Our Aircraft Raffle has been the largest fundraiser for General Aviation in Alaska since Linda Trusdale won our Cessna in 2000. The beauty of the Aircraft Raffle is that it is a self-perpetuating fundraiser that exists to help our Association accomplish our mission. Every year, we use ticket proceeds to commission next year’s raffle plane. All the remaining funds from our raffle sales go right back into supporting local aviation. Specifically, proceeds fund our scholarships and our youth programs, which create more local pilots, aircraft mechanics, and air traffic controllers. Tickets also fund fly-ins and social gatherings that unify and support our community. Perhaps most importantly, a large portion of all 14,000 tickets supports our ability to advocate on your behalf. The purpose of the Alaska Airmen’s Association is to provide the unified voice that ensures you and our fellow aviators can keep doing what we love. This raffle affords a major portion of our operating budget to accomplish that mission. The choice to purchase a raffle ticket is a choice to support our industry and we are grateful to every buyer.
This year, we were lucky enough to be presented with a chance to participate in the airplane build unlike any before. An opportunity arose to participate in CubCrafters’ Builder Assist program, which, per the FAA’s Major Portion Rule (known commonly as the “51% rule”) for experimental, amateur-built aircraft requires the owner to build more than half of the plane. To fulfill that regulation, CubCrafters invites owners to visit their headquarters in Yakima, Washington twice. The first trip lasts a week and is the fabrication phase. Once on-site, they are guided through everything from cutting fabric and fuselage tubing to riveting ailerons and molding carbon fiber. Owners return a few months later to complete final assembly of the plane over a weekend. In most cases, it would be impossible to accomplish such a vast amount of work over a week and a half. However, CubCrafters’ finely honed production line allows owners to meet the FAA’s requirement by automating a significant amount of that work. For example, the builder hits the start button on a machine that cuts parts from sheets of aluminum. One button press can yield dozens of parts.
Instead of sending one person to do the work, we established a group of builders consisting of two of our staff, a board member, and most importantly three educators from the Anchorage School District. During our first trip to Yakima this November, we immersed these educators in a variety of aircraft fabrication experiences and asked them to share what they learned with their students when they returned home. Once the aircraft is complete in the spring, we plan to fly it up to Anchorage and allow those students to experience it in-person. The goal is to show local high school students enrolled in technical career courses that their current classes could lead to exciting aviation careers. We intend to invite those students on field trips later this year to tour local aircraft fabrication facilities and learn about jobs they could realistically pursue.
The Fabrication Phase
The following photographs were taken throughout our first trip to Yakima. We are deeply grateful that Alaska Airlines sponsored the travel for our local educators. They provided the flights free-of-charge in support of Alaskan aviation and greatly facilitated our ability to make this trip possible. We hope you enjoy learning along with us and that you’ll stay tuned for future developments of this project when we return to Washington for the Assembly Phase this spring!
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