AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2017 - 48

at high elevations. A colleague found a 1956 model on
eBay that was almost completely original, and Katie
pressed the "Buy" button.
She had to learn to ﬂy tailwheel airplanes, and she
upgraded the airplane with a three-blade Hartzell prop,
new starter, alternator, IFR panel, and a new headliner.
Her dream of ﬂying to the family's ranch was almost
within reach.
FRESH ALFALFA

Rod was of two minds regarding a ranch runway. The
non-irrigated "dry land" ranch depends on irregular rainfall for crops that feed 500 cattle. Even a modest runway
would require giving up needed hay. But Rod was enthusiastic about everything that had to do with ﬂying. During
college at Montana State University in the 1960s, he had
been recruited to become a U.S. Navy pilot but declined
when his father needed help at the ranch, which had been
in the family since Montana statehood in 1889.
"I've always been fascinated with aviation," Rod
said. "But being a rancher requires sustained effort.

48 | AOPA PILOT January 2017

And once I committed to that path, I had
to give it my all."
Rod cleared the runway in two passes
with a 15-foot swather, and then smoothed
the ground with a roller. "My neighbors
thought I'd lost my mind when they saw me
get out the swather in May," he said. "That's
two months early."
He fed the cut plants to the cattle right
away to save himself the trouble of baling it.
"It must have been really sweet," Rod said,
"because the cows just devoured it."
LIFELONG DREAM

Katie's second approach to the ranch runway
is lower and slower than the ﬁrst. Her 180
is draggy with 30 degrees of ﬂaps deployed.
She's committed to land on this pass.
Even though the engine is at a relatively
high power setting, her airplane is descending just a few knots above its stall speed. The

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2017

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