Love-and Aircraft Restoration Will Keep Us Together …

“Pilots should only marry other pilots if they want to stay married.”

So says Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Maj. Deb Maynard, who along with her husband, CAP Capt. Tim Maynard have lovingly restored a 1961 Cessna 310 that now traverses the skies of America’s Pacific Northwest and Alaska, often on CAP search and rescue missions.

Captain Maynard found the vintage, twin-engine Cessna—one of the iconic aircraft types flown by CAP—in North Pole, a small city in central Alaska. The aircraft, which had been damaged in a gear-up accident, in 1981, was being offered for sale by an individual who’d bought it from the U.S. Government, repaired the crash damage, and maintained it for over a decade. The imminent arrival of a new child compelled the seller to re-home the 310, however, and after a nose-to-tail inspection, a logbook review, a test flight, and a $20-thousand transaction, the classic Cessna was Captain Maynard’s. 

Fortunately, Capt. Maynard’s future wife, Deb, was supportive of his aspirations for the 310. “I can’t tell you how much money we’ve put into this gal; but what the heck, you can’t take it with you, right?” she said of the aircraft, which the Maynards dubbed, Spirit of the North Country. 

Mrs. Maynard’s circumspection—along with substantial investments of money and Maynard family elbow-grease—saw the 310 fitted out with new engines; state-of-the-art avionics; aftermarket gauges and instrumentation; and a slew of additional upgrades that keep Spirit of the North Country purring contentedly across the skies.

Of particular interest is the blue-and-white paint scheme the Maynards chose for the aircraft—an homage to the JFK commissioned redesign of Air Force One, which sought to imbue the presidential aircraft with a diplomatic rather than a military tenor. 

The 310 has a sterling reputation as a dependable aircraft. Mr. Maynard states, “If they’re maintained correctly, they can just keep going and going … They’re like the little Energizer Bunny. They just don’t quit.”

Mr. Maynard’s high opinion of the aircraft derives of experience, as the 310, for years, served as his daily ride to work as an air traffic controller commuting between remote, Alaskan flight service stations. 

The Maynards have had their aircraft, to which they refer as the family project, for three decades now—a fact that speaks to the veracity of Mrs. Maynard’s marital advice.

FMI: www.gocivilairpatrol.com