By Jon Goldenbaum
This piece originally ran in the May/June 2020 issue of Vintage Airplane magazine.
Like many of us, Jacob Palmer was one of those kids who had to fly. He’s been obsessed with aviation for as long as he can remember. He took a route familiar to most aviators — bugging his nonflying parents to take him to the airport, attending every local air show, and asking only for model airplanes when birthdays or Christmas came around.
In his freshman year of high school he discovered that an aviation charter school was opening at nearby Flabob Airport. At age 14, he was one of the first to enroll, and soon he entered a dream world. River Springs Charter School (now Flabob Aviation Preparatory Academy) had aviation labs and a modeling class, and best of all, Flabob’s unique antique and classic airplanes taxied by the school every day. Soon he was bumming rides in anything that flew, immersing himself in RC model aviation, and rubbing shoulders with the aviation characters who hung out at Flabob.
He volunteered to help at every Young Eagles event held by Flabob’s EAA Chapter 1, escorting riders to airplanes and helping with parking and registration as needed. Soon he discovered that the Tom Wathen Center at Flabob had several active aircraft-restoration programs for young people, so he eagerly joined in, learning about tools, aircraft structure, and materials while helping to restore a Stits Skycoupe. This was a special project. Ray Stits had developed many of the first successful homebuilding kits at Flabob in the ’50s before founding EAA Chapter 1, the first EAA chapter outside of Wisconsin. Of course, Ray is best known to aviation enthusiasts as the founder of the Stits Poly Fiber fabric-covering system. Working on the Skycoupe was Jacob’s introduction to the rich history of Ray, the EAA, and Flabob.
Even with all of this, Jacob had still never learned to fly. He was getting anxious. Several of his older schoolmates were learning to fly with the help of scholarships from the Wathen Center or Ray Stits himself.
One day during Jacob’s sophomore year, a rather tired-looking Aeronca Chief flew into Flabob with a sign in the window that read “For Sale or Trade.” He immediately called the number on the sign and found out the price was $13,000. He excitedly approached his dad, but they both knew his mom would probably nix the idea. She was worried enough about the family Harley. “Well, how about trading the Harley for the airplane?” he asked his dad. Unfortunately, the Chief’s seller had no interest in motorcycles. For months nothing happened. Then the seller called back. He had not sold the Chief, and he had a buddy who wanted the Harley. A deal was struck, and 16-year-old Jacob and his dad were the proud new owners of the Chief. Since neither could fly, they tucked it away in a hangar at Flabob and proceeded to work on cosmetics and simple maintenance tasks. The money for flight training was simply not available; there were three Palmer kids to feed and educate.
Fortunately, in 2012, U.S. Air Force Pilot Training Class 70-05 decided to have a reunion at Flabob. These men became fast friends in 1969 while learning to fly for the Air Force. Most went on to Vietnam and then completed distinguished careers in the military and the airline industry. Every few years, the class gets together to reminisce and visit. In 2012, they chose Riverside, California, and Flabob. One of the 70-05ers was a Flabob regular who was active in the Wathen Center youth programs. As part of the reunion, he convinced his buddies to kick in for a full flight training scholarship for a deserving young person. To win the scholarship, interested Flabob kids wrote essays. The 70-05ers picked the best submissions and interviewed the authors. You guessed it: The winner was Jacob Palmer.
Jacob began training at Flabob with Capt. Jack Emmons, a retired Swissair pilot, in Jack’s L-4 Fighting Grasshopper. When it came time to start completing the more complex requirements for his private pilot certificate, he worked with Dave Rogers, a renowned instructor and mentor. Airport manager Beth LaRock personally coached Jacob through ground school.
Jacob flew every day he could, and finally, in December 2012, at the age of 18, he earned his private pilot certificate in Dave’s 172. Soon after, Jack gave Jacob his tailwheel endorsement, and it was time for Jacob to fly the family Chief. As you might imagine, after a short checkout, Jacob flew the wings off the Chief, taking it out at every opportunity.
Eventually the Chief started showing its age. It needed to be re-covered and would no longer pass a punch test.
Jacob spent some time working with his dad in the family business, then went off on a mission with his church. After the mission, he returned to Flabob, determined to get the Chief back in the air. Although Jacob was preparing to head off to college, he decided to push himself to get the Chief airworthy so he could take it with him. The Chief had a low-time, recently topped C-85-8F that ran well, so the emphasis went on the airframe.
Jacob’s Flabob classmate and best friend, Tyler Howell, offered to help. Tyler had picked up some real skills in aircraft restoration at Flabob and was ready to pitch in. Like Jacob, Tyler was determined to finish all his ratings and pursue a career in aviation, so he wanted all the practice and wrenching he could get. The boys soon disassembled the bird, stripped the fabric off, and then stood back and wondered just what in the heck they were getting into. And, as often happens, challenges soon arose. A close inspection of the wings revealed cracks in the wood spars, particularly under the doublers. So the ribs came off, the cracked spars were removed, and the boys sought advice from Flabob’s brain trust on how to replace them. They were getting pretty skilled at woodwork by this time so they tackled the tapering and drilling of the spar blanks themselves with the help of their Flabob mentors.
Soon they reassembled and trammeled the wings and prepared for new fabric donated by friends at the Flabob Poly Fiber factory. The work on the wings went well, so it was time to take on the fuselage — a job Jacob had dreaded. His friend and fellow EAA Chapter 1 member Jimmy O’Brien, an A&P mechanic, offered to help, and piece by piece the fuselage was cleaned, repaired, and primed. New hardware and cables followed. As will happen, the work looked so good they decided to do more by adding a new interior and instrument panel. Jacob tackled the panel himself, installing a handsome wood veneer panel with refurbished instruments.
Jacob and Tyler then started covering the fuselage and tail feathers. By now they’d acquired some real skills from covering the wings. Jacob said doing the fabric covering was “super fun.” He had always liked modeling, and he soon discovered that covering the Chief was not that different from covering RC models. “It really isn’t hard,” he said. “It just takes time, and my time was cheap.” Soon brothers Nando and Hauldo Mendoza, the young restoration artisans at Flabob’s West Coast Air Creations, shared some of the tricks that go into completing a first-class covering job. They also helped with the stunning Ranthane finish, and the covering job was done.
In April 2017, the Chief flew again. “Hands off and light as a feather,” Jacob said. As planned, he and the Chief were soon off to college at Utah Valley University. Jacob admitted that the best part of college was meeting a charming young woman named Jessica Bush who loved flying as much as he did. Cupid soon took over, and after a short courtship they were married. With new responsibilities, Jacob decided to focus on his career. He took a break from college to finish the ratings he needed for an airline job. When the ratings are done, he and Jess will return to Utah Valley University to finish their degrees.
You can bet that you’ll one day find Capt. Jacob Palmer in command of an airliner. If anyone can reach that goal, it’s him.
Classic post-World War II aircraft present real opportunities for young people like Jacob, or anyone else with the modest means to own such an aircraft. Jacob took the restoration route, but there are many ready-to-fly classics available for relatively little money. As the saying goes, classic aircraft are “affordable and fun.” Jacob estimates he and his dad have put about $20,000 into the Chief — a fraction of what they could have spent on a used airplane or kit.
