Hi-Line Living: Annual Fly in Breakfast

For decades, the North Central Hangar of the Montana Pilots' Association has been hosting a fundraiser to expose young people to aviation with hopes of getting them hooked on flying and raise money to support more flying.

"If we can get youth to realize they can fly, get that seed planted," North Central Hangar President Willie Hurd said.

A group of Lions Club volunteers started slinging eggs and biscuits and sausage patties in the hangar Saturday at 7 a.m. and continued for four hours. People paid $7 to eat.

The sky was clear blue and Hurd was about to take a plane ride through Montana's big sky.

Hurd, a Kremlin farmer, started flying in his mid-40s, and has been doing it for 15 years.

"Or 15 minutes," he said, jokingly. "I get those two mixed up."

Everyone squeezed into a gray and red 1960s Cessna 172 and strapped on seat belts before Hurd cranked the four-seater on.

"And we have oil pressure - that's good," he said.

Hurd looked over a laminated checklist, audibly crossing off the requirements one by one. Parking brake set. Check. Cabin doors closed and locked. Check. Flight instruments and radio working. Check. Wing flaps up. Check.

Hurd yelled "Clear!" and the airplane began moving down the runway. It sped up until it lifted into the air. Then it flew.

Once in the air, it felt like the plane was barely moving, but Hurd turned his head and said, "We're going 80 miles per hour." Later, that speed increased to 100 mph.

The view from the air reveals a mostly flat, and occasionally, bumpy, Hill County. Large checkerboard-like swaths of land with a little house and barn every few miles is a common sight from the air. There are the bumpy green hills of the Bear Paw Mountains. They look bare, for the most part, and low. The occasional home is planted near a hill or two. Beaver Creek Reservoir looks as if a bucket had spilled and the water filled in a long and narrow-creviced crater.

The scene over Havre is different. Compared to the bare flat prairie surrounding the city, or the bumpy Bear Paws, Havre looks like an oasis of trees and buildings. The trees seem to have been planted anywhere there isn't a building or a street.

Havre essentials like Northern Montana Hospital, Montana State University-Northern and the railroad tracks are easily recognizable.

At one point, Hurd lifted the Cessna, quickly, then "let go," causing a freefalling sensation and inciting panic in one passenger.

Everyone survived and the plane landed smoothly.

As the time moved further from 7 a.m. and temperature got warmer, more people began to show up, and more kids piled into more airplanes. If they met the height requirement, kids attending the the fly-in got a free airplane ride donated by the pilots.

Airport manager Tony Dolphay said the turnout was starting to look good.

"We're starting to look like we're going to have a good year," he said. "These guys will pretty much go nonstop as long as there's a line of kids there."

Dolphay said most years between 80 to 100 kids kids fly and the event usually makes between $600 and $700.

"We take those funds and we do things around the airport. We also put on the ACE High academy with that money - we do have some small scholarships to help pilots-in-training," he said.

Mackenzie Kuhn from Havre, 12, said she had been coming to the fly-in for about three years.

"I think it's really fun. I liked it," she said. "I want to be a pilot when I get older. I really enjoy it."

Mackenzie said she wants to be a pilot in the U.S. Army, flying helicopters. She's not exactly sure what the attraction is to flying, but what she knows is that she likes it, she said.

During her multiple flights, Mackenzie said, she has never had any scary moments.

Hurd says the pilots get the occasional "screamers," kids who don't handle the elevation well. If the child can't get past the fear, he said, they will land and let the child out.

One major program the fly-in helps support is the ACE - Aviation Career Education - High Program for high school students.

Students are brought to the hangar for an entire weekend and then put through basic training and learn about job opportunities for pilots and things of that sort.

The aviation industry needs more pilots, Hurd said. At 59, he's considered one of the young ones, he added.

The Havre Flying Club, which has an airplane, has six members, Hurd being one of them. Pilots can keep their planes at the hangars, and those who don't have one, can use the clubs' hangar, such as the Cessna. Hurd showed off a two-seater gray airplane he built himself. It took him 11 years, he said.

Flying, John Anderson, said, is for the committed. Anderson was announcing the event from corner of the main hangar.

"Aviation is definitely a way of life. You move the rest of your life around it," he said. "(You've) got medical considerations, but also staying current. If you're an active pilot, you really don't have a lot of time for other hobbies."

People fall in love with flying.

"Once you get up there, it's totally enchanting, disconnected from the world, you can leave all your problems," he added

But, Anderson said, there are other reasons people become pilots.

"I think a lot of pilots are attracted by the process, the discipline of getting your license and passing the test and going in for your bi-annual flight reviews and things like that," he said.

And, yes, he said, it can be dangerous.

"I guess every pilot at one point when they're flying, they get scared, and some people thrive on that and others go to a different hobby. It's an unforgiving hobby, and if you are not honest with yourself, it's not the hobby for you," Anderson said. "You can't fool an airplane. You either know how to do it or it's not going to go well."