Aviation enthusiasts offer rides on restored 1929 plane
Sep. 15—Marc Bonem inherited his love of airplanes from his father.
When he was a kid, they built model planes together, and his father would point at the sky when planes flew overhead. Bonem has always been kind of nuts about planes.
"I don't understand why everybody else isn't," he said.
Bonem, who moved to Santa Fe 15 years ago, fits right in with the local Green Chile Chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association, an international organization of aviation enthusiasts dedicated to building, restoring, flying and educating people about planes.
On Thursday, the group brought a nearly century-old restored plane to Santa Fe and from EAA headquarters in Oshkosh, Wisc., and will provide rides to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. People can view the 1929 Ford Tri-Motor for free at the Jet Center at Santa Fe Regional Airport or take a 20-minute ride over Santa Fe for $95 per adult and $65 per child under 18.
Before the first public flight on Thursday, volunteers geeked out about the 50-foot long, sturdy gray and blue plane.
"They don't make them like this anymore," Bonem said, ducking into the cockpit, pointing to a dizzying array of switches and gauges and Art Deco wooden panels adorning the walls.
In the decades after the plane was built, it flew commercially up and down the U.S. East Coast and in the Caribbean, Central and South America before moving to Idaho and Montana to fight wildfires. It then flew around the country offering rides to the public, according to the EAA.
Fifty years ago, a severe storm in Burlington, Wisc. hurled the plane 50 feet in the area, smashing it into three pieces. EAA then purchased it and began a 12-year restoration of the plane, successfully bringing it back to use.
While the antique Ford Tri-Motor came from out of state, Green Chile Chapter members have home-built more than two dozen aircraft since a small group of hobbyists founded the chapter in 1982, president Will Fox said. Besides providing community for aviation enthusiasts, the chapter provides free expert guidance to people building and restoring planes.
The 35- or so-member group also organizes various events, coordinates STEM outreach with local schools and participates in a national Young Eagles program that gives free flights to children to generate interest in aviation.
Most of the group's members are retirees, but the Green Chile Chapter also has some young people and "we're trying to expand that," member Walt Atchison said.
"It's great to sightsee from the sky," he added, saying he loves to travel.
Atchison got his pilot's license after retiring from the U.S. Air Force, where he worked in research and development. Since buying his own plane, he's traveled all over North America.
"One morning, my wife woke up and said, 'I want to go see a flying saucer,' so we flew down to Roswell for lunch!"
The group's next event will be a Young Eagles Rally in Española Sept. 23 with free flights for kids age 8 to 17.
