Turbine Otter at Kenmore ’ s home dock . Right , loading a Kenmore Express Caravan on Boeing Field . ( photos by C . Marin Faure ) take off from ? According to the map and the Beaver ’ s performance figures it wasn ’ t . Not even close .
But Munro ’ s examination of the photos showed him something the maps didn ’ t . A narrow extension of the Snow Dome continued past the research station and spilled off the mountain in a smooth curve of ice to dive steeply into the valley below .
The only way to find out if his idea would work was to go up and try it . Compared to the South Cascade , landing on the Blue was a snap . The two researchers who ’ d accompanied him helped turn the Beaver around and then climbed back in and tightened their seat belts as Munro advanced the throttle to takeoff power . The plane began to accelerate but it was obvious it would never reach flying speed before it reached the end of the Snow Dome . But Munro held his nerve and kept going . Six-Six-Zulu was still way too slow when it reached the end and pitched over the edge . It was like a roller coaster , Munro said later . The plane picked up speed fast as it thundered down the slope until at an angle approaching forty-five degrees it reached flying speed . Munro eased back on the yoke and 66Z lifted off the snow and rocketed toward the floor of the valley . Resisting the urge to pull back too hard , Munro coaxed the plane out of its dive and headed for home .
Kenmore Air supported the Blue Glacier station for the next seven years , ferrying everything from drums of stove oil to sensitive research instruments to the Snow Dome and hauling away the station ’ s empty containers and trash . And while the flights themselves became relatively routine , the dramatic pitch over the icefall on takeoff never
ceased to be a thrill .
Lake Union Air Service had been around almost as long as Kenmore Air , and in the early 80s a new owner decided to make it a serious contender by starting scheduled service to the most popular destinations in the San Juan Islands . Kenmore met the challenge by starting its own scheduled service , which meant that passengers could now get to and from the islands by simply buying a ticket rather than chartering an entire plane . The service was an immediate success and it was soon expanded to include destinations farther north in British Columbia .
Both companies began to struggle as the competition heated up . Something had to give and it did in 1991 when the over-extended Lake Union company found itself descending toward bankruptcy . Munro could have waited until his competitor failed altogether , but instead he made the owner a fair offer and Kenmore took over the company ’ s Lake Union facility as well as its lucrative route to Victoria on Vancouver Island .
Kenmore Air entered the jet age in 1986 with the acquisition of a de Havilland Turbo Beaver . With a longer fuselage and a turbine in place of the standard Beaver ’ s piston engine , the Turbo Beaver carries more , goes faster and has significantly longer maintenance intervals . Kenmore got a good deal on theirs because someone had run it into the side of a truck and wiped out the front end . Which was fine because Jerry Rader ’ s plan was to replace the original 1960s-era turbine with a brand new , more powerful version that was better suited for saltwater operations .
Kenmore ’ s Beaver shop totally rebuilt the plane and it joined the fleet in 1988 . A major benefit became obvious on its very first flight . The turbine , with its large , slower-turning propeller , was noticeably quieter than the fleet ’ s piston-powered planes . A year later , the company added a second re-powered Turbo Beaver .
The success of the Turbo Beavers convinced Munro to approve the conversion of Kenmore ’ s largest plane , a ten-passenger de Havilland Otter , from piston to turbine power . Using an FAA-approved conversion kit that incorporated the same state-of-the-art turbine Rader had used in the Turbo Beavers , the end result was a plane that matched Kenmore ’ s needs perfectly . Today , the fleet includes ten of them .
Fifty-four years after the flight that launched Kenmore Air , Bob Munro retired . His son , Gregg , became president of the company while grandson Todd Banks took over the day-to-day operations . When Seattle-based Horizon Air ended its scheduled service to Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula , Banks saw an opportunity with potential . Using nine-passenger Cessna Caravans on schedules tied into the most popular arrival and departure times at Seatac International Airport , Kenmore Express began offering scheduled and charter flights between Seattle ’ s Boeing Field and airports on the Peninsula , in the San Juan Islands and in British Columbia .
The enthusiastic reaction of passengers as they try to take in every detail
38 explore : NW | The Official Magazine for kenmore air