Featured Supporters

During the summer of 1964 while on a 3,600-mile Canadian kayak trip, Gordon Rock of Mercer Island, WA learned that he could hire a floatplane to view two falls on the Hay River. “It turned into quite an experience that included landing between the two closely spaced falls. It was that experience that convinced me that I wanted…

“I’ve had a lot of good fortune,” RAF Supporter Bob Rose says of his career path. Rather than be drafted and sent to Vietnam, Bob applied for pilot training in his hometown of Syracuse Air National Guard unit and was selected for a year of active duty at Laughlin AFB in Texas for Undergraduate Pilot…

A breakfast when Kevin Johnson was in high school determined his future as a pilot. “My dad had served in the US Air Force Reserve as load master on the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, then got his private pilot license when I was five, so we were around flying. But when he flew me to…

When Scott Newpower came on board as an RAF volunteer and Montana Liaison, the organization gained a real bonus with his wife Mary. Her contributions to the RAF are many, from enthusiastically spreading the word about the organization’s mission to cooking feasts for airfield work party volunteers. The couple bonded through aviation, he as an ATC…

As a kid living in Minnesota, Troy Tirrell was introduced to aviation by his father, a Northwest Airlines pilot. They vacationed in Alaska when Troy was a kid. Troy’s own experience included glider lessons in Australia and Hawaii.  His father’s form of recreation included cruising his motor sailboat throughout the Caribbean, Florida’s Keys, and the…

A person doesn’t forget Rachel Thompson. Wife of RAF Oklahoma Liaison Steve Thompson, she steps out of his gleaming Cessna 180 in the middle of the backcountry, unloads all the fixin’s for a week’s worth of baking, and gets to work. Within an hour, the aroma of something wonderful baking is in the air. If…

“Mark is a great enthusiast of recreational flying,” RAF Connecticut Liaison Drew Lyons says of retired aeronautical engineer Mark Scott of Bethany, CT. After 37 years with Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in its aircraft design and rotor R&D department, Mark now focuses on flying and being president of his EAA chapter and a flying club. A pilot…

Arnold Bronson owned a successful high-end Scandinavian furniture store in partnership with his brother in Syracuse, NY. In 1973 he and his wife got the travel bug, rented a 31-ft motor home, loaded their three kids and dog and headed West. They traversed the western states, and connected with a friend with the Bureau of Land Management…

Bob Christensen of Ashton, Idaho may claim a healthy case of beginner’s luck, but those who know him would say he is simply quite skilled. His first aircraft fabric recover job was on his own “basket case” 1947 PA-11 Cub, which he’d put back together and flew to Airventure in Oshkosh. His friends encouraged him…

If you are pondering the future of GA, innovator, pilot, and businessman Dan Schwinn has a robust and positive message for you.  Dan, an MIT graduate, put his imagination to work decades ago and launched Shiva, a highly successful manufacturer of global communications devices. Aviators may know of him through his current enterprise, Avidyne, that…