AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 52

Passengers wait to board one of Kenmore Air’s DHC–3 Turbine Otters at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island (above). The dock is one of several ”boarding gates” where regularly scheduled service is available in the San Juan Islands. Installing a freshly overhauled Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. on a de Havilland Beaver (right).

and Otters. The lake is more than 20 miles long and for more than 65 years its northern tip has been home to the largest floatplane operator in the country. With the unofficial start to the summer season just days away, Kenmore Air is busy preparing its fleet of floatplanes for the busiest time of the year. A turbine-powered DHC–3 Otter is tied to the dock ready to make the short, six-minute hop to Kenmore Air’s Lake Union terminal at the north end of downtown Seattle to pick up passengers going to Victoria, British Columbia. Two of the company’s 10 DHC–2 Beavers also sit in the water with just more than six gallons of oil warmed up inside their radial engines. One is going to take a group of passengers north, up British Columbia’s inside passage, while another will follow the Otter downtown before flying to the San Juan Islands. For most people, including many visiting pilots, a Kenmore Air experience begins with a flight aboard one of the company’s Beavers or Otters (hopefully in the right seat) to an idyllic waterfront destination. They may be heading to a fishing lodge or for a whale-watching trip, or simply a relaxing island getaway. But the experience of getting there is usually one of the more memorable parts of the trip. “What’s different about us versus the airlines,” says company President Todd Banks, “is that a lot of people feel like their vacation starts here.”
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Flying is still fun Kenmore Air is family owned and operated, and Banks is the third generation to work here. “Flying is still fun with us,” he says. After checking in for your flight, you can sit at one of the picnic tables by the water that serve as boarding gates of sorts. Another option if you have a few minutes is to look around at one of the more interesting airports in the nation. Kenmore Air was founded on this spot by three high school friends in 1946. Reg Collins and Bob Munro had purchased a wrecked Aeronca K project in 1944 while working as mechanics for Pan Am. They rebuilt the 40-horsepower floatplane with hopes of going into business for themselves fixing small airplanes. But when their friend and pilot, Jack Mines, returned home at the end of World War II, the business idea expanded to include flight instruction and charter work. Mu n ro’s s o n a n d o n e o f h i s daughters—along with Banks, his grandson—continue to operate the business. And the mix of aircraft repair and restoration along with instruction and passenger service continues on the same lakeshore where the company was founded with the tiny, underpowered two-seat Aeronca. Today as passengers walk to the check-in desk to get a head start on the holiday weekend, they still get a glimpse of the entire operation, just as visitors did in the early years. They stroll by a 10-passenger Otter sitting on its floats

on the pavement awaiting the installation of a 750-shaft-horsepower Pratt & Whitney PT6A-135. A few feet away a forklift is carefully positioning a freshly overhauled Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Jr. on the firewall of a Beaver. A pair of mechanics stands on the floats, ready to bolt the 450-hp, nine-cylinder engine to the airframe. Behind a large sliding door a turbine Beaver is being completely rebuilt, from the reskinned airframe to new avionics. And a Piper Super Cub is ready to be put in the water for a student who has a floatplane lesson later in the day. There’s a lot to see as you wait for your flight. And it all adds to the atmosphere of the company that has grown from three friends and the Aeronca K, to a fleet of 20 floatplanes and more than 250 employees. In addition to its own airplanes, the company maintains a large number of customer airplanes parked at its Lake Washington base. Kenmore also operates an engine rebuild shop that specializes in the R-985 that powers the Beaver, as well as the restoration shop that has rebuilt more than 135 DHC–2 Beavers over the years. Kenmore Air’s own floatplane fleet includes six turbine Otters, eight piston Beavers, two turbine Beavers, two Cessna 180s, and two Super Cubs. In addition to the floatplane operation, the company also operates Kenmore Express, which flies Cessna Caravans on wheels out of Seattle’s Boeing Field.

52 • NOVEMBER

2011

AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011