AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2020 - 112

PILOTS  TOP MECHANIC

Dennis Wolter
Making airplanes great since 1973
BY THOMAS A. HORNE

LOGBOOK

WHO | Dennis Wolter, Air Mod
CERTIFICATES AND RATINGS | Private pilot,

instrument rating

FAVORITE AIRCRAFT | A "totally stock" 1956

Cessna 172
EXTRA | Wolter was first on the scene of a
crash that killed one and seriously injured
his mentor Richard Donahue. So began his
conviction that all general aviation airplanes
should be equipped with four-point harnesses. He began securing field approvals
to install four-point harnesses in Beech and
Cessna airplanes.

112 | AOPA PILOT August 2020

By 1961 Wolter had his private pilot
certificate. With the money earned flying
right seat on night mail runs in Beech 18s,
playing with a rock band, working in an
avionics shop, and making medical training films, Wolter paid his way through
the University of Cincinnati, earning a
bachelor of science in industrial design
in 1969. He later earned his airframe and
powerplant certificate and inspection
authorization.
"The medical filmmaking [instructional films showing surgery and other
procedures] gave me an appreciation
of anatomy," Wolter said. "I flew a lot of
brand-new airplanes while working at the
avionics shop." The new airplanes were
an eye-opener. "The airplanes had such
uncomfortable seats; and cheap, lousy plastic panels; and the cabins were so noisy,"
he said. "So, I started thinking: These airplanes were brand-new, and they were so
bad. Was this the best they could do?"

EMAIL tom.horne@aopa.org

CHRIS ROSE

HOW DO YOU KNOW the nation's best aircraft mechanic? Every year the General
Aviation Awards Program grants a
prestigious award to the nation's top maintenance technician. This year, the 2020
Aviation Technician of the Year prize went
to Dennis Wolter, president of Air Mod,
located at Cincinnati's Clermont County
Airport. Wolter, who began Air Mod in
1973, typically completes 25 to 35 interiors
every year, so there are some 1,500 examples of his work out there flying today.
Drawn to aviation (and quirky motorcycles) from an early age, Wolter rode
his Sears Allstate moped to Cincinnati's
Lunken Airport as a teenager, just to
watch the airplanes. Washing cars at a local
Dodge/Plymouth dealership didn't pay
enough for flying lessons, but the manager
of the Aero Services FBO at Lunken offered
17-year-old Wolter a job washing airplanes.
That manager was Hal Shevers, who'd go
on to head up Sporty's Pilot Shop.	

The germ of the Air Mod idea had
formed. Wolter would remake interiors
with seats tailored to each pilot's body
dimensions and proportions. Use soundproofing materials of varying thicknesses,
designed to dampen the low frequencyhigh amplitude sound emanating from the
firewall, cowl, and cabin sidewall and overhead. Noise reductions of seven to eight
decibels would be achievable.
Air Mod started in a hangar at
Clermont County, then Wolter moved to
Lunken. Word began to spread. By 1993
Air Mod had earned its niche, and Wolter
expanded the scope of his work to address
a growing but neglected issue affecting the
aging general aviation fleet: corrosion. The
following year, he was chosen to upgrade
the first of five AOPA membership sweepstakes airplanes-a 1978 Cessna Skyhawk
AOPA called the "Better Than New 172."
"The Better Than New 172 really
helped build our business to a new level,"
Wolter said. "We moved back to Clermont
County in 1994 and built our own hangar."
Parked next to Air Mod is Wolters' own
Cessna 172. And in his hangar are bikes
from his 52-strong motorcycle collection,
and a reminder of his first days at Lunken:
his two-stroke, 12-horsepower Allstate.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2020

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