written December 1, 2002
by Kate Bernard

I'm smiling after a thrilling ride!

For ten weeks during the summer of 2002 I worked as the Everett Weekly Intern at Pioneer Airport, which is part of the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The internship was new that year and was funded by a private donation in the memory of aviation enthusiast Everett Weekly. As an intern, I was an assistant airport manager for Pioneer Airport.

What is Pioneer Airport?

Pioneer Airport is a 1930’s-themed functioning grass airport adjacent to the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It is the “living museum” part of the EAA experience. It features seven hangars full of antique airplanes and some modern ones. Museum visitors can purchase rides in some of the antiques that are on flying status. Children ages 8-17 can take free rides in modern homebuilt airplanes and older experimental airplanes through the Young Eagles program. There are special events throughout the summer including picnics, a balloon festival, the “Good Ol’ Days” celebration, and of course AirVenture Oshkosh. During AirVenture, Pioneer Airport shuts down to fixed-wing operations and becomes the parking area for helicopters as well as a place to take helicopter rides. Weather-depending, there are flight activities happening every day that Pioneer Airport is open.

Basics of the Job

I worked from 9:00 a.m. to at least 5:00 from Monday through Friday. I usually got out at 5:30 to 6:00 depending on how busy we were for the day and how much time it took to close.

Housing was not provided for this internship. I chose to live at home and commute an hour each way every day. There were reasonably-priced apartments in Oshkosh that I could have lived in but I found commuting to be a cheaper option for me. I also did not want to be forced to lease an apartment long-term.

I reported to the museum director but he was not always directly supervising me. I was on my own. Every now and then I would talk to him and let him know how it was going, but I was given the freedom to manage Pioneer Airport on my own. I often gave people at Pioneer Airport instructions. This was one of the best things about this internship—I was given a very high level of responsibility but also enormous freedom to practice it. This was partly a result of having previous experience at Pioneer, and I am not sure if a new intern would have this same freedom.

The People I Worked With

Everyone who staffed Pioneer Airport this summer was a volunteer with the exception of a few people, including myself and the two younger people working under me. This summer I worked with two 18-year-olds, one boy and one girl, who were very fun to work with. I was in charge of them so this gave me some good management experience. I believe the only other paid people involved with Pioneer Airport were the museum director, director of flight operations, chief pilot, and gift shop, maintenance, and janitorial staff.

A few interns from the EAA Air Academy program also worked with me from time to time. These included two flight instructors, two high-school aged boys, and a handful of museum interns. I interacted with these people on rare occasions. Their primary responsibilities did not involve working at Pioneer Airport but they were often present.

Other than the few paid staff, volunteers run Pioneer Airport. Since they may come and go as they please, each day is a “pot luck” in regard to who will be there to help. On a given weekday, an average of five volunteers come to help. I think there are only about 30 regular volunteers in all, so everyone gets to know each other quite well. In fact the volunteers are like a family, which is one reason I had volunteered for three years before this internship. The volunteers are all very interesting people of all ages from many aviation backgrounds. They are retired airline pilots, current airline pilots, corporate pilots, aircraft builders, businesspeople, veterans, and just plain aviation hobbyists. As an intern I learned about different aviation jobs by talking to volunteers.

My Job Description

My job was hard to define because it was so broad. My job was to basically show up each day and fill in wherever I was needed, simple as that! A main reason I was chosen for this internship is that over the past three years I had learned how to do most of the different jobs at the airport. There were definitely some things I had to learn this year, but it was good that I had previous experience. As an assistant manager, I had responsibilities ranging from being in charge of the whole operation down to making sure there is coffee in the coffee pot on cold mornings!

My Normal Duties (during non-AirVenture times)

This was not a flight internship although it has the potential to be. I did not act as pilot-in-command of aircraft giving people rides because the policy is that you must have a commercial flight certificate to do this (although not all rides are for profit). However, I got a lot of flight experience. I got to ride in all of the main aircraft, even during AirVenture! I co-piloted the Ford Tri-Motor during AirVenture, which is a very neat privilege. I flew in the Flightstar II ultralight trainer several times. I rode in two open-cockpit biplanes. I received some flight instruction in homebuilt airplanes. As a side benefit, I got to know one of the pilots well and flew about six hours of cross-country in a Piper Super Cub with him. So although I did not log many hours with this internship, I had very neat flight experiences, and sometimes they were things that the regular public would not even be allowed to do. If I would have had my commercial certificate I might have been able to fly Young Eagles in our RV-6As and log many hours. But it is okay that I did not do this because flying was not a prescribed duty of this internship.

OFFICE DUTIES:

- Greet visitors and answer questions
- Sell tickets for airplane rides
- Help families fill out Young Eagle forms
- Prepare Young Eagles Certificates
- Sell merchandise
- Handle end-of-day cash reconciliation
- Answer the phone
- Fill out daily flight records

FLIGHT LINE DUTIES:

- Talk to visitors / passengers, give aircraft history speeches and tours
- Take tickets
- Help passengers into and out of aircraft
- Fire-guard antique aircraft (this involves holding a fire extinguisher and communicating with the pilot)
- Explain airplanes to kids during Young Eagle walkarounds
- Keep pilot timesheets / flight records
- Drive the fuel truck
- Move aircraft
- Ensure the safety of all pilots, passengers, staff, volunteers, and visitors
- Get a tan or an occasional sunburn!

HANGAR DUTIES:
- Assist with cleaning hangars and aircraft (sweeping, wiping oil etc.)
- Help rearrange displays
- Give tours / answer questions
- Open and close hangars (staff was almost solely responsible for this)
- Minor repairs and painting (rope fences, benches, etc.)

OTHER DUTIES:

- Drive the tram from the museum to the Pioneer office (this is a small tractor pulling two large “people wagons”)
- Run errands using golf carts and mopeds (fun!)
- Order supplies (fuel, change, oil, orange vests, etc.) from other departments
- Relay information from Pioneer Airport to the museum and other departments; keep everyone informed

My AirVenture Duties

Pioneer Airport becomes a very different place during the big airshow, AirVenture Oshkosh. It only stays open for helicopters. Part of the runway opens up to foot traffic and there is a constant stream of people walking from the museum to Pioneer.

There was actually less to do at Pioneer during AirVenture. The two 18-year-olds that I was in charge of were able to handle most of the jobs by themselves. Things ran remarkably smoothly. Additional staff was brought in to run our merchandise and helicopter ride sales. A special crew of volunteers ran the helicopter ride operations. I was able to spend some time on the airshow grounds away from Pioneer airport, but usually with a walkie-talkie close at hand.

AIRVENTURE DUTIES:

- Maintain safety, order, and cleanliness among chaos!
- Run errands between Pioneer Airport and the Tri-Motor operations at Wittman
- Answer a constantly-ringing phone
- Answer some of the strangest questions I have ever heard
- Direct incoming transient helicopters where to park
- Open and close hangars
- Have fun meeting hundreds of people!

What I Learned

My internship was the best experience of my life and I learned way too much to list. I would summarize what I gained as people skills, aviation history knowledge, management experience, flight operations experience, and a new ability to operate several different kinds of vehicles!

What I would Recommend to Prospective Pioneer Airport Interns

This internship requires several skills and traits. It helps to know how to be safe around aircraft, especially older fabric aircraft with radial engines. It helps to know about aviation history in the 1920s through the 1940s. You should be outgoing and love to talk to people, because every day you have to interact with 50 to 100 people or more, including giving presentations to small groups. This is definitely not a job for a shy person. You must have a positive attitude because there are constantly problems to solve in this internship, which also means you should like challenges. You should enjoy the outdoors and being in the sun because you will almost never be in air conditioning, even on hot summer days. You do not need to be an athlete for this job but you need to be prepared for a lot of walking, cleaning, and pushing heavy airplanes.

Working or volunteering at Pioneer Airport requires a lot of training, including a two-day training weekend in April, and on-the-job training. You don’t have to come in with many skills because most of what you need to know will be taught to you. No experience is required but it is a big help. The training is not difficult.

This internship would be beneficial to anyone interested in airport management. It is also a good opportunity to get flight experience; however, this is not the internship’s main goal. The main benefit of this internship, I think, is getting to meet and network with people involved in all aspects of aviation. When my ten-week internship ended, I felt like a new person. I had never loved a job so much.

driving the tram during training weekend, April 2002

my friend Thom and me after a ride in the New Standard

volunteer Dave Lammers and I pose in front of the Spirit of St. Louis replica

©2004-2005 Kate Bernard all rights reserved. Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Made on a Mac Badge is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., used with permission.