AIRCRAFT DONATED TO BIG BEND COMMUNITY COLLEGE

aircraft and donors handing the keys over to BBCC faculty — (From left to right) Big Bend Chief Flight Instructor John Marc Swedburg and BBCC Foundation Executive Director LeAnne Parton accept the keys to the Beechcraft Sport B-19 from Ann and Kevin Peterson.

By CHERYL SCHWEIZER
The Columbia Basin Herald

MOSES LAKE — A single-engine Beechcraft will get a second career as a pilot training aircraft at Big Bend Community College, the result of the plane’s donation to the college by its owners.

Kevin and Ann Peterson, Seattle, delivered the Sport B-19 to the college hangar Monday. The Petersons are not graduates of BBCC, but they had a connection to the aviation program all the same.

Kevin Peterson wrote that he bought the aircraft in 1999, and started looking for someone to perform regular maintenance. People kept telling him about this guy in Moses Lake, Dave Link.

Link was the aviation maintenance technician (AMT) at Big Bend, keeping the college’s fleet in the air. “I flew over to talk to Dave and his mild manner and excellent grasp of the airplane informed me that Dave would be able to teach me how best to maintain the aircraft,” Peterson wrote.

Peterson flew over every year for inspection. “Dave would make me prep the airplane, take off inspection plates, remove panels, et cetera, so he could quickly do his magic. This was often done with Dave sitting in a lawn chair,” he wrote.

“Dave’s patience allowed me to understand the airplane and anticipate its needs. Best of all I enjoyed his sense of humor and the pride he took maintaining the fleet at the college. I consider Dave one of those rare people who does what he does without the need for egotistic gratification. He is a great person.”