HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Rotary Club held its regular luncheon meeting on Monday, June 26. Annette Beaton was a guest of the club, while Crystal Putnam was a guest of Rotarian Katie Hill and Carlie Woodworth was a guest of Rotarian Max Lynds.
Mac Randolph announced that this year’s E-Waste Day is on Sept. 9. Sponsorship forms are available for that event. President Matt Nightingale announced that the July 24 meeting would be shared with the Woodstock Rotary Club with the District Governor attending. Rotarian Leigh Cummings performed the induction ceremony for Beaton, who is the branch manager for Katahdin Trust Company in Houlton.
Rotarian Henry Gartley introduced his guest speaker, Andrew Putnam. Putnam educated the group on the updated Houlton International Flying Club. The club originated in 1958 and has produced many pilots over the years. In the mid-1980s the club was fairly inactive as interest waned, but in the early 2000s a new enthusiasm for flying became apparent. A decision had to be made about either forming a new club or doing the paperwork to renew the existing club. By late 2016 a new effort began when a room was filled with interested people. The work was done with nine flying members and seven non-flying members and by March of 2017 an “N 360ZK-1967” plane was purchased.
The engine had been rebuilt with few hours on it. The club has earned the SADC “Business of the Year” award. There are two different memberships available with different dues structure to account for insuring pilots. The entrance fee into the club is $250 and $600 per year or $55 per month gives a pilot full access to the online reservation system with a fee of $85 per hour of flying time that includes fuel.
A flight instructor comes to Houlton from Old Town to teach interested pilots. To qualify a person must be 17 years of age and pass a 60 question written test, navigate 10 solo flights, 21 dual flights with the instructor and have 40 hours of total flying time. Also there are three Class C landing sites in Maine to be navigated as well as one dual cross-country flight and one cross-country solo flight. Candidates must pass a four-hour exam.
Putnam sees the club as business friendly as the more FAA see traffic in Houlton the more funding is funneled to the operation. He has witnessed a couple from Bangor landing at the airport to have dinner at Grammy’s. Pilots are attracted to the airport when they hear “traffic” on their radios. The club is very fortunate to have Beal’s Aircraft Service at the airport as Beals fixes planes from all over the world and the hangar rent and fuel sales benefit the area. The club’s website is houltonflyingclub.com and their mailing address is P. O. Box 545, Houlton, Maine 04730.
