LITH Airport Plane of the Month: a Prescott Pusher

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome back to my little blog space. I know am going to start a special little series this week that will run for a few more weeks that will specifically address some of the shops and businesses located at the airport. My hope is that by showing you that all types of businesses are here and giving you a bit of history on them, maybe you will feel more comfortable coming to the airport and seeing what is offered.

Before we begin, we had our second pilots association meeting this week. We have started our monthly Plane of the Month and it was quite impressive this month. We picked an experimental aircraft known as a Prescott Pusher. There are only two of these flying in the world and one of them is located right here in Lake in the Hills. Below you will see a picture of it and it’s hard not to notice that the plane is a bit different than an average airplane you would see at the Lake in the Hills Airport.

The plane is very unique in many different ways. First and foremost as I mentioned previously, there are only two of these planes flying anywhere today. One is our pilot, Ole Sindberg and the other is the developer of the plane. In addition to that, this plane lands at about 100 miles per hour and average cruise speed is around 200 miles per hour. Ole has flown about 350+ young eagles in this plane as a way for children to get more interested in flying. The plane has over 100 modifications to it as well. Everything from a different engine than it was designed with, to a fuel system similar to a commercial jet, down to a roller blade wheel on the bottom of its tail. It has been flying for well 13 years this month and took 11 years to build.

Ole is no stranger to the air. He flew in the military as well as for United Airlines as a commercial jet pilot. While attending Oskosh (one of the major air shows in the country as well as a huge aviation celebration location) Ole decided that building a plane was going to be his retirement plan. After a few more years of attending the aviation celebration, Ole sat in on a Prescott presentation.   The plane was everything he had wanted, high speeds, unique project, and looked like a strange jet. Ole went home, tossed the idea around with his wife, and here we are today with one of the most unique planes in the world, sitting at the Lake in the Hills Airport. Ole enjoys showing the plane off and will be out here on Saturday for the next Young Eagles flight. Please stop by and see for yourself how amazing this little plane truly is.

This week, I want to introduce you to Blue Skies Pilot Shop. The shop is owned by Mike Carzoli and has a very interesting history. It all started in 1992, when Mike received a postcard from a local realtor offering rental space in a building being constructed at the Lake in the Hills Airport. Mike thought about it for a while and decided this was the perfect place to start a pilot supply shop. The name even has a bit of an interesting story. Before Mike opened the shop he was an auto mechanic who loved to fly and skydive, not at the same time of course. Well sky divers have their own greetings just like boaters have sayings like “smooth sailings.” For sky divers it you wish someone blue skies, thus the name Blue Skies Pilot Shop.

Now running a shop is a lot of work, especially in the beginning when you are still working your first career before starting your next. Mike had some of the best help you could ask for. Stan Serwitz and Dave Morrow jumped at the opportunity to help Mike out. Dave was retired at the time, which helped in scheduling hours. The daily shifts normally ran along the lines of Dave would work from noon until three, then Stan would come in until five, then Mike would come in and close the place down around eight. Talk about a long day, come back from work and then go right back into work. These three men loved flying so much though; they were okay with the long hours because they knew this was needed at the airport.

For three years, the shop was just a shop. In 1995, it was decided to start a flight training school. Dave would be the first instructor in the shops first plane, a new Zenith CH2000. Mike continued working full time as an auto mechanic while also working part time to become an A&P (certified airplane mechanic). He was taught by Lynn Hadler, who is a local mechanic here at the airport. In 2000, after learning from Lynn, Mike was certified to take the tests to become an A&P as well as three years later receiving Inspection Authorization. These certifications allowed Mike to be the main mechanic for all of Blue Skies’ planes. In 2003, Mike stopped being an auto mechanic to focus full time on Blue Skies and allowed him more time to work on the planes for the shop.

Blue Skies has one of the best business philosophies you could ask for. The philosophy is to always provide a family friendly feeling when you walk in as well as provide the best maintained equipment possible for the clients. Mike believes that flying is fun, and it is hard to disagree with that. He wants to make sure that every flight feels as exciting and fun as your first flight. Blue Skies currently has eight aircraft and six flight instructors.

Stop by and meet some of their friendly staff. The original group of Stan, Dave, and Mike have expanded nicely. In additional to Dave Morrow, his wife Betty Jo, frequently works at the shop. Maggie also works many of the days and coming into the shop is like coming home and seeing Mom with how nice Betty Jo and Maggie treat everyone. Brad Delisle also works some evenings. If you are ever wondering about different information on planes, any of these great people would love to talk with you and help you understand aviation.

I encourage everyone to stop in once and meet some of the staff and even see Mike. It is becoming more and more common for the owner to never be seen, however, Mike is not that type of owner. You can normally find him around the shop or airport. All of these people are great and depending on what time you stop in and what is going on at the airport, they all could point you in the right direction of seeing some of the unique sights here at the airport.