|
|
|
|
|
Getting His Wings By AnneMarie Knepper Albany Democrat-Herald A former Albany aviation explorer takes his first flight as a licensed pilot 
For Quinn Stutheit, flying a helicopter has been a dream 28 years in the making.Friends and family joined him for pizza and rides Saturday at Albany Municipal Airport, where he took his first flight as a licensed private helicopter pilot. The former Albany resident, now living in Dallas, was part of the dozen or so Albany high school students who made up the Explorer Scout Post 579 in the early 1980s. “It was learning about aviation, and what the careers were back then,” Stutheit said. “As group activities we sponsored plane washes where we would have private pilots bring in their planes and we would wash them — that was our main funding.” He said the group would help out at local air shows in Albany and Corvallis. “We would help pilots when they were giving out helicopter rides and airplane rides,” he said. “That was a lot of fun.” Immediately following high school, Stutheit volunteered as a temp for the Albany Fire Department. Next, he says, he got involved in police dispatching in Salem and decided he wanted to get into law enforcement. He has worked in the field ever since. “This is my 20th year,” he said. Stutheit is currently a motorcycle police officer for Salem Police Department. He has also worked for the Lebanon Police Department. He said he hasn’t caught up with all of the students who were in the explorer post with him back then. “But as far as I know I am the only who got a pilot’s license.” The West Albany graduate said he knows what at least two of his fellow aspiring aviators are up to. Sandy Fluette Hammersley went on to join the Albany Police Department. Stutheit’s childhood friend Albany resident Mark Lovell and his family joined the celebration Saturday. Lovell was also in Aviation Explorers. “I remember when Quinn had a radio-controlled helicopter,” he said. “He crashed it all the time.” Stutheit started his training at Precision Helicopters in Newburg last August and got the private helicopter rating two weeks ago. “The next thing I’ll be working on is commercial,” he said. “That is the next step and that will probably take the same amount of time, maybe a little bit more.” “I have a little less than seven years left until retirement, so the intent is to make that a second job after retirement, if it works out,” said Stutheit, 43. He flew himself and his father, Donald, from the Precision Aviation facility in Newburg to Albany Municipal Airport Saturday. There they were joined by Quinn’s wife, Lea Ann, and four of their six children. “He used to ride out here on his bicycle to watch the planes take off,” Donald remembered. “He and I used to come here all the time.” Stutheit said he never lost interest in flying, but until now learning to fly had been cost-prohibitive. “Things just finally came together and I was exploring options for another career outside of law enforcement and that was one of the things I still wanted to get a shot at,” he said. Stutheit said the FAA minimum for a helicopter license is 40 hours in the air. “For most people, by the time they get done with all their training it’s between 60 and 70 hours actual time and that’s right where I fell,” he said, adding that to get hired, pilots must generally put in 1,000 hours or more. Lea Ann, Donald, a few of the children and many friends have all gone up with Quinn. “My mom’s not sure if she’ll go up,” Stutheit said. When given the option yet again on Saturday, Karen Stutheit shook her head no, missing what Quinn describes as “the best seat in the house” — the passenger side of the cockpit in a helicopter hovering 1,000 feet above Albany. |
| From May 4, 2008, Albany Democrat-Herald |
