Art and Air Festival brings unusual aircraft to mid-valley

By Jennifer Moody

Albany Democrat-Herald

Karen and Alan Dierksen of Lebanon used to fly all over in their Long EZ, an experimental aircraft they built themselves in 1984.

They've traveled to Texas and to Mexico in their 15-foot, Burt Rutan-designed aircraft.They know it can go from Seattle to Los Angeles on one tank of gas.

These days, those tanks of gas cost so much, the Dierksens have cut back on travel. But they didn't pass up the chance to hop over to Albany for a day at the ATI Wah Chang Northwest Art & Air Festival.

Pilots from around the state are gathered at the Albany Municipal Airport this weekend for the ninth annual festival, which continues through Sunday at the airport and at the nearby Timber Linn Park.

The festival features local and regional music, hot-air balloon launches, art demonstrations and dozens of booths, where artists sell everything from photography to woodcrafts to handmade soap.

At the airport, pilots have planes on display, participate in flour bombing and spot landing contests and volunteer their time to instruct would-be pilots in the "Young Eagles" program. On Saturday, 183 children ages 8 to 17 took Young Eagles flights.

At the north end of the airport, pilot Charles Jones took visitors through the specs of a REACH medical helicopter. The Augusta 109A is "small, red, sexy and fast," he said - and likely a person's best hope for survival when he needs to get to a hospital immediately.

"It's an emergency room and an ICU in about six cubic feet," he said.

David Hug of Salem visited the festival with his son Conrad, 5. A pilot himself, he said he, too, has had to cut back on his flights because of the price of gas.

If he had his way, Hug said, he'd make cars and other landlocked engines rely solely on alternative fuels. Gasoline, he said, would be preserved for aviation only.

"For the fun stuff," he said with a smile.