July - September 2023
Letter from the Executive Director
By Abby Austin, ED of the Alaska Airmen’s Association Greetings Airmen Members, Typically, as I sit down to write my letter to you all, I am very focused on our three largest endeavors: the Aircraft Raffle Fundraiser, The Great Alaska Aviation Gathering, and Scholarships. Those projects are huge parts of the job and always have…
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The Great Alaska Aviation Gathering 2023
By Regan Tunstall Here’s to another successful year, thanks to our incredible volunteers, exhibitors and sponsors! In case you couldn’t make it to this year’s Great Alaska Aviation Gathering, here’s what you missed… Sharing Raven Hall and the Aircraft Spruce Pavilion, we had over 150 incredible exhibitors there just for you! Along with our generous…
Read More
President’s Report
By Stephen Ratcliff, Board President Greetings Airmen Association Members, Thank you to everyone that joined us this year for the Great Alaska Aviation Gathering inPalmer. Overall, I thought the gathering went well and enjoyed seeing friends, exhibitors,scholarship winners, members, and future members. We really appreciate the time thatwas put in to making this a great…
Read More
Valdez Fly-In 2023 STOL
By Regan Tunstall Shortly after our big event in Palmer, we made our way to Valdez for the annual STOL competition. Saturday morning, we served some delicious pancakes and sausage to our members. For those who weren’t members, we offered a new $5 introductory membership for anyone who wanted some! At our booth, we had…
Read More
Advocacy at Work
By Adam White, Alaska Airmen’s Association Government Affairs We continue to work on behalf of our members with Federal, State, and local officials making sure Alaska Aviation remains accessible and a viable means of transportation and recreation. The following issues are limited examples of how we work towards those goals. U.S. Customs We are gathering…
Read More
Notes from the Safety Committee
Note from the editor: The Alaska Airmen Association reconvened our Safety Committee, meeting monthly, to set goals and suggest initiatives to increase safety in aviation in Alaska. You can find more information on our active committees on our website at https://alaskaairmen.org/committees/ Please enjoy this quarterly column from the Safety Committee. AC 90-66C Non-Towered Airport Flight…
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The 2023 Raffle Aircraft finds its home in Fairbanks
Earlier this month, the 2023 raffle plane found a new owner and home, in Fairbanks Alaska. Jason Wilson was doing some shopping in Lowe’s when he received a voicemail that he thought was surely spam. The garbled transcription on his iPhone said something about being a big winner… He and his girlfriend had just enjoyed…
Read More
Soldotna Fly-In
The Alaska Airmen’s Association joined the Peninsula Pilots Club (PPC) for the secondannual Soldotna Fly-In on Saturday May 21st. With delicious food, good friends and niceweather… the fly-in was a great success! Thank you to everybody who joined andhopefully had a wonderful time like we did.If you didn’t make it this year, don’t miss out…
Read More
NextGen Spotlight: Scholarship Winners
We are very proud to announce… our 2023 scholarship winners! The AlaskaAirmen’s Association is deeply grateful for everyone’s help that made thispossible. We also want to thank all applicants, attendees at the Great AlaskaAviation Gathering and a very special thanks to Lieutenant Governor NancyDahlstrom for being there and showing her support on behalf of the…
Read More
50 States in 50 Years
By Paul Scoskie 12FEB1973Preston Airport Morgantown New Jersey. The day that started fifty years of flying both commerciallyand fun. From the first day, at that time rural New Jersey. My journey has taken me to many parts of theglobe. Upon retiring from a major airline, I was in my office, Fall of 2022, bringing my…
Read More
NOT ALL FIRST RESPONDERS ARRIVE WITH THEIR SIRENS WAILING!
By John M. Dahlen Let’s begin with a very short bit of important legalese about the photos for this article. Use of these photos should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the Alaska Airmen’s Association by any part of the Department of Defense. They are being used only as educational and illustrative elements of…
Read More
Obesity
By Bernie Willis No, I’m not trying to shame anyone into losing weight. But I am frustrated at a number of “absolutes” that may be good for primary flight students but keep aviators from understanding the broad impact of their decisions. “Have you ever flown with an aft CG?” “Have you ever taken off downwind?” “Do you…
Read More
Proposed CTAF Area for Kenai/Soldotna
By Tom George, AOPA Alaska Regional Manager Acting on a request by pilots in the Kenai and Soldotna area, the FAA is working with industrystakeholders to create a Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) Area on the peninsula, similar tothe one in use in the Mat-Su Valley. The FAA assembled a working group with local and…
Read More
January - April 2023
Letter from the Executive Director
By Abby Austin, ED of the Alaska Airmen’s Association Greetings Airmen Members, Typically, as I sit down to write my letter to you all, I am very focused on our three largest endeavors: the Aircraft Raffle Fundraiser, The Great Alaska Aviation Gathering, and Scholarships. Those projects are huge parts of the job and always have…
Read More
The Great Alaska Aviation Gathering 2023
By Regan Tunstall Here’s to another successful year, thanks to our incredible volunteers, exhibitors and sponsors! In case you couldn’t make it to this year’s Great Alaska Aviation Gathering, here’s what you missed… Sharing Raven Hall and the Aircraft Spruce Pavilion, we had over 150 incredible exhibitors there just for you! Along with our generous…
Read More
President’s Report
By Stephen Ratcliff, Board President Greetings Airmen Association Members, Thank you to everyone that joined us this year for the Great Alaska Aviation Gathering inPalmer. Overall, I thought the gathering went well and enjoyed seeing friends, exhibitors,scholarship winners, members, and future members. We really appreciate the time thatwas put in to making this a great…
Read More
Valdez Fly-In 2023 STOL
By Regan Tunstall Shortly after our big event in Palmer, we made our way to Valdez for the annual STOL competition. Saturday morning, we served some delicious pancakes and sausage to our members. For those who weren’t members, we offered a new $5 introductory membership for anyone who wanted some! At our booth, we had…
Read More
Advocacy at Work
By Adam White, Alaska Airmen’s Association Government Affairs We continue to work on behalf of our members with Federal, State, and local officials making sure Alaska Aviation remains accessible and a viable means of transportation and recreation. The following issues are limited examples of how we work towards those goals. U.S. Customs We are gathering…
Read More
Notes from the Safety Committee
Note from the editor: The Alaska Airmen Association reconvened our Safety Committee, meeting monthly, to set goals and suggest initiatives to increase safety in aviation in Alaska. You can find more information on our active committees on our website at https://alaskaairmen.org/committees/ Please enjoy this quarterly column from the Safety Committee. AC 90-66C Non-Towered Airport Flight…
Read More
The 2023 Raffle Aircraft finds its home in Fairbanks
Earlier this month, the 2023 raffle plane found a new owner and home, in Fairbanks Alaska. Jason Wilson was doing some shopping in Lowe’s when he received a voicemail that he thought was surely spam. The garbled transcription on his iPhone said something about being a big winner… He and his girlfriend had just enjoyed…
Read More
Soldotna Fly-In
The Alaska Airmen’s Association joined the Peninsula Pilots Club (PPC) for the secondannual Soldotna Fly-In on Saturday May 21st. With delicious food, good friends and niceweather… the fly-in was a great success! Thank you to everybody who joined andhopefully had a wonderful time like we did.If you didn’t make it this year, don’t miss out…
Read More
NextGen Spotlight: Scholarship Winners
We are very proud to announce… our 2023 scholarship winners! The AlaskaAirmen’s Association is deeply grateful for everyone’s help that made thispossible. We also want to thank all applicants, attendees at the Great AlaskaAviation Gathering and a very special thanks to Lieutenant Governor NancyDahlstrom for being there and showing her support on behalf of the…
Read More
50 States in 50 Years
By Paul Scoskie 12FEB1973Preston Airport Morgantown New Jersey. The day that started fifty years of flying both commerciallyand fun. From the first day, at that time rural New Jersey. My journey has taken me to many parts of theglobe. Upon retiring from a major airline, I was in my office, Fall of 2022, bringing my…
Read More
NOT ALL FIRST RESPONDERS ARRIVE WITH THEIR SIRENS WAILING!
By John M. Dahlen Let’s begin with a very short bit of important legalese about the photos for this article. Use of these photos should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the Alaska Airmen’s Association by any part of the Department of Defense. They are being used only as educational and illustrative elements of…
Read More
Obesity
By Bernie Willis No, I’m not trying to shame anyone into losing weight. But I am frustrated at a number of “absolutes” that may be good for primary flight students but keep aviators from understanding the broad impact of their decisions. “Have you ever flown with an aft CG?” “Have you ever taken off downwind?” “Do you…
Read More
Proposed CTAF Area for Kenai/Soldotna
By Tom George, AOPA Alaska Regional Manager Acting on a request by pilots in the Kenai and Soldotna area, the FAA is working with industrystakeholders to create a Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) Area on the peninsula, similar tothe one in use in the Mat-Su Valley. The FAA assembled a working group with local and…
Read More