Small aircraft fly in to help grant big wish
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ST. IGNATIUS – Pilots with small engine aircraft — the kind you can’t ride in — gathered at the airport in an effort to make a wish happen for a child in need.
“This is to help make a kid happy,” said Bryan Buys, volunteer for Wings for Wishes, which is a local nonprofit organization that started in 2011 to help the Make a Wish Foundation grant wishes to children facing life-threatening illnesses.
Eric Kendall started the program in 2011 after a friend’s son needed a wish granted. From there, Kendall and his crew of volunteers have helped make several wishes come true with an annual fundraising event that brings pilots together to fly for a good cause. But this year, Wings for Wishes is struggling to raise enough money to grant a wish.
“We could use all the help we can get,” Buys said.
Pilots flew radio-controlled aircraft out on the runway after paying a landing fee. The fee goes into the pot along with other donations that are given to the Make A Wish foundation. Pilots from as far away as Washington traveled to the event.
Using a radio control, Darrol Denny directed his Yak-55 to take off from the runway. He flew the checkered purple and black plane with a wing span of about 5 feet over the airport. It hovered in the air, flew back and forth over the runway, went straight back up into the air, flipped around a few times, flew into a knife edge, and eventually lined up on the runway for a landing.
“I built my first plane out of sticks about 12 or 13 years ago,” he said. He started learning to do tricks through the years. It doesn’t always go smoothly. He said he has crashed a few planes, but then, he gets to rebuild. Manfred Schneider set up a flight simulator at the event so people could try flying from the comfort of a computer without worrying about crashing the real thing.
“This lets people practice and learn to fly,” he said. “You can start over if you crash without having to glue anything back together.”
A full-size acrobatic airplane flown by Jason Newburg was at the event. On Sunday, he flew up into the clouds and did a few tricks.
“He gave us a donation and parked his plane here for the weekend for people to see,” Buys said.
Lake County Airport Board representative Rick Newman said that the board supports the Wings for Wishes project. He said a notice was going out to the bigger airplanes that radio controlled aircraft was flying about 2 miles around the airport with a clearance of 1,000 feet.
“When the big airplanes come in, these guys clear the flight path,” he said.
This year, the Wings for Wishes program didn’t get as close to the $4,500 goal that they need to grant a wish for a child.
“We are still taking donations to help make a wish,” he said. If they don’t make enough to for a complete wish, the money is still donated to the Make A Wish foundation to help contribute to a wish.
People can continue to make donations for the next few weeks before the donation is turned over to the foundation by calling Kendall at 406-499-0116 or at wingsforwishes.weebly.com
Kendall also has a program to help people learn to fly radio-controlled aircraft.
“Talk to Eric if you want to learn to fly, and next year, come to Wings for Wishes and fly at the airport,” Buys said.
