Crest is at the summit of private airports

Originally published Saturday, August 21, 1999

By JON HAHN  
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

When Norm and Mimi Grier want to just dash out of their Covington area neighborhood for an afternoon hamburger or a Sunday morning omelet, they might go to Arlington or Port Angeles or the San Juan Islands.

"The San Juans are only 30 minutes, and sometimes we might decide to have a picnic near Ellensburg or Spokane," Norm said matter-of-factly.

Where other couples might jump into their cars and hit the fast-food emporiums along the Kent-Kangley Road, Norm and Mimi walk down to their hangar, crank up their twin-engine aircraft, and are airborne in minutes.

Norm does the flying; Mimi watches for other aircraft. "But she's learning to fly so that I can sit back and take it easy once she has her license," he quipped.

The Griers and other aircraft owners at the Crest Airpark just outside newly incorporated Covington often refer to an Internet listing of good places to eat at or near airports. And if you're wired into private aviation, you might even learn from other pilots when the folks at Crest Airpark are having one of their own fly-in picnics.

In the esoteric world of general aviation, Crest is considered a large airpark, with 119 resident homeowner/pilots living on the perimeter of the some-60-acre airfield. And one of the oldest. The original dirt-and-gravel landing strip was cut out of rough timberland in the early 1960s by Virginia and Alfred Knechtel. She remarried after he was killed in the test flight of a training plane at the north end of the airport in 1966, and sold to Norm Grier about 10 years later.

"Actually, it was my father who expanded the airport by cutting more trees and adding to the runway length and paving it," said Rikki Birge, Norm's daughter and current airport manager. She's also a student pilot. So is her husband, Charles Birge, and their 16-year-old son, Zachary.

You can learn to fly at Crest -- Norm has about a dozen planes available for instruction and/or rental -- for "about $4,000 to $5,000, depending on the number of hours and the certifications you want," Rikki said. "We have flight instructors, planes, all FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) rating testing. You can even train on computers. A lot of the local kids have learned to fly here. They started by working around the airport and eventually took lessons. One started in regular ol' maintenance and now is a flight instructor and on his way to becoming an airline pilot."

In addition to renting hangars (about 75 of them, at about $160 per month) and tie-down spaces ($36 per month), Crest Airpark, a lighted field, also has flight supplies, fueling and an on-field mechanic. That's a lot for a private airfield, which is why a lot of airline pilots, commercial helicopter pilots and other aviation-centered families live at Crest Airpark.

The pilots who live in the homes adjacent to the airfield also are doctors, lawyers, Boeing workers, teachers and average working stiffs, according to Rikki. "And a lot of women pilots, too," she added.

Norm Grier learned to fly here in 1972, while he was running a large machine shop he'd bought in the late 1960s. A California native, he served in the Air Force "during 'the Korean mess,' but all they gave me was a machinist's truck!" Norm bought into the Green River Flying Club and eventually bought the club's aircraft. He built his house on a rise at the north end of the airport almost 10 years ago.

Although Rikki runs the airport, which he can't help but notice below him when he looks out his window, Norm and Mimi "fly whenever we get the chance," Norm said. "I used to keep a car over at Ephrata Airport, to use whenever I'd fly over there. I've flown to just about every state in the nation, to places like Key West and Niagara Falls. Only places I haven't flown are Maine and New Hampshire."

Mimi Grier wasn't exactly flying blind when she met and then married Norm. "I always liked flying, but I figured if he enjoyed flying so much, I should learn the basics. I started (flying lessons) last summer and I just finished my ground school and passed the exams."

Norm quips: "I told her that because she's younger, she had to learn to fly so that when I'm too old and they take away my medical (the strict annual physical required for FAA certification), then she could do the flying and I could sit and watch her!"

Truth is, she sort of enjoys it. "Norm is a perfect human being, and it's fun to be with him," she said. "We'll wake up and he'll say: 'Let's go have a $100 omelet!'" she said, referring to a quick flight for breakfast at, say, Yakima, Port Angeles or the San Juans.

Of course, flying small planes in Seattle depends a lot on the weather. "If you live and fly in Seattle, you pretty much have to be instrument-rated!" Norm stressed. There's no threat from airplane traffic at Sea-Tac about 10 miles away, but there's always that wonderfully wet Puget Sound weather as well as the need to maintain safe elevations over not only the two Water District No. 410 water towers adjacent to the airport but the sprawl of Covington and Kent.