU watch from AOPA! Plus he won a $20 Gift Card - So you see, what comes around goes around - and Laith "went around" with 27 girls that day!

Other Pilot winners were:Mike Talley - $25 Gift card and LED flashlight; Lane Gormley - Wind-Tee T-shirt; Marla Patterson - Breaking Through The Clouds DVD; Jerry Sorensen - Penelope Pilot Book; OOTBA - $150 fuel card for most Remos flights

And this one is funny: Dick Smith - $150 toward his first Seaplane Lesson. Maybe you can fly your 180 on floats down for the lesson Dick . . . .

We also have many passenger prizes to be announced soon . . . .

And more awesome pictures of a fun day!

"Girls Fly Free" pictures

Flying it Forward!

Yesterday was a BIG day. A dozen pilots gathered at Out of the Blue to give free flights to girls of all ages, 5 to 105. On the way in, my car broke down - in the pouring rain - and I had to get a push and a jump from a taxi driver (thank you Mr. Taximan!). I arrived barely in time for the scheduled pilot briefing, but I managed to get them briefed, fed, coffeed up, and ready to go for the first passenger.

Dick and Todd were there with their 180s, Lane in his 182, Pete with the SR20, Laith, Jeanne, Casey, Jerry, Mike, Marla, and Tim with 172s, Teri in her PA-140, and Mike in the Remos. Between them all, we flew 152 girls in one day!

I know some businesses won't do a thing unless they've carefully calculated the return on investment. They probably make more money than I do. When my son asked me at the end of the day, "Was it worth it?" I had to acknowledge that I spent way more time and money on this than I'll probably recoup. It will be a long time before that grinning nine year old girl becomes a paying customer. Likewise, those pilots who spent all day and lots of dollars on fuel will get nothing in return. Except maybe one thing: the satisfaction of making a difference in someone's life. In a little way, I like to think that we made a difference yesterday. And that, is priceless.

"Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious ...."

What is a Shakespeare quote doing on an aviation blog?

Well, it HAS been a long, dark winter here, wings too heavy to fly. We're ready to see it end. This winter has seen many changes, the hardest being the loss of my Chief Pilot who has been with me through thick and thin and ups and downs. Difficult as it is to say goodbye, I wish him the very best of blue skies ahead.

With the coming spring weather, we're ushering in new changes here at Out of the Blue. The newest addition to our line of events is our Girls fly Free Weekend. We're joining up with Women of Aviation Week to offer short free flights, on March 12th, to girls and women who have never flown in a small aircraft. I've coordinated helicopters and gliders and jets to join us to provide a great day to encourage girls to "give aviation a try." This is very near and dear to my heart and I am so excited about it!

The four males in my household argue that "girls just aren't interested in flying or adventure as much as guys." I think it is still very much a matter of role models - who do girls usually see behind the aircraft yoke and who do they see behind the kitchen stove? This is what they normalize. It's changing, but slowly!

And being an idealist, I keep trying to help change the world - one day at a time, one person at a time.

Affectionately, Cathy

5 Year Party

Had a great time last night celebrating our 5 years in business. Considering the economy and the state of general aviation right now and the fact that nearly everyone predicted my FBO would fail, I consider 5 years a success worth celebrating. I estimate about 150 people joined us for good beer from Skookum Brewery and good food from NASA Restaurant, and good music from local musicians Jimmy Culler, Jimmy Wright, Greg Murat, and Mike _.
I love keeping the business local and appreciate all those who help keep the local businesses alive, here at Out of the Blue Aviation and at the places mentioned above. If not for these local businesses, we'd all be living in a hellish world of box stores and chain restaurants, where every town looks the same, and nobody knows your name.