Oregon's Lancair Columbia Makes First Delivery Flight to Europe

September 7, 2000-A record-breaking flight capped the first European delivery of the high-performance Lancair Columbia 300 certified aircraft. Margrit Waltz, a renowned aircraft ferry pilot with over 16,000 hours in her log book, added the Lancair Columbia 300 as her 514th Atlantic crossing in general aviation aircraft. This was the first time she had ever flown a single-piston aircraft over the Atlantic without the need for special fuel tanks. The flight included a non-stop over-water leg of 1264 miles.

Waltz made the trip by exiting the United States from AVP (Wilkes-Barr Airport, Scranton, PA), and landing 1090 miles later at CYYR (Goose Bay, Newfoundland). She then flew a leg of 1000 miles to BGSF (Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland), and then an 838 mile leg to BIRK (Reykjavik, Iceland).

After over-nighting at Reykjavik, she flew her record-breaking distance flight of 1264 miles to EHLE (Lelystad, Netherlands). Waltz commented, "This was a special trip because it was my first in an aircraft that made me confident enough to fly without extra fuel aboard."

The Nation's First Aviation Agency

1921-Just 18 years after the Wright brothers made history at Kitty Hawk, the Oregon Legislature created the State Board of Aeronautics, the first aviation agency in the United States. It would be another five years before the U.S. Congress passed the Air Commerce Act, which allowed the federal government to regulate aviation. The 1921 Oregon law made pilot registration and licensing mandatory. The newly created board also tested pilots for competency with both written and flight examinations. When the federal government took over these functions, the board's efforts turned to surveying and developing the state's aviation system and other aviation-related areas of concern.

The First Hospital Heliport in the Northwest

1964-Oregon Aeronautics was responsible for building the first heliport located at a hospital in the Pacific Northwest. After its successful construction and use, the agency began promoting the development of additional hospital heliports around the state. There are currently 36 hospital heliports registered statewide.