DOWN HOME AVIATION AT ITS BEST IN THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND
Article appeared in Flying Magazine November 2017 by Martha King

This normally non-towered airport was probably the busiest it had ever been. The airport needed to land an airplane about every minute and a half to accommodate the arrivals in the time available between sunrise and 10:30 am, when everyone wanted to be on the ground. The trick was getting everyone off the runway and into parking to clear the way for those behind.
The big show was supposed to be at 11:50 am, but John and I had a great time watching all the airplanes long before then. Every kind of airplane you could imagine was joining the party, from homebuilts to jets. And a great party it would be.
Nature would be providing us a rare show—a total solar eclipse. Over any given spot on earth a total solar eclipse occurs about once every 375 years. If either John or I is ever to see another one, there will likely be an airplane involved—like there was this time.
We had read estimates that said as many as 7.4 million people would be competing with each other on the roads to get to the path of totality. We understood there would be traffic jams everywhere. No problem, we said. That’s where general aviation shines—we will fly.
Our plan was to wait and see what the weather looked like the day before the eclipse and then fly to wherever looked most likely to guarantee clear skies. And if the weather turned unexpectedly cloudy on eclipse day, we could fly to somewhere else.
This sounded great in theory, but when we started investigating good locations for eclipse viewing we discovered that some airports had been taking aircraft parking reservations for the eclipse for years—and all expected to have to turn away airplanes. It became obvious that we needed to pick a destination airport and settle in.
The hard part was what airport to choose. A generally good weather forecast for this time of the year would be key. Plus, we wouldn’t want to be caught in traffic jams on the ground on the big day. So we would need to pick an airport away from any major metropolitan areas. There were a lot places in the great American West that would fit the bill.

We chose Alliance, Nebraska (AIA)—and we hit the jackpot. The sole FBO, Heartland Aviation, is a wonderful mom-and-pop operation. (As you can imagine, John and I are impressed by mom-and-pop operations.) Gaylene and Jeff Jensen have owned and operated Heartland Aviation for over 27 years, but their connection goes even further back; Jeff had been working there since he was in high school. Their enthusiasm for aviation, and people who fly, brims over in every conversation.
When we made our aircraft parking reservation with Heartland some months before the solar eclipse, Gaylene told us that they already had over 200 single-engine piston aircraft and twenty-five twins and jets scheduled to fly in that morning. Like every other airport in the path of the eclipse, they also fully expected to have to turn away airplanes.
Their biggest problem, though, was not going to be room to park airplanes. It would be getting the arriving aircraft parked in the time available on eclipse morning. Denver Center had told Jeff and Gaylene that careful planning would be required to get airplanes clear of the runways and to parking fast enough to keep the traffic flow up. That’s when they realized the need to land an airplane about every minute and a half. And that didn’t allow for any instrument approaches, or wake turbulence separation.

When we heard that, we realized we wanted to get there ahead of the crowd. We didn’t want to join the conga-line of airplanes into that airport on the same day as the event. Now we had a real problem. If we were going to come early, we needed a place to stay. As we got into it we realized that with our original plan to fly in and out on the same day we had wasted precious time while everyone else was arranging accommodations.
This is where an FBO in a small community is so valuable. Gaylene had a friend who knew a woman who had just put her house up for rent that weekend. I jumped at the deal, and arranged for us to arrive on Saturday at noon instead of Monday morning.
One of the things that John and I have savored the most about general aviation is the way that small airports introduce you and communities you would never have known otherwise to each other. In Alliance everyone we met welcomed us with great warmth, and with curiosity about where we were from and how we flew our own plane to get there.
Our early arrival gave us the opportunity to settle in and revel in the grand party the city was throwing for its visitors. We enjoyed lots of free musical entertainment, snacked from food trucks, attended a Native American powwow, and thoroughly enjoyed a portable planetarium show designed to explain the eclipse to grade-schoolers.

On the day of the event we headed out to the airport early to watch something very special—FAA controllers, operating from a temporary control tower perched atop a city dump truck, skillfully keeping airplanes separated. The controllers had arrived on very short notice when the number of airplanes expected escalated. It is a life-saving service that the U.S. Air Traffic Control System provides to general aviation when they see the need.

Meanwhile, beginning at 5:00 am Jeff and Gaylene’s crew of 30-plus volunteers guided aircraft to parking, fueled them, and moved pilots and their passengers to the ramp in trams. Plus, Jeff and Gaylene threw a party worthy of the event, including custom-designed eclipse T-shirts and eclipse glasses. For breakfast they served biscuits and gravy or breakfast burritos, and for lunch burgers, hot dogs or chicken breasts—all at unbelievably reasonable prices
The airport was open only to people who had arrived in an airplane, and as the day progressed, the mood reflected the comradery of 400 or so fellow aviators talking with each other about where they came from and how they had fallen in love with flying. We realized we were sharing an event that each of us would remember for the rest of our lives.
The eclipse, of course, did not disappoint. We were powerfully moved by the phenomena that have mesmerized humankind since the beginning of time—a darkening sky and sudden chill accompanied by sunset colors circling the horizon, a corona ring around the sun, and stars appearing during the day.
But what was truly special to those of us who flew in to Alliance was general aviation at its very best. It was a wonderful day brought to us by a couple who had worked for months to make it happen. Gaylene and Jeff created an opportunity for hundreds of aviation enthusiasts to share a very special event in what for all of us was the most fun way imaginable.
I grew up in Alliance. My summer job in high school was working for the FBO in Alliance.
It is wonderful to hear that the Heartland family company is treating everyone as well as they always have in Alliance.
Your town gave everyone their warmth and work to see that we all had the time of our lives.
I flew in to Alliance in October of 2016 on my way to northern Montana for an elk hunt. Gaylene greeted me with a smile that made me feel I had just arrived at home for the holidays! Truly wonderful people, as all of GA has to offer!
What a treat to read this. Thanks for sharing your experience, Kings of Aviation— no doubt GA pilots and associates were thrilled you were there.
Thanks for the nice story of small town aviation.
Great story, thanks for sharing. It was quite a show. My wife and drove to North Platte, Nebraska (we made a motel reservation a year earlier), enjoyed the historic sights, and then saw totality at Grand Island, avoiding the massive crowds by going north to a city park. (I had plans A, B, and C for places to watch and so quickly gave up on the heavily advertised public event areas.) We got back to the Omaha airport on back roads, avoiding the horrendous backups on the Interstate. Aviation skills in map reading and planning alternatives do spill over to ground travel to!