by Jesse Walker-McGraw, photos by Siobhan Miller

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Fifty people gather in a room in the Lee’s Summit Airport complex. A bulletin board on the back wall holds thank-you cards from a Boy Scout troop, grateful for its flight and visit to the airport. Airplane wallpaper borders the room, while the “Ten Commandments of Aviation” warn against things like standing on an active runway. The penalties for disobeying the Commandments sarcastically include the “earth rising up and smiting thee.” The Experimental Aircraft Association, Chapter 91, calls itself to order.

The Experimental Aircraft Association’s purpose, according to Charles Gosselin, is “to promote people constructing or building airplanes.” Amazingly, the organization’s ambitious mission statement is carried out by its members, who build full-sized, working planes by using metal included in kits. In Chapter 91’s three hangers, 18 unfinished planes rest. Each is owned by a member of the chapter, and each was built by hand. Gosselin owns one of the airplanes. Its finished product was the result of a lifelong fascination.

As a high schooler, Gosselin wanted to join the U.S. Air Force. In his junior year, his eyesight became an obstacle to his dream. His vision worsened and he was unable to join the Air Force. Instead, he went to college and studied physics. He became a teacher, but, at age 40, remembered his old dream and learned to fly. He bought “a few” airplanes, but when he retired, he sold them all. He was ready for something bigger. He was ready to build a plane. The dream took nine-and-a-half years to complete, as Gosselin only worked on it during the summers.

Since then, Gosselin has joined the Experimental Aircraft Association and built a second airplane. After many years, Gosselin has settled into a plane routine: Experimental Aircraft Association meetings, volunteering at pancake breakfasts run by the association and attending Saturday morning flights to resturant breakfasts. On frequent Saturdays, members of the Experimental Aircraft Association fly their planes from the Lee’s Summit Airport to another small airport nearby. According to Gosselin, the members simply “taxi up,” park their planes and enter the restaurant inside the airport for a delicious breakfast.

However, not all of Gosselin’s plane stories involve carefree Saturday morning breakfasts. On one occasion, he was in the air during a thunderstorm.

“There were thunderstorms all around,” Gosselin said.

He saw one small clear spot of visibility but decided to fly around it instead of through it. A moment later “a lightning bolt went right through” the hole of visibility. If Gosselin had flown through it, he said he would have been killed.

Medina and Gosselin are “adventure buddies,” according to Medina, with their activities including not only flying, but also scuba diving. Medina has been inspired by her grandpa, who, at 77, is “the smartest person” she knows. By photographing his community, she wanted to spread her awe to other girls who she hoped “would be inspired in the same way.”

In the meeting room, the members of Chapter 91 of the Experimental Aircraft Association banter happily. When one mentions that he will pick up a new airplane in a few weeks and that it will be disassembled in boxes, another reminds him, “Don’t drop it!” Outside, the wind blows and the clouds gather. The weathervane swings in the wind, and the little airport is surrounded on all sides by the plains (and planes) of the Midwest.

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Flying Together

When Maddie Medina, a sophomore, was instructed to photograph a community for her digital photography class, she thought of her grandfather, Charles Gosselin, and his flying club, the Experimental Aircraft Association. “I love photography and flying with my grandpa, so taking pictures of him allowed me to put my thoughts into images,” Medina said. She wanted to “photograph something unique,” and flying in her grandpa’s homemade plane certainly fit the criteria. Medina and Gosselin are “adventure buddies,” according to Medina, with their activities including not only flying, but also scuba diving. Medina has been inspired by her grandpa, who, at 77, is “the smartest person” she knows. By photographing his community, she wanted to spread her awe to other girls who she hoped “would be inspired in the same way.”

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