Jeff and Patti Plantz

Some hundred years after the event at Kitty Hawk, two Wisconsin brothers calling themselves the “Wrong Brothers” built their own ultralight, and like Wilbur and Orville, attempted to teach themselves to fly. At least the more recent sibling duo had the advantage of a book on flying techniques.

“We’re still here,” says Jeff Plantz, one of the Wisconsin brothers. But the bug had also affected their father, and when he was age 60, they bought a Cessna 172 – that remains in the family, in addition to his brother’s Cherokee, and Bellanca Cruiser. Jeff and his wife Patti earned their private ratings. 

When Jeff and Patti decided to try some float flying, “We learned we couldn’t rent a seaplane, so we built one,” Jeff says. He met RAF Director Jeff Russell who had a Cub across his home airport at Madison and was impressed with it. Beginning with a Piper PA-14 Family Cruiser, they assembled a side-by-side Cub on amphibious floats with plenty of baggage room for their many cross-country adventures – the payoff for those ten years it took to assemble the aircraft.

Patti and Jeff have a unique appetite for adventure. After college, he had his own counseling practice. But “the urge for goin’ ” affected both Jeff and Patti, and they became what he calls “bed buggers,” or long-distance truckers. They bought a semi tractor, with a custom-designed cab and sleeper with the amenities they wanted, especially considering they brought their young child on their trips. “We’d work hard for two weeks, get rid of the trailer, then camp at National Parks, or stay with relatives from Seattle, or Colorado, Florida, to Vermont.” Following that enterprise, they operated a jewelry business, repairing watches and clocks while their kids grew up. Jeff went back to driving, and took a Fed EX route while Patti provided accounting services. “Patti is a heck of a trooper. She’s a great taildragger and floatplane pilot. We’ve been together nearly 50 years, and she tolerates stuff like when I alerted her of a huge credit card charge for those amphibious floats,” he said.

Jeff’s social conscience led him to a job with Head Start, and among all these engagements, he and Patti have fit in many flights throughout the country. After ten years of flying the Cub on floats, they’ve exchanged them for wheels. Close to home they’ve helped out at Gillette’s Lakewood Lodge, Cornucopia, and have ventured much farther through Montana and Idaho, enjoying camping in the Missouri Breaks, Ryan Field, and Johnson Creek. “You usually run into very nice people,” Jeff says. This autumn, the fall colors sparked their wanderlust, and they drove their RV to Nova Scotia. So if you do catch a glimpse of this interesting pair of travelers, be sure to thank them for their support of the RAF.

Submitted Oct 14, 2024
By Carmine Mowbray