CORRECTION:
■ Kenmore Air offers charter service in addition to scheduled service.
A story on Page C1 Sunday erroneously reported that the airline, which provides scheduled service between Port Angeles and Boeing Field in Seattle, does not offer charter flights.
The airline’s eight-seat and nine-seat wheeled aircraft are available for charters anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, said Craig O’Neill, Kenmore’s director of marketing and sales.
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Hurtling through the sky faster than the speed of sound on a military jet gives one a different perspective.
“The slightest little rise looks like a cliff to you when you’re going that fast,” said former Air Force Capt. Jeff Well, co-owner of Rite Bros., based at the William R. Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles.
“I’ve gone over twice the speed of sound, and I’ve been over the speed of sound at tree-top level. . . . I’m looking five miles in front of me because that’s going to be there in seconds,” Well said.
He now flies at a considerably slower speed — about 140 mph — in Rite Bros.’ fleet of single-engine Cessna aircraft.
Rite Bros. began in 1981 as a business with a single rental aircraft. Since then, it has expanded to include five airplanes with 10 employees and offers a variety of aviation services.
Well and his wife, Theresa Powell, bought the business from Ken and Marge Hansen in 1998 and have been running it ever since.
“Everyone thinks my last name is Rite,” Well joked.
The name is a reference to aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright.
“Everyone wants to know where my brother is,” Well said.
“I don’t have any brothers and my last name isn’t Rite.”
Rite Bros is the only charter airline based in Port Angeles. Kenmore Air makes several daily flights between Port Angeles and Boeing Field in Seattle, but is not a charter service.
It is not the only charter airline on the North Olympic Peninsula.
PT Air at Port Townsend Aircraft Services offers charter flights out of Jefferson County International Airport.
Bartley “B.J.” Hallinan, the owner and operator, has one plane, and has offered charter flights for the last year. He has operated a aviation maintenance company in Port Townsend for four years.
Charter flights are one of the tasks Well’s business offers.
Well has ferried charter passengers as far north as Ketchikan, Alaska, as far east as Billings, Mont., and as far south as San Jose, Calif.
In addition to charter flights, aircraft rentals, flight instruction, and scenic flights are also often part of a day’s work.
The business also sells pilot supplies, fuel and oil and arranges catering and rental cars for customers and runs a maintenance shop.
“We do a lot more charter stuff now than before,” Well said.
“The amount of rental and flight instruction have diminished over the years — not that we want it to, it just has,” he added.
“I do a lot more government flying . . . for the [Olympic National] Park, the federal government, and I fly for the state doing a lot of surveys and telemetry work because I’m experienced and know the area real well and can do a lot of that demanding mountain flying.”
“I did a sea lion survey on the Oregon coast,” Well said, describing one of his work days.
“Typically the Oregon coast is always rainy and foggy and windy. But sometimes it’s nice and it’s really scenic down there.
“We were down there on a real nice day with no wind and it’s just beautiful, cruising along the coast, low altitude, we’re looking at sea lions and harbor seals.
“There’s surfers in the water, people walking on the beach. On days like that, then it’s easy flying.”
On a different charter flight, Well transported crates of sedated cats for a customer.
“We just flew them all at once because trying to drive up with a bunch of cats for a couple of days is kind of tough,” he said.
Prior to his cat-ferrying days, Well served as a captain in the Air Force from 1980-1989 flying F-111 “Aardvark” fighters as an instructor, as well as AT-38b jet trainers, F-16 Falcons and F-15 Eagles.
His job was to instruct new pilots.
“We taught them how to bomb and strafe and dogfight and fly tactical formation,” Well said.
Part of that training included going into a centrifuge without wearing an anti-G suit.
Fighter pilots wear the anti-G suits to prevent loss of consciousness during extreme maneuvers.
Well endured forces equivalent to nine times the force of gravity for one minute while completing visual tasks during that exercise.
“Nine G’s without a G-suit for one minute sustained is painful,” he said.
“You walk into a squadron, a fighter pilot squadron . . . none of the guys can button their shirt collars because they all have big necks because we had a helmet on and we’re pulling those G’s and your [neck] muscles build up to turn around and look and keep you fighting and doing stuff.”
Well said that although he’s fine now, when he left the Air Force he was “hurting.”
“But it was so much fun it didn’t matter how much it hurt.”
To reach Rite Bros., which is at 1406 Fairchild International Airport, phone 360-452-6226 or 800-430-7483, or e-mail info@ritebros.com. Information also is available at www.ritebros.com/.
To reach PT Air, which is at 191 Airport Road in Port Townsend, phone 360-385-7770, or e-mail info@flyporttownsend.com. Information also is available at www.flyporttownsend.com.
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Photojournalist Chris Tucker can be reached at 360-417-3524 or at chris.tucker@peninsuladailynews.com.
