“For me, aviation is more than a physical experience, it is also a spiritual thing,” says Hans Nordsiek, who is known as The Storyteller. He shares his passion for aviation with children of all ages to inspire them to be their best and strive to do something that they love.
Beech Party: Starship, Staggerwings and STOL
The annual Beech Party broke records in 2021, with a bumper crop of Beechcraft aircraft showing up for the fly-in in Tullahoma, Tennessee.
Diamonds in the sky
The 2021 Swift National Convention was a special one: The Diamond anniversary event celebrating 75 years.
Back to Blakesburg: Welcome home!
“No other fly-in I know of can boast the aircraft that were continually hauling rides, including a Swift, Waco UPF-7, Staggerwing, Stinson SR-5, and a Lockheed Vega. Add to that such activities as a Town Hall with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Mark Baker, two FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot and one Charles Taylor award presentations, Hans Nordsiek with The Storyteller presentation for kids, as well as our usual activities, and you can begin to see that numbers don’t always tell the whole tale.”
The thrill of flying low and slow
“I enjoy the scenery while I’m flying low and slow, and watching the farmhouses go by,” he says. “If you didn’t like it, you wouldn’t do it.”
Monocoupe Fever
Ever since the Golden Age, Monocoupes have captivated general aviation pilots, who happily admit they have “Monocoupe fever.” Three of the antiques were on hand at the 2020 Antique Aircraft Association fly-in and their owners tell their stories.
A Stearman on steroids
Bill Clifford and Ace Prechtl of Long Island, New York, co-own Serendipity, a 1940 N3N-3 that Ace restored several decades ago. According to Bill, the the N3N is “just a wonderful airplane — the controls are all balanced so it handles great, it flies straight and level so nice, and it’s fully aerobatic. It’s an incredible airplane!”
An antique fair-weather flyer
Iowa’s Mark Lancaster owns just one of nine Fairchild Model 24-Js on the FAA registry. He reports the antique airplane is “just fun and simple flying!”
A promise made and kept
When he was just a 16-year-old student pilot Dan Helsper saw a Pietenpol Air Camper, “the most beautiful thing” he’d ever seen. He vowed then and there to build one of his own some day.