Charity Fundraising Flights: A Brief How-To

Oct 4, 2014, 5:01 PM by Tory Tolton

 

This year I decided to put my passion for flying to better use by donating a few charity fundraising flights to causes important to me and my friends.
The flights are supporting Little Bit in Redmond, United Way of Snohomish County, and also Choir of the Sound with the help of club member Jeremy Shaver. There are the obvious benefits for the charities and in addition I get a chance to introduce new people to general aviation. As an additional bonus, my cost for the flight is considered tax deductible, reducing the out-of-pocket cost of flying a few times a year. The flights have generally been going for double the cost to operate them, so it’s a decent way to raise more money for the charity than they otherwise might get in a basic donation.
If you’re interested in doing a charity fundraising flight, here’s how to go about it:
  • Build 500 hours total time as a private pilot, or earn a commercial certificate
  • Familiarize yourself with 14 CFR 91.146, which outlines the regulations for charity flights
  • Obtain the approval of the Board, per the club regulations
  • Ask a Board member to work with our insurance broker to have the policy noted/amended to cover your flight. It did not cost anything to note our policy for the flights I have donated.
  • Make the donation to your charity, usually through a fundraising auction. An example of the marketing material I used for one of the auctions is available here (club member login required).
  • Prepare the necessary documents for the charity to notify the FAA Fight Standards District Office (FSDO). The charity needs to sign and send in the documents, as they are the sponsoring organization for the flight. Examples are available here (club member login required).
  • The AOPA has a very thorough guide to charitable flights that I found helpful in the planning process.
Here are a few of the operating limitations to be aware of in the regulations:
  • Must depart from and return to the same airport. No stops at other airports are allowed.
  • Must remain within 25 statute miles of the departure airport, which must be open for public use.
  • Day VFR conditions only.
  • Flights over water must be equipped with the necessary Coast Guard approved flotation equipment. The club does not have this equipment, so plan to conduct the flight over land only.
  • No flights are allowed above national parks.
  • See the regulations for more details and other limitations
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Mount Pilchuk Looking West
I conducted the first flight back in August and had a great time. We departed from Arlington and flew over the Cascade foothills – the Mt Pilchuck lookout, the Oso landslide, up by Lake Cavanaugh north of Arlington and back for a one hour flight. Here are a few photos and a link to our GPS track.
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Stillaguamish Valley Looking East

Astoria Fishing Trip in the Cessna 182

Sep 13, 2014, 3:21 PM by Tory Tolton

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Our cross-country workhorse N2608R took myself and a friend to Astoria for a long-anticipated “buoy 10” salmon fishing trip on the Columbia River back in August. It was an easy one-hour and fifteen-minute flight down, and the weather was phenomenal – much to my chagrin as I was hoping for some actual IFRs to put our new heading indicator through its paces.

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The ramp has many open transient parking spots with chains for tie-downs. Parking fees are $5 per overnight, and the cab ride to town runs about $15.

The return flight after a full day of fishing was just as incredible, with a VFR departure over the city and the bridge, picking up our IFR clearance on climbout. We managed to hit the only IMC in all of Western Washington for all of about 30 seconds, my first actual logged in a long time. Arrival back at Paine was just after sunset.By the end of the trip my friend couldn’t imagine driving again in the future. It sounds like we might have just started a new annual tradition.

Check out our approach to KAST runway:

GPS tracks of the flight are available here: outbound leg and return leg

Wings Over Republic Fly-In

Sep 14, 2014, 11:47 AM by James Polivka

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In what is becoming a tradition of mine, the second to last weekend in August was spent with the 182 at the Ferry County Airport (R49) for the Wings Over Republic Fly-in.  A friend and I departed Saturday and headed east over the cascades via Steven’s pass and Highway 2, making sure to avoid firefighting TFRs that were prevalent during mid-august.

Upon arrival (after embarrassing myself with a nice bounce, but still making the first turn-off) we were marshalled to a prime parking spot on the west side of the grounds overlooking Lake Curlew and the mountains beyond. The view even made the outhouse look good.

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There are so many things that make this one of the most enjoyable fly-ins I’ve been to, and make me want to keep coming back year after year.  First off, the entire town gets behind the fly-in.  The airport is in a very rural part of the state, yet hundreds of people drive in to see the planes and enjoy the great food. That brings us to the second reason: the food! The Saturday dinner alone was worth the trip.  A big stake dinner where they hand you a cut of meat and you cook it yourself over a wood fire, with whatever seasonings you want, with baked beans, baked potato, dinner roll and watermelon to go with it. Besides the food and planes, they have shuttles into town to visit the shops and museums, and they offer pontoon boat rides on the lake. After a relaxing day, my favorite part was sitting out under the stars.  Being so far from any cities, the view of the constellations and the milky way were amazing. Here’s a view of our neighbor’s plane under the stars:

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On the way home, A couple friends and their Bonanza decided to tag along. After a brief fuel stop in Omak, we proceeded south to find a path back through the mountains between the building thunderstorms and TFRs to a beautifully clear Western Washington.

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Overall, we had a great weekend with 2608R at the Wings Over Republic Fly-in with beautiful scenery, good food and some great friends. This is high on the list of things to do again next year.

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