Seaplanes, sport pilot mall
new to fly-in
Event organizers plan to raise funds
for proposed Sport Aviation Park

Illustration courtesy of NWEAA Fly-In Fund-raising is under way for Arlington Airport’s new Sport Aviation Park, a $2 million building with space for sport aircraft, classrooms for aviation programs, trade show exhibit space and new offices for the NWEAA Fly-In headquarters.

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

Two major new attractions are part of the Northwest Experimental Aircraft Association’s 38th annual Fly-In, set for July 5 through 9 at the Arlington Airport.

The general aviation exhibit and air show is the third largest event of its kind in the nation, attracting an estimated 50,000 people each year and contributing millions of dollars to the north Snohomish County economy.

This year, there will be a Splash-In at Lake Goodwin, 7 miles west of the airport, as well as the usual fly-in of several hundred aircraft at the Arlington airfield. For the first time, the Washington Sea Plane Pilots Association is participating by setting up a water landing strip and docking area at the Lake Goodwin Resort, July 7 through 9.

Planes will land and taxi to the dock, then the NWEAA shuttle will provide transportation from the resort to the airport for pilots, passengers and fly-in visitors who visit the lake to watch the seaplanes’ arrival.

The Lake Goodwin Resort, a year-around family RV park near Stanwood, has full RV hook-up sites, picnic tables, fire pits, showers and laundry facilities for visitors and guests. It also features a full-service store and delicatessen, a gas station and The Road House Bar & Grill for food and beverages, including breakfast. For more information about the resort, visit online at www.lakegoodwinresort.com.

Another major event this year will be a sport pilot mall that will showcase a variety of the first sport aviation aircraft being produced by U.S. manufacturers following approval of the new Federal Aviation Administration flying category, said Barbara Tolbert, NWEAA Fly-In executive director.

“For the first time in the Northwest, people will be able to do side-by-side comparisons of light-weight sport pilot aircraft, take demonstration flights, talk with experts, find literature and explore the whole scope of sport flying. We’ll have everything from small Cessna models to ultra-lights that qualify for sport aviation,” she said.

Although the EAA’s AirVenture conference in Oshkosh, Wis., last year had a similar show and EAA sport pilot tours have reached people in half a dozen cities, the Northwest hasn’t yet had the same opportunity, she said.

“From an economic development standpoint, sport aviation is a huge opportunity for this airport and region. We want pilots and sport plane manufacturers to see our facilities and learn about Arlington. We are well positioned to promote this new flying adventure,” she said.

Part of the event will be to continue fund-raising for building a $2 million, 25,000-square-foot Sport Aviation Park at the airport, including space for education classrooms and trade-show exhibits for the NWEAA Fly-In.

The fly-in staff is selling name-inscribed tiles for businesses and individuals to raise its half of the project cost, partnering in the venture with sport pilot facility developer Bruce Angell, who has been planning the center for the past two years, said Tolbert.

Working together, they will be able to create an enlarged structure that will provide room for new sport pilot aircraft and programs as well as trade-show display areas for the fly-in’s exhibitors, meeting space for speakers and new offices for the NWEAA Fly-In staff. There will be five climate-controlled classrooms and space for 100 indoor exhibits, which will benefit exhibitors who want to display avionics products or other weather-sensitive equipment, Tolbert said.

The NWEAA Fly-In always has been a grass-roots effort, she said, so the fund-raising, too, will target individuals and businesses that support aviation in general and the fly-in event in particular. She said more than 3,000 tiles already have been sold, leaving about 5,000 still awaiting owners.

“We’ve gotten great support from our board of directors, the public and fly-in supporters, many of whom have watched our event grow tremendously over the past 10, 20 and 30 years and more,” she said.

Tiles for financing the construction of the exhibit center were first sold in February at the Washington Aviation Conference in Puyallup. Tolbert said support also has come from a variety of aviation groups, including Washington state Experimental Aircraft Association chapters.

“We expect to have major sales of the tiles at our 38th annual NWEAA Fly-In, July 5th through 9th,” Tolbert said. “This has become the third-largest general aviation event in the country. We know there will be a lot of supporters there.”

The tiles are $100 each for individuals or families, with a $350 rate for businesses. Contributors also will have their names posted on the group’s Web site, www.nweaa.org, and receive a “certificate of participation” with a copy of the person’s tile inscription, a map showing the location of their tile in the floor’s walkway and an invitation to the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the grand opening.

The nonprofit group hopes to break ground for the project by October.

Tolbert said she believes the sport pilot center will be a major addition for the growing airfield, which has more than 155 businesses employing nearly 3,000 people. With more than 550 aircraft based at Arlington, and more than 135,000 aircraft operations annually, the airport overall contributes nearly $30 million annually to the local and regional economy, according to local economic statistics.

The key to moving ahead with the Sport Aviation Park, she said, was the completion of the city’s updated comprehensive growth plan, which allowed the city to approve a 30-year lease for the NWEAA Fly-In.

“We couldn’t build a facility like this with only short-term leases, so this clears the way to create a site that will help us promote both sport aviation and the air show itself. Also, we have had a waiting list of vendors for the fly-in because even though we had ground space, we didn’t have the infrastructure to provide enough water, power and telephone service for everyone,” Tolbert said.

She said the extended lease and the new facility will ensure the financial integrity of the air show, set the stage for forming an aviation explorers group for the Boy Scouts and allow the NWEAA to plan more year-around programming.

This year’s show also will include air shows daily from 3 to 5 p.m., with the opening and closing air shows from 1 to 3 p.m. on Wednesday and Sunday.

Displays of some of the meticulously restored World War I and World War II fighter aircraft in billionaire Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection, which includes a P-40, P-51 and a British Spitfire, will be at the fly-in for the second year, after proving to be a major hit last year. A shuttle bus will transport fly-in visitors to the west side of the airport, where Allen’s collection is housed.

Dozens of restored military “war birds” will be displayed on the ground as well as in the air. Rows of unusual aircraft, home-built planes and World War II military vehicles will add even more interest to the air show.

Back to the top/July 2006 Main Menu