Northwest Aerospace News August | September Issue No. 4 | Page 24

H
amilton, who had always been
into flying, lived on a lake near Arling-
ton, where float flying was a regular
passion. At the time, metal floats were
the only product on the market.
“These metal floats were ridiculous in
many ways so I said (with) my tech-
nology with composite, plus love of
flying and floats kind of goes togeth-
er,” Hamilton said.
His first effort was the 3500 line,
which he built in his garage in Arling-
ton, Washington — the rest is a pretty
remarkable story.
Why Priest River?
An Aerocet customer in Alaska had re-
located to North Idaho and told Hamil-
ton that he needed to see the area.
“We came over and vacationed and
looked at everything and just kind of
fell in love with it,” Hamilton said,
asking himself, “What’s better than the
I-5 corridor?” EVERYTHING was the
simple answer.
Trusting his Christian beliefs, Hamil-
ton said he put “a fleece” out. That’s a
Biblical reference to Gideon, a leader
in Israel who sought a sign from God
to prove it was He who had directed
him. Gideon set out a piece of wool
and asked God to make it wet by
morning while keeping the surround-
ing dirt dry. The story goes that by
sunrise the fleece was wet enough to
produce a bowl of water when wrung
out. 
For Hamilton, his criteria included a
certain element of isolation and the
ability to build an airstrip if he chose.
He settled on 160 acres with a 10-min-
ute drive to work. “Guaranteed, no
traffic,” he said.
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NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS