Eagle County aviators honor Allan Nottingham

EAGLE Allan Nottingham has been part of Eagle County aviation almost since, well ... before the beginning.

The Eagle County Aviation Association honored Nottingham for his time, his service and the laughs.

Allan has been buying fuel for getting annuals for ... I dont know how many years, Paul Gordon with the Vail Valley Jet Center.

Heres what we know about dates. In 1964, Nottingham bought a 1954 Cessna 180 and flew it all over our spiral arm of the universe. He owned it for 50 years. That plane taught four of his five children to fly.

The airport was built during World War II as a refueling station for cross country military flights. Nottingham remembers, as a kid, standing in the middle of the grass airstrip as planes landed. A B-24 might have crashed back then. Or not. It might have just landed, refueled and taken off again. Or it might still be a military secret. Allan just smiles.

Not long ago, he sold his hangar and plane. He watched that plane taxi onto the runway and fly away with its new owner, and legend has it that a tear might have come to his eye. Not true that was just excess awesomeness leaking out.

Flying tall tales

All kinds of stories fly around at an event like this, mostly about hilarious near-death experiences. But lets be clear: You dont get to live as long as Allan has if you fly reckless; hes a skilled and careful pilot. But once in a while, stuff just happens.

Steve Jones flew with him often. Its a matter of friendly contention whether Jones likes flying so much that he bought his own plane, or whether he was so scared he bought his own plane. Nottingham and Jones just smile when you ask them.

There was the time in the early 1960s when Allan had some 80 sheep stranded on Red and White Mountain after a series December snowstorms dumped about four feet of snow. Nottingham and Fred Collett were flying some hay to them two bales because thats all Nottinghams plane would hold. Collett sat in the back and kicking hay out to the sheep. Did we mention that to get the hay in and out, Allan had to take the door off the plane? That would explain why, when his foot slipped, Collett almost fell out.

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Eagle County aviators honor Allan Nottingham