Pastor’s Airplane Dreams Come True

WAITSBURG - For one Waitsburg pas- tor, building an air- plane is a once-in-a-lifetime dream.

Pastor Bret Moser of the First Presbyterian Church will be spending the next year of his life building an engine and putting the fin- ishing touches on a replica of the World War II Trainer Tiger Moth tandem airplane. Moser said this kind of plane was the first airplane that ca- dets in Canada and England trained in for battle. His plane is about 80 percent the size of the original.

Moser doesn't plan to do battle in the plane. In fact, his goal is much more fun than that. He hopes in one or two years to fly the plane over a Waitsburg parade.

"It's quite a miracle to have found this," Moser said of the plane.

Since Moser was young, he has always wanted to fly planes just like his father, who was a private pilot.

"I was a hangar brat," Moser said with a laugh.

When Moser turned 40, he told his wife Bethany he was finally going to learn to fly airplanes, just like his dad.

He began taking lessons in Walla Walla with Steve Reed who taught him how to minimize risks while he's in the air -- making him into a great pilot.

With some instruction un- der his belt, he started flying a small, slower airplane with a flying partnership of pilots. When the group members believed they were ready for more speed in the air, the partnership traded up to a larger plane. Now, Moser has about 185 hours of flying to his name.

The only issue with shar- ing an airplane in the partner- ship was the cost, he said. He wanted to find a plane he could fly that was better on fuel costs and easier on his wallet.

He had looked into kits where he could build his own replica plane, but they cost $15,000 and didn't quite fit into the pastor's budget.

One happy day, his wife Bethany stumbled across a listing from a former Navy pilot and airplane builder in Arizona who was selling his replica airplane for just $6,800. It had taken the seller about two years to build the plane and he had decided it wouldn't be fast enough in the air. The slow speed and encouragement from his wife to get rid of some planes were the catalyst for the seller to list it.

Jim Edwards, the pastor at the Dayton First Christian Church, hopped in a truck with Moser with a trailer hitched to the back and drove 24 hours straight to Arizona to pick up Moser's new plane.

"I never want to make that trip again," Moser said with a laugh.

But, the adventure paid off.

Moser was now the proud owner of the almost- completed World War II Trainer Tiger Moth tandem airplane. The plane is made of wood and fabric and is lighter and stronger than steel, he said.

One main thing the plane is missing is an engine. Moser has purchased a Cor- vair engine for $200 and is working to convert it into an engine that will take his aircraft high in the sky. His plane is being housed in the shop behind the Blue Crystal shop on Preston Avenue and the engine is being built in Waitsburg resident Jack Otterson's garage, Moser said.

Meredith Huwe, the mother of Karen Mohney who owns Blue Crystal, said having Moser build his plane in the "old shed" brings back memories of her late husband, Pete Huwe, who also built his plane in the shop.

"Pete's passion was to fly," Huwe said.

Pete Huwe had bought a kit to make a plane called an RV-4 in 1981 and it took him about five years to build it, Meredith Huwe said. He took it for the first flight in 1988.

"He always said it fit him like a glove," she said.

Moser has about one year or two of work ahead of him to get his plane completed with the engine and all of the buttons and parts to make it fly. Moser said he wanted to make finishing the plane a real priority and will be taking a sabbatical from some of his non-work related activities like Lions Club meetings until the plane is completed.

"It's very tedious," Moser said. "Some pilots will take years to build an airplane. I don't want to do that."

Even though the plane will consume a lot of his time, he said he has found others in the area who are also passionate pilots who are helping him out. He said there are great online resources that will help him finish the plane according to federal regula- tions as well as the Experimental Aircraft Association, which he is a part of.

And when he finally gets the plane built, no one will be going for a joyride right away. Moser said the first 20 hours of flying will have to be alone and will require lots of taxiing to make sure the plane is safe. Then maybe he can fly over a Waitsburg parade.