UDOT

Leather Flight Jacket

Fly Utah Passport Program Patch

Pilot Wings **only awarded if a participant flies to all 46 airports.

Challenge 2 – AWARD

Navigation Arrow Pin

Challenge 3 – AWARD

Backcountry Patch

Joe Bechtold

Nicole Zinger

I fly purely as a hobby and have a bit over 3600 hours over the last 31 years in various GA airplanes and helicopters.  

My first Fly Utah airport was Bluff on April 7th and last was Fillmore on June 12th, spanning a total of 67 days – but I live in Washington DC and only flew in Utah for a total of 9 days to visit 46 public airports, 24 backcountry strips, one reservoir on floats, the 11 arrows and three museums.

My day job is project management, so I naturally gravitate towards challenges that have a list of tasks, a deadline and some type of tangible benefit. The Fly Utah program was perfect for me because it had all those elements, is very clearly defined, has plenty of resources to help achieve the goals, the best scenery in the country and I was able to share many of the flights with my wife & aviation friends.  Several of my friends who live in or near Utah are now also working towards getting their jacket and I prod them at least once a week to finish.

Thanks so much for putting this program together and the awesome prizes. I look forward to meeting your team the next time I’m in Utah.

Since learning about this program about two years ago, I have been given the opportunity to visit every corner, nook, and cranny of our beautiful state. Learning about all the airports and airstrips was incredible, especially the history of the Aviation Navigation Arrows I last learned about in a textbook in high school. I got to see parts of Utah I had never been to before or would have otherwise. From vast deserts to towering mountains to bright red rock, I experienced what makes each of these locations so special. 

I grouped some locations to loop through as scenic road trips with stops in between. For other locations, I took flights on aircraft types I had never flown on before with friends. I co-hosted a huge airshow at Logan-Cache Airport, sat on what used to be the only method of navigation for early pilots, met a former SR-71 Blackbird Pilot at the Hill Aerospace Museum, and visited a historic Backcountry Airstrip only accessible by plane! And that isn’t even the thick of my adventures completing the program.

Thank you for such an awesome program to encourage participants to see every corner of our state! Now to do it all over again.