Airplane showcases at McAllister Museum

A Yakima-based winner of the annual STOL (short takeoff and landing) competition in Valdez, Alaska, will be featured Saturday (Aug. 18) when the McAllister Museum of Aviation again offers an aircraft showcase presentation to the public.

The STOL champion is a modified experimental Super Cub called Cuzoom, owned by Mike Olson of Yakima. It will share the billing Saturday with a Breezy, or Breeze, owned and built by Mike Butterfield of Yakima, said Don Rasmussen, McAllister volunteer who organizes the events.

This week’s presentation at the museum, 2008 S. 16^th Ave., Yakima – at the east end of the Yakima airport – is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. and conclude at noon, Rasmussen said. Additional aircraft showcase presentations are planned for Aug. 25, Sept. 8 and Sept. 15.

The presentations feature pilots talking about their aircraft and giving short flight demonstrations.

Olson’s plane was flown in the competitions by Ed Doyle of Kansas. Doyle and Cuzoom’s winning distance was 78 feet – 43 feet for the takeoff and 35 feet for the landing – the EAA’s (Experimental Aircraft Association) news website reported.

The many modifications to Olson’s plane include much-lighter-than-normal components wherever possible. The EAA site quotes Doyle’s description of some of Cuzoom’s characteristics: 238-horsepower Aero Sport Power 0-360 engine, with nitrous oxide boost; special three-blade composite propeller; extended gear legs; and 80-degree flap system for ultimate control at very low speeds (the plane can fly as slow as about 20 miles an hour).

The Breezy is aptly named, since the pilot and any passenger experience much air movement. Except for the wings and part of the rear fuselage the craft has no “skin” – just a framework with a “pusher” engine and controls.

Butterfield, of Yakima Aerosport, built his Breezy following the inventors’ -- Charley Roloff, Carl Unger, and Bob Liposky -- design.

There is no admission charge for the presentations, but the non-profit museum appreciates donations. MMA is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.