Featured Supporters

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…

There is no idle season for RAF supporter and hard working volunteer Lynn Mareth, now of Bigfork, Montana. If her Super Cub has to wait out the “soggy turf” season at her home airfield of Ferndale, she can be found on the slopes of Whitefish Mountain or out riding one of her horses along the…

At age 77, Ray Steinmeyer has chosen an encore career that continues his passion for aviation. A career that included professional A&P/IA services, then 30 years with the power company in Maine, he now enjoys providing his expertise among pilot friends at his home field of Bowman, B10 near Livermore Falls, Maine. And his neighbors…

RAF supporter Joe Feiler of Casper, Wyoming loads his tools into his Cessna Cardinal and brings his skills where the RAF is making an impact. Joe’s 35-years teaching Career and Technical education included woodworking, carpentry, and welding, and he readily puts his knowledge and experience to work as a volunteer. “I learned Tim Riley was…

Jim was one of those kids who was fascinated with flight from the start. Living in Wisconsin, he went to Oshkosh regularly. He worked at the FBO as line kid, and set his goal to become an aeronautical engineer. At Purdue University he discovered the subject required a painful level of math, so he switched…