Kalispell airport hosts Cessna convention

Over the last three days, around 350 tourists have entered the Flathead Valley on a means of transport that is anything but typical: 106 Cessna Skywagons landing at the Kalispell Municipal Airport.

The planes are a mix of 180 and 185s with a fixed gear and tailwheel framework. The planes’ unique characteristics have garnered an organized and devoted group of followers.

The 185s are slightly wider on the portion of the tail that points to the heavens as they fly compared to the 180s, but in broad terms the two models are fairly similar.

The hundreds of additional tourists in the valley this week are a part of the International 180/185 Club’s annual meet up. The Kalispell city airport serves as parking lot for the planes and meeting space for their pilots during the weeklong event, which concludes June 29. The planes will be on display for the public to see until they fly out on Friday.

The group largely flew in Monday and many took part in a kick-off event the airport hosted that afternoon.

The pilots and their passengers are taking flights around the area during the day and also taking advantage of many area amenities while their planes are on display at the airport, said B.J. Holman, who co-owns Red Eagle Aviation and is the secretary for the association that is managing the Kalispell airport.

“This is the first year they’ve come here, and they’ve come from all over the country,” Holman said.

Holman said the planes are specially equipped to fly into backcountry and out-of-the-way airstrips.

“A lot of these planes have never seen a dirt strip, but they could,” he said. “These are great bush country planes.”

In December, the Kalispell City Council voted to hand over the reins of the airport an independent user group. The deal absolved the city of financial obligations related to maintenance, but also removed the prospect that they could raze the airport and use the land for development.

Holman credited the new management situation as a big boon when it came to creating a package attractive enough to lure the annual meet up to town.

“They pretty much booked the entire Hilton out,” Holman said.

He said many of the groups that arrived in the planes were also taking advantage of a local shuttle from Kalispell to Glacier National Park.

Robert Fraser is one Flathead County resident who is glad to see the airport host the annual gathering in Kalispell.

“What we have is what’s just about once in a lifetime for our little city airport,” Fraser said. “This is important.”

Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.