County celebrates pilots, aircraft

TIGHT FLIGHT— Pilot Hal Provo keeps a close eye on his wingman as they practice maneuvers for the Experimental Aircraft Association-sponsored airshow at the Camarillo Airport. They’re flying Nanchung CJ6s. After Chinese pilots in the Korean War trained in these dual-seater propeller aircraft, they were ready to fly Russian-made MIGs. BILL SPARKES Acorn Newspapers Standing beside his homemade airplane at the Camarillo Airport, Richard Davis can’t hide an irrepressible ear-to-ear grin.

The smile is evidence enough that the four years and 6,000 hours he worked on constructing his Glass Air One airplane was time well spent.

Davis said his love for flying motivated him to purchase the single-prop plane that was delivered, in parts, to his Thousand Oaks home back in 1988. The thousands of parts and pieces came with two enormous tomes of directions. It wasn’t until 1992 that he completed the plane and the small two-seater finally rolled out of his garage and took its first flight.

“I love it,” said Davis, a Thousand Oaks resident. “There’s no way to describe the feeling of flying other than it’s addictive. There’s nothing quite like it.” For more than 15 years, Davis has been a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) with Camarillo-based Chapter 723.

His plane, along with 50 others, was on display this past weekend at the 25th annual Camarillo Air Show at the Camarillo Airport. The event was hosted by the EAA.

With the theme “Youth and Aviation,” this year’s show drew nearly 9,000 enthusiasts, according to Larry Beckett, the event’s chair.

The event’s highlights were acrobatic flying exhibitions by Ellsworth Getchell and Rob Harrison. Public flights were available too.

“This year, we saw more young families with children, which is really great,” Beckett said. “We really wanted to focus on the youth who want to become future aviators.”

The local EAA club not only works year-round to bring the air show to Camarillo, but it also fronts the nearly $60,000 it takes to put on the event, according to Ernie Salmon, the chapter’s president.

Although the club can earn anywhere from $1,000 to $26,000 from the event, Salmon said, it’s done more as a service for the community.

“This is set up to be our biggest give-back to the community,” Salmon said. “We’re not trying to fund the chapter off of it. . . . If we do have money from the event, we use some of it to help fund our Young Eagles program.”

The Young Eagles flying program offered by the association gives aspiring pilots and airplane mechanics between the ages of 8 and 18 the opportunity to take their first airplane flight.

EAA member Ed Burnam said the flights are given to inspire youngsters to become pilots.

“You don’t have many other opportunities for these kids to see firsthand how a plane works and how it flies,” Burnam said. “Schools don’t provide this type of education, and about the only place you can get it nowadays is in the military. . . . We want these kids to become the pilots of the future.”

The club sends Young Eagle members to summer camps for future aviators and last year gave 423 first-time flights to youngsters from throughout Southern California.

“It is so important when putting on an event like this to find the right people,” Salmon said. “Larry Beckett has been really great in putting everything together this year. . . . He’s helped coordinate the insurance requirements, the city permits and the fire department.”