Bremerton Youth Education Bears Fruit

At the same time, I helped Gabe DeVault build the first prototype of the eXenos motorglider in Hollister California. This experience convinced me that the Xenos would make a great introductory project for BACE. A Xenos kit was found in northern California that had very little work done and was available for a good price, so we took on the project. Soon, a core cadre of experienced builders, engineers, and A&P mechanics such as Bonanza pilot George Steed volunteered to be mentors for the kids who had started to filter in the door through word of mouth.

About this time, 13-year-old Annika Pexton of Central Kitsap High School came into BACE. Soon, Annika’s parents were regularly taking her to BACE for our twice-weekly build sessions to learn about everything related to building a sheet metal airplane. She proved to be an adept student and was soon competent enough to show other kids (and some newcomer adults as well) how to do the cutting, drilling, and riveting necessary to make a thousand small pieces of metal into one airplane. Her enthusiasm and skill were such that we promised her that if she stuck with it, we would help her get the glider (self-launch) rating necessary to fly the airplane she had helped to build.

Several years later, with the eXenos nearing completion, Annika received a Bremerton Pilot’s Association scholarship to help fund her glider license training, and I helped her apply for membership in Evergreen Soaring. The now 15-year-old Annika soon started her primary training in the club’s L-23 Blaniks. Her flying skills developed rapidly, and she enthusiastically leaned into the peripheral skills required for club flying such as wing running, field managing, and golf cart glider retrieval. Annika managed to keep spirits up by baking up some very tasty Snickerdoodle cookies and a new creation, Glider Girl Snickerdoodle Muffins.

On the eve of her 16th birthday, Annika was cleared to solo and she performed a flawless flight. As a reward for this, BACE mentor Al Royal presented her with his U.S. Navy leather flying jacket which amazingly fit (Al was apparently a very svelte young attack pilot back in the day). Her post-solo training included several cross-country flights at the SSA XC Junior Camp at Ephrata, WA with mentor pilots, and she showed great competence in thermaling and navigation tasks. She also developed a raft of new friendships with the other participants in the camp.

Her scheduled 2024 Private Practical test was delayed, but she got a nice winter surprise with the Seattle Glider Council Youth Achievement Award for 2024. The combination of bad winter weather, schoolwork, and lack of DPE delayed her final flight test prep flights until this March. We hired DPE Robin Reid from Independence, Oregon administer both Annika’s and CFI-G candidate Jim Dobberfuhl’s flight tests in one trip. On April 16th Robin flew his Citabria up in miraculously clear weather. Annika went first and managed the oral portion of the practical test without much difficulty. I was not surprised, as she is a 4.0 student and is taking college courses at Olympic College as a Junior in high school.

At that point, a howling crosswind had sprung up and soon peaked at 22 kt, so Robin moved on to the oral portion of Jim’s flight test. The next morning dawned crisp and clear, and Annika and I flew my RV-8 from Bremerton to Arlington at Oh-Dark-Thirty to get the Pawnee towplane and the Blanik out on the line. Robin re-started the test, and Annika took two tows, one to 3,000 ft and one to 250 ft. According to Robin, she flew all the maneuvers to Commercial standards and ended with a precision spot landing. The simulated rope break from 250 feet was skillfully executed, so Robin passed then and there. Jim Dobberfuhl followed this up by performing the flight portion of the practical test, and he got Robin’s approval for his CFI-G rating.

Our eXenos is very close to completion, and with a bit more training Annika can be cleared to fly it by earning her self-launch endorsement. Several EAA members and I have purchased another Xenos, this one gas-powered, to provide the training necessary to get Annika and other BACE pilots the glider-self launch endorsement so they can fly the airplane they have worked so hard to build. Annika’s parents have been wonderfully supportive throughout the whole process, and I am always amazed they trust our EAA crew to whisk her around in our experimental airplanes. Annika plans on honing her cross-country skills at attending this year’s Junior XC camp at Ephrata.

BACE has now facilitated three new pilots and two budding A&P mechanics from among our young people. BACE also repaired Evergreen Soaring’s L-33 after it had a hard landing at Ephrata, has started its second project airplane, and has a new Build & Fly program to build radio control airplanes and sheet metal toolboxes. Those who graduate from this program will move to BACE to build airplane number 2, a light sport Panther single seat power plane from a kit donated by a local pilot impressed by what we have achieved so far.

About the author: Mike Friend retired after 36 years as a commercial aircraft design chief engineer and international technology development executive for Boeing. Mike lives near Seattle and is a commercial pilot and flight instructor in single engine power planes, gliders, and seaplanes, and currently flies a Van’s RV-8.