Getting to Know You

Ernie Hansen, Vice President

“If you work on it, you will get it done.”

“Don’t think of the entire project … one component at a time.”

“Each task … one at a time.”

“Set a schedule and “DO IT!”

“Another set of eyes…take advantage of our tech counselors.”

Goals, objectives and “how-to’s” are the sage advice of our vice-president, Ernie Hansen, builder & restorer of a Harmon Rocket II, 2 Swifts and a Super Cub.

At age 14, the allure of airplanes began when his neighbor invited him to join him in his plane. His dream of flying took shape when he attended Kent State University in Ohio where he signed up for their aviation program. A plus was the airport four miles from the university. And then … a change in plans.

It would be another 12 years before Ernie received his pilot’s license. A fortuitous trip to Chicago with a subsequent job interview took Ernie & Penny to Alaska. In the next 30 days, Ernie was discharged from the National Guard after six years, married Penny, became a father to her two daughters and accepted the job in Alaska. After a few years living in Ketchikan, the family took up residence on Gravina Island, across the bay from Ketchikan. He and Penny traveled across the bay in their 14-foot boat each day to go to work, along with the girls who were attending school in Ketchikan. Penny worked as a teacher and Ernie worked first in special education and then as a principal and assistant superintendent.

He was offered an opportunity to spend a month in Juneau, where he would fly a Cessna 170 every day. After 40 hours in 39 days, he received his private pilot’s license. One month later, he was in Seattle getting his seaplane rating and bought his Luscombe 8A on floats (65 HP engine). Since the plane had no electrical system, he would hand prop it & crawl back into the pilot’s seat. (He was 30 years old at the time!)

During the summers when school was out, he worked as a commercial fisherman. He bought a Californian 34 and he and Penny started a charter business but decided it was not something they enjoyed. One of the things Ernie did enjoy was helping a friend who did surveys for the Fish & Game Department, such as tracking mountain goats. The Department leased Ernie’s plane and he piloted the plane as his friend did radio tracking of goshawks, elk, wolves & bears.

In 1996, after 20 years in Alaska, he retired from his job as assistant superintendent and moved the family to Sequim. He and Penny bought a home in Diamond Point and he joined the EAA. He commuted back to Alaska for another six years as a commercial pilot.

Back in Sequim, he was chief pilot for Port Townsend Airways for two years and for eight years, he flew an amphibian Beaver for a Seattle construction company.

In 1999 he had a choice: build a Cobra car or rebuild an airplane. The airplane won. He bought his first Swift (he now has two), a plane that had not been flown in 32 years. When it was time to test fly it, a friend suggested he just run it (without first working on it) to see what would happen. At the invitation of two friends (& with some trepidation) the three flew off in their planes to a Swift Fly-in in Tennessee. On the way back home, they got as far as Idaho where they left the plane and subsequently the plane got new mags!

His second Swift (an unrestored original GC-1A) came from an Athens Tennessee museum. It is polished with the original 1946 interior. It has been in the Port Townsend Aero Museum for the past seven years.

His Harmon Rocket was a three-quarter finished project which he worked on in 2012, flew it six months and sold it.

Since 2016 he has been working on a Smith-wide body Piper Super Cub…”a kit of sorts”…airplane parts…no instructions.

His accomplished dream of flying includes owning the following float planes: Luscombe 8A, Cessna 185, Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser plus a Cessna 172. Wheel planes include a Mooney m20f and his current Swifts. He has the following ratings: Single engine land & sea; Instrument, Commercial, CFI, CFII, A&P & IA.

He has attended Sun ’n Fun in Lakeland Florida for 12 years and attended EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2000.

For fun he enjoys his motorcycles, traveling and annual wine tasting in California with friends.

Penny, his loving partner for 42 years, passed away in November 2018.