by Jay Schrankler
(October 26, 2024) The mission was clear: a parade of airplanes would find the spot where the chapter's treasurer was getting married, then crash the party at just the right time.
It was the idea of Luke Hanson, the lucky gentleman set to marry Emma Gaustad, EAA Chapter 54's treasurer. He suggested a flyover at roughly the moment of their nuptials. The military was busy that day so he turned to Chapter 54 for help. A few exchanged messages later and the plan was put into the hands of VP Jay Schrankler with member Paul Rankin the mission officer and flight planner.
At precisely 1:55pm, we departed 21D single file following the well-laid-out plans created by Paul Rankin, our flight leader. We established heading to enter a circling holding pattern over Soring Valley, Wis., to synch up the four aircraft.
Once the time came to head to the wedding venue of Emma's, we heard the command: "depart for the target."
One by one, each aircraft left the circling pattern in order of aircraft by speed. We had a Beech Debonair (Jay Schrankler, Bill Schanks Jr., and Niki Paton) , experimental Cozy (Marlon Gunderson), Cessna 150 (Jeff Hove and Evangelos Savvas) and an L4 approaching the venue in that order.
The most difficult part was identifying the target: the Cady Farms wedding venue. But we did it! In fact, when asking a passenger where the target was, he promptly replied, "We're right over it!"
The second pass was much better. We could see the cars and people below. So, we had better accuracy on that pass.
"Oh, my goodness," Luke Hanson wrote to Schrankler many hours later. "You guys exceeded all expectations and had over 250 people cheering and in awe of how amazing that was."
"We cannot thank you guys enough for the show," he said. "It was a major success!"
"My gosh, that was the coolest thing ever," Luke's sister later echoed. "And your timing was impeccable. Thank you so much for totally making their wedding special."
As for the bride, now Emma Hanson:
"Words truly don’t express how special yesterday was," she wrote to the volunteers on Sunday. "I’m constantly reminded that the aviation community is the best there is and I’m so blessed to be a part of Chapter 54.
(The video above and photos were provided by Evangelos Savvas.)
