It’s not that we can’t fly during the short, colder days. It’s just not worth the bother in the frozen states. Bundling up for the trek to the hangar, arranging for some engine heat, wondering if the battery is up to the start, chipping leftover snowplow detritus from the rollout path—naw, too much trouble, wait for a better day.

Floridians, meanwhile, fire up in their shirtsleeves and fly right on through winter. It was 50 years ago that folks in some enterprising EAA chapters thought up the idea of inviting their pale, pasty northern friends down to the lake country in Florida for an end-of-winter get-together. Quickly dubbed  Sun’n Fun, the fly-in/airshow took off like, well, spring break with airplanes. This year’s event runs Tuesday, April 9, through Sunday, April 14.

The site at Lakeland Linder International Airport (KLAL) couldn’t be a better choice. Nicely situated between the airspaces of the tourist mecca of Orlando and the Gulf Coast’s Tampa-St. Petersburg area, the venerable World War II facility, then called Drane Field, has adequate space and easy highway access from Interstate Highway 4’s corridor. 

Sport and experimental aircraft devotees flock in to mingle with all classes of flight, from balloons to ultralights, antiques to vintage, aerobatic to warbirds, and rotorcraft to seaplanes—you can find it all at Sun ’n Fun.

As with the midsummer extravaganza, EAA AirVenture, in Wisconsin, vendors soon latched on to the Sun ’n Fun explosion, and it became a showplace for products unveiled after winter gestation, with display hangars and booths galore. It’s a great place to shop for the latest innovations, or perhaps a fly-market find.

Daily (and sometimes nightly) airshows, constant flybys, lots of food choices, an on-field museum of flight, and educational seminars keep attendees entertained.

Getting in requires perusal of the 27-page NOTAM, available on the event website, which outlines the Lake Parker arrival procedure, which has been modified this year with a entry point on I-4 at Kermit Weeks’ Fantasy of Flight Museum complex (or even earlier), where one begins the 100-knot, 1,200-foot msl trek, heading southward to a racetrack turn point and westward to the north shore of the lake. From there, the interstate leads to another turn at two water towers prior to an interchange onto a 90-degree interception path to the downwind leg for either Runway 10L or 28R, depending on surface winds. 

Bear in mind that the 75-foot-wide arrival runway is normally used for a taxiway, and the paralleling main runway is reserved for other activity. As at Oshkosh, colored dots painted on the temporary runway are used as aiming points for separation. There’s also the Paradise City grass runway, well south of normal traffic, and Choppertown for the helicopters.

Walking around the grounds guarantees plenty of exercise, although the semicircular flight-line shape appears deceptively short compared to a straight-line layout. There’s abundant shade under the Spanish-moss-laden live oaks, under which northerners are advised to seek shelter from the unaccustomed sun. I routinely return from Sun ’n Fun with peeling skin, even with ample protection.

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Czepiela will not only showcase his thrilling aerobatic performance but also participate in the esteemed Valdez STOL competition, a favorite among bush pilots worldwide. Czepiela, who is originally from Poland, combines commercial piloting with aerobatics competitions and air races. 

With a lifelong passion for airplanes, Czepiela started competing in aerobatics in 2010, eventually joining the Polish aerobatics team, Żelazny. He ventured into air racing in 2014 and achieved remarkable success, including winning the Red Bull Challenger Cup in 2018. Czepiela owns a Red Bull-themed CubCrafters Carbon Cub EX STOL aircraft for backcountry flying.

• READ MORE: Annual Valdez STOL Event Featured Beach Landing Fly-Out

Joe Prax, president of Valdez Fly-in, expressed excitement about Czepiela’s participation.

“His involvement adds a new dimension of excitement to an already iconic event, and we invite everyone to join us for an unforgettable weekend filled with camaraderie and aviation thrills,” Prax said.

CubCrafters is the title sponsor for the Valdez event. Founded in 1980 by Jim Richmond, the company designs and manufactures experimental, light sport aircraft (LSA), and Part 23-certified aircraft. 

“We welcome CubCrafters as the title sponsor for this year’s event,” said Prax. “CubCrafters has been a sponsor and supporter since the inception of the Valdez Fly-in. CubCrafter aircraft have been a feature of the fly-in for years. In 2007, the very first Carbon Cub was revealed at Valdez and posted an astounding record 19-[foot] takeoff in the STOL competition.”

The annual Valdez Fly-in & Air Show, established in 2003 and recognized as the grandfather of STOL competitions, continues to be the premier competition of its kind in the Western U.S.. This year’s festivities also will include beach landings, balloon pop, flour bombing, aerobatics shows, and pilot roundtables.

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Pioneer Field is tucked away in the heavily glaciated Chugach Mountains near the head of a deep fjord in the Prince William Sound, just across from the Port of Valdez, and the Valdez Glacier that sits to the east of the runway. Despite how awe-inspiring this landscape may be, it owns a reputation for creating fast-changing and inclement weather conditions, but it seems the weather gods were smiling down upon the 19th Annual Fly-In & STOL Competition with blue skies and  an abundance of sunshine. The conditions could not have been more beautiful for this legendary event.  Regular Valdez competitor Dan Reynolds said, “Overall this year’s weather was some of the best I have seen.”

The ramp was full of airplanes belonging to competitors and spectators who traveled from hundreds, even thousands of miles to participate, coming from as far north as Fairbanks and North Pole, Alaska, to Juneau, just 450 miles to the south of Valdez. Boaz Schwarts of Tel Aviv, Israel, flew his Carbon Cub FX3 from Bend, Oregon, to join CubCrafters at the event to give demo rides, and another person traveled 4,348 miles from Tampa, Florida, to volunteer for the event.

Of the 2,000 spectators in attendance were 200-plus passengers from the HMS Nieuw Amsterdam, a Holland America Line cruise ship that was docked at the port just a few miles up the road. The city of Valdez offered the ship’s aviation enthusiast a free shuttle ride to the fly-in.

Light Sport

Even a few Canadians made it over the border to compete, including Valdez Light Sport Class winner Reynolds, who made his event debut in 2016 in his 1984 Chinook Valdez Special. This was Reynolds’ sixth year competing at Valdez, having only missed 2020 due the Canadian border being closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reynolds is one of the fan favorites, having set a new short landing record in 2018 with a distance of 9 feet, 6 inches, beating the previous record of Valdez STOL legend Frank Knapp in his “lil’ Cub” set the previous year at 10 feet, 5 inches.

Reynolds has reached the podium every year since he started competing at Valdez, and 2023 was no different. He took home another first place win in the light sport category with a take off distance of 28 feet and landing distance of 38 feet for a combined 66 feet that also earned him the overall best score. Because of the unusually mild weather, the stronger headwinds that bring the super-short, record-breaking distances were lacking, leaving Reynolds’ 2018 mark standing for another year.

You can watch Reynolds compete at the Wayne America Fly-In in the National STOL Series against some of the most talented pilots in the lower U.S., including Steve Henry, Austin Clemons, and Hal Stockman.

This year, Knapp and his wife, Kris, were spotted on the spectator side of the fence. Knapp said, “We enjoyed the show from the spectator viewpoint this year! For us, one of the most exciting moments was watching Dan (Lawn Dart) Reynolds with his Chinook! It was a great group of pilots and machines!”

Alternate Bush

Nathan Rehack took the win in the Alternate Bush Class in his 2022 Experimental CAW12 Super Cruiser, with a combined score of 171 feet, an impressive 49 feet shorter than second place.

• Read More: The Wings Over Washington Air Show Returns in August

Bush Class

The Bush Class was the most stacked class of the event with nine aircraft, including Piper PA18s, ranging from the early 1950s to the late 1970s, a PA22 Tri Pacer, a 1943 Interstate S1B1, and a 1946 Aeronca Champ! Joe Prax, the Valdez fly-in president, said he found the Bush Class scores to be the most impressive, and although the Aeronca Champ didn’t win the class, pilot Kyle Sobeck did a great job with a lower-powered plane without flaps. The crowd appreciates any airplane flown well.

It was newcomer George Pine who won the Bush Class in his 1959 Piper PA18. This was Pine’s first time competing at an STOL event.

Light Touring

The 170 Mafia enjoyed a strong showing in the Light Touring Class. However, the strength-in-numbers axiom didn’t apply this weekend as it was Steven Spence in his 1958 Cessna 172 who took the win for the third consecutive year with the combined shortest distance of 170 feet.

Heavy Touring

The Heavy Touring Class was also stacked with a strong presence of Cessnas— 206, 185, and 180s—but it was a 1978 Helio Courier that won by a whopping 113 feet over second place with a combined distance of 177 feet flown by Lukas Stutzer. It was Stutzer’s second career victory at Valdez.

Second- and third-place finishers James Sparks and Keving Doyle have competed for many years. Doyle especially sports a long family history in Alaska STOL, as his uncle was part of the first known competition held on the beach on Kenai in the early 1970s.

Prax was pleased with the turnout this year: “We had a good mix of new and veteran pilots who all performed well. The wind at the event was only 7-8 knots but (was) extremely steady. Another factor in great performance is the low density altitude from cooler temperatures and the event (being) at sea level.”

The day ended with a delicious dinner and awards banquet at the Valdez Convention & Civic Center that overlooks Port Valdez. With the Sugarloaf, Benzene, and Mummy mountains serving as a breathtaking backdrop, it was the perfect setting for a  celebratory formation flyby—performed by aerobatic pilots Scott Sexton of Barnstormers Aviation in his Citabria and extreme sports athlete Melissa Dawn Burns in her Edge 540—to celebrate the competing pilots, volunteers, staff, and 350 of their closest friends, family, and fans.

Richard McSpadden of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association said, “Valdez is hallowed ground for STOL. It is like (the) Fenway Park and Lambeau Field of bush flying.”

Valdez STOL is known for bringing this type of competition to the forefront of general aviation and has made  a direct impact on the creation and growth of popular events in the lower 48 states. The staff is already planning and preparing to celebrate the event’s 20th anniversary in 2024.

All in all, the 19th Annual Valdez STOL Competition was truly a sight to behold, made even more memorable by the gorgeous weather.

The post Annual Valdez STOL Event Featured Beach Landing Fly-Out appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

The annual event used to be held on July 4 and combined an airshow over the Tacoma waterfront with a car show and aircraft on static display at KTIW. Billed as family-friendly entertainment, the event was popular with nonprofit organizations and clubs as the combination aircraft static display, car show, food vendors, and beer garden attracted thousands of people.

Last year the event was bumped to August. Then, just a few weeks before the event was slated to happen, it was canceled in part because airport sponsor Pierce County was concerned about complaints from residents in the area about noise and safety issues. In addition, the two largest businesses on the airport, Narrows Aviation, a fixed base operator catering to corporate aircraft, and Pavco Flight Center, a busy Part 141 flight school, objected to the disruption the event would cause to their businesses, and declined to allow their ramps to be used for the event.

It was disappointing, says Tony LaStrella, the president and CEO of the Freedom Fair and the Tacoma Events Commission. Then the Port of Bremerton reached out with the idea of bringing the aviation event to the Bremerton National Airport (KPWT), some 15 miles northeast of Tacoma Narrows.

“When God closes a door somewhere he opens a window. That’s what happened here,” LaStrella says, adding that the Bremerton location will make it possible for a much more interactive experience for the attendees.

“When we did the show at KTIW the airplanes flew over the waterfront of Tacoma. There was no way for the people there to meet the pilots,” he explained. “In addition, we had jets flying as part of the event and those jets needed more room to land than was available at KTIW. Bremerton has the room, and after the aircraft land people will be able to meet the pilots.”

KPWT covers 1,729 acres and sports a 6,200-foot-by-150-foot runway. Tacoma Narrows sits on 568 acres and has a runway measuring 5002 by 100 feet.

The first airport at the Bremerton location was allegedly created in the 1930s by a group of pilots who filled in a bog with gravel. The airport was expanded and improved drastically to serve the needs of the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Cold War.

At the height of its use, KPWT had two runways: one aligned east-west, the other north-south. The latter remains today. The east-west runway was converted into a drag strip in the 1990s and is still used by Bremerton Motorsports park.

The City of Bremerton has been ‘a Navy town’ since the early 1900s. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is still one of the largest employers in the city. Since September 11 the shipyard has been under a National Security Area. The facility often maintains submarines, carriers and other vessels.

According to Jim Rothlin, the CEO of the Port of Bremerton, the area’s Navy heritage will be celebrated at the event. “This is the first time in 35 years we have had an airshow like this and we’re really looking forward to it. We’re planning to have people out here looking at airplanes and cars, and to have booths with crafts, food and music. We are looking to do something that involves the whole community.”

Aircraft Displays

Rothlin expects approximately 1,500 to 3,000 people to attend the event. Among the aircraft slated to be on display are a P-51 Mustang, an F4U Corsair, TBM Avenger, SBD Dauntless, PBY Catalina, and a T-28 Trojan.

For people looking for a more dynamic aviation experience, Olde Thyme Aviation, a Seattle-based company will be providing rides in vintage aircraft.

All these things are made possible by ample space at the airport, noted Doug Fratoni, executive director of the Wings over Washington Airshow. “There is a larger static display area on the west side of the airport and we have built-in car parking on the east side of the airport on the dragstrip. We plan to have shuttles running to get people from the parking area to the show side.”

Frantoni added that the airbox for performing aircraft is 3,000 feet wide by 6,000 feet long, which makes aircraft demonstrations possible in the future. “This is our first year at Bremerton and we’re just getting our feet wet. We’re hoping that we can have military demonstration teams in subsequent years.”

Both LaStrella and Fratoni say the Port of Bremerton and the Bremerton Pilot’s Association have been very supportive of the event and eager to participate. For example, the pilot’s association is running the car show, the proceeds of which go toward their aviation scholarship fund.

The Wings Over Washington Air Show is slated for August 19 and 20.

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on flyingmag.com. 

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