Huckleberry breakfasts back at airport

May 1, 2013
By Ashley Glaza
Northern Air

May is back and so are the Huckleberry Pancake Breakfasts at the Boundary County Airport hosted by the local EAA club. The first one is May 25 at 8 a.m., so bring your hungry bellies and a donation ($5 suggested) to enjoy your local airport and all you can eat huckleberry pancakes, eggs, sausage coffee and juice!

Nathan Negoi
The local EAA club, Chapter 757, hosts a breakfast on the last Saturday of the month from May through September in order to raise flight scholarship money for local youth.

Last year the club gave out $7,000 in flight training scholarships, and gave out two scholarships to Trevor Schneider and Dalin Hubbard. Both Schneider and Hubbard have completed the Private Pilot Ground School and plan to take the knowledge test in the coming weeks and have recently begun their flight training.

Nathan Negoi, of Bonners Ferry is the newest private pilot at Northern Air. Negoi was awarded the 2012 EAA Youth Flight Training scholarship and has been working hard for the past year, helping out around the airport and spending as much time as possible in and around the airplanes.

On April 30, he took his check ride and toughed it out in the gusting wind to successfully earn his wings.

Shem Johnson
Northern Air’s Private Pilot Ground School has ended for the season, and several of the students in have already passed their FAA written knowledge exams.

This is one of the first big hurdles in learning to fly.

Ground school prepares new flight students for the aviation knowledge fields of weather, airport operations, airspace, aerodynamics, aircraft operation and performance, flight planning and navigation, aeromedical factors and federal aviation regulations.

Rick Peterson and Jade Parker of Bonners Ferry and Ian Wheeler of Sandpoint all passed their Private Pilot Knowledge tests on April 25 at Northern Air’s new testing center.

Several others are due to take their tests in the next few weeks. Some of these students have already started flying, while others will use this milestone to begin flight training.

Shem Johnson, of Bonners Ferry, has put the finishing touches on his Piper J4 Cub that he rebuilt, and earned his tailwheel rating so he can fly it.

Tim Oberemok
“Sometimes us old-timer pilots think we can just get out there and fly anything. Well, this thing proved me wrong!” exclaimed Johnson after taming his new airplane and getting his official logbook sign-off from instructor Wayne Sommers.

Tim Oberemok, of Spokane, earned his twin engine rating in his Cessna 337 aircraft.

Tim’s brother, Roman, earned his twin rating several weeks before in the same aircraft.

A third brother plans to start his twin training later this spring.

For more information about the pancake breakfasts or what goes on at your local airport call Northern Air at (208) 267-4359 or visit the website www.northernair.biz.

More information about the local EAA chapter 757 and the Youth Flight Scholarships can be found at http://www.757.eaachapter.org/.