Boyceville Airport Booster club closes in on funding for flight simulator
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By Amber Hayden
BOYCEVILLE — Since the summer of 2018 the Boyceville Airport Booster club (BABC) has worked to raise funds toward a Redbird flight simulator.
In 2018 retired Capt. Jim Harvey, with the 1958 Boyceville class, approached Joel and Becky Timblin, Boyceville Municipal Airport mangers, at the airport in Boyceville and proposed the BABC attempt to purchase the simulator that would cost upward of $7,500.
The flight simulator is FFA approved as a basic aviation training device, and would provide training for local pilots and student pilots.
The financial goal to purchase the simulator is expected to be met by late summer in 2020.
“Joel met with the Redbird representatives at the 2019 EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh and shared the booster club’s goal to establish a cooperative effort with Boyceville High School to provide students an opportunity to do flight training,” Harvey explained. “The Redbird representatives agreed to provide, at cost, upgraded peddles and yoke equipment, plus no cost code updates for the future Redbird TD simulator,” said Harvey.
The simulator would be placed in a trailer, according to Timblin, and can be taken to area schools for career/STEM days, as well as be used for aviation students for training.
BABC
The booster club came into existence in the late 1960s, and formally organized in 1971.
“That is the first records the bank has,” Timblin explained.
The BABC started out with the Smith brothers, Mel Simonson, and Timblin’s father Carson, which included the pancake breakfast.
The idea at first was to promote the airport and flying, according to Timblin, with several of the younger people learning how to fly at the airport and then leaving Boyceville to join the military’s aviation programs.
“Some of them that returned flew air medical for a while,” he stated. “Myself and my wife did that for a bit, I was a flight medic and she was a flight nurse.”
The Timblins flew on air medical for just over twenty years.
Currently the BABC has had two students learn how to fly with them, and then have gone off to join the US Army and the US Coast Guard.
The BABC is coming up on their 50 year anniversary in 2021, which Timblin expressed has always focused on the airport, youth aviation, and the scholarship fund.
“Over the last ten years we have really focused on the aviation aspect,” Timblin stated. “So we have given scholarships to kids that are going into aviation engineering. We have no age limit on the scholarships that we give out, it’s kids, adults, and whoever.”
The BABC offers aviation scholarships, with the purpose of the scholarships to share the joy of fun and flying to enhance the world through encouraging aviation education.
The scholarships will help with education for pilot training, obtaining an advanced license or type certificate, mechanics training, air traffic control training, and/or attending an accredited aviation training program.
All those who apply must be a resident of the local area, over the age of 15, and the scholarship amount will be determined by the scholarship selection committee.
Anyone interested in applying for the scholarship should contact the BABC by emailing Timblin. Applications are accepted from November 1 to March 31.
The BABC has recently gotten involved with youth mentoring with the Boy Scouts, and the high schools aviation classes.
Cameron and Boyceville school districts are now partnered with BABC through the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) curriculum.
“Cameron has been coming over for years with their aviation program,” Timblin stated. “We fill in the gaps and give them a day of hands on learning.”
During the day long class time they would offer different stations, such as navigation, safety, and different parts of an aircraft with the help of volunteers from the booster club.
Timblin spoke with members of the BABC and asked, “How can we get the schools more involved?”
That is how the AOPA curriculum came into play, with the persistence of Harvey and the support and team work of the booster club.
The goal for the simulator was originally $10,000 and currently the BABC sits at $4,000, with a bunch more money that is pledged and will be collected over the next few months.
“Our hope is to have the simulator up and running by Pickle Fest time,” said Timblin. “So we can have it at the pancake breakfast.”
The trailer that will house the simulator will be heating and cooling controlled, and will be able to go to the schools.
There will also be cameras installed in the trailer as a safety measure, along with background checks done for anyone who will be working with students and scouts.
“We will send all of our paperwork for booster club members that will be working with kids through the Boy Scouts background check,” he explained.
Timblin credited the partnerships with the schools, the Boy Scouts, and the BABC, that has helped bring the project fully together.
What the Boyceville Airport provides
Timblin provides area airports with a computer based program that will allow pilots to access the airports remotely and discover what the local areas have for food, activities, and car services.
“If I want to pick a restaurant, it will have a drop down menu of all of them in the area,” Timblin stated.
Timblin works with the Chamber of Commerce where each computer is placed to make sure that they have everything listed correctly.
“The community wants these pilots to come in so they can give them access so they get into the community and visit all the little shops,” Timblin explained.
He and his son also help to restore Piper J-3 Cub airplanes as the hanger has everything from a paint booth to an area for upholstery.
“Usually we will have 600 to 800 hours tied up in a restoration,” Timblin explained. “We also buy and sell aircraft.”
The worst thing for an aircraft to do is just sit, according to Timblin. Things will tighten up, the lubrication will not be there, and things will start to corrode, he said.
“You want to keep the engine fresh,” he said.
Timblin also made a trip to Florida recently to pick up the floats for a client in New York after they had made the flight with the airplane back to New York.
“It was a float plane, so when he picked up, it was on wheels,” Timblin said. “So we picked up the floats and brought them here, then he will pick them up later this summer.”
