“Clear!” Charles White yelled before shutting the overhead door and revving the engine, sending the propeller whirring.

The airplane he spent 18 months building with parts shipped from South Africa rolled down the taxiway, its sleek white paint job matching the clouds overhead. 

After turning onto the runway, the brand-new Sling Aircraft quickly gathered speed and lifted into the sky.    

White is a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, a national nonprofit founded in 1953 by aviation enthusiasts in Wisconsin interested in building their own planes. 

The organization provides general aviation education, safety counseling and technical support for constructing homebuilt aircraft and restoring vintage aircraft.  

Experimental, or homebuilt, airplanes, are fitted together by their pilots and flown recreationally. There are more than 33,000 homebuilt aircraft licensed in the United States by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the nonprofit.  

While the Flathead Valley’s local Chapter 102 was established in 1974, it until recently lacked a permanent home. The group’s monthly meetings migrated between members’ hangars and occasionally landed in a restaurant.   

But thanks to the efforts of longtime aviator Brent Battles the newly opened Kalispell Aviation Hall provides a space for the chapter’s nearly 50 members to convene and carry out the national organization's mission of providing introductory flights to kids and teenagers.   

While the all-steel structure looks like an airplane hangar from the outside, the aviation hall features two accessible restrooms, a kitchenette and a shower adorned with plane-printed curtains. The main area has cushioned seats donated by the Flathead Valley Community College tucked in the corner, three long tables lined with foldable seats in the middle of the floor and a flatscreen TV bolted against the wall.  

Large windows look out onto the airstrip, where White could be seen practicing touch-and-goes, which entails landing briefly on the pavement before taking off again in one swoop.  

Pilots often stop by the airport on their way through town, so Battles wanted to provide a space for them to freshen up, grab a bite to eat or even camp out if needed. He has a grill tucked in a storage room that he hopes to fire up.  

The clubhouse sits on Kalispell City Airport grounds just south of the intersection of 18th Street East and Airport Road. 

The association’s home base was originally intended for Ferndale Airport in Bigfork. Longtime Kalispell community and business leader Ray Thompson provided a $60,000 grant used to purchase two hangar lots there, and a third was contributed by chapter member Richard Jones, according to Battles.  

But the Bigfork airport’s remote location proved less than ideal for attracting members, so they plotted a course to Kalispell instead.  

In July 2023, City Council approved the Kalispell Airport Association’s request to amend the city airport master plan to accommodate construction of the facility.  

The three lots at Ferndale Airport were sold and the money shunted toward construction of the Kalispell facility. Battles was the brains behind the operation, managing the hiring of the construction crews and architects to build the space, which received its certificate of occupancy in June.  

BATTLES, 82, has been flying his whole life. He recalled his dad letting him take control of his 1947 airplane while cruising down the California coast at the age of 11. He officially got his pilot’s license after graduating high school in 1961. 

“I’ve been flying off and on since then,” he said.  

By the late 1990s, Battles decided he wanted to build an airplane. He had owned a small two-seater plane, but it got damaged in a windstorm.  

“Building an airplane was going to make one of two lists. Either something I’d done or something I wished I’d done,” he recalled.  

Battles first flew his homebuilt Zenith 601 Zodiac plane in 2000, and was immediately attracted to its lightweight, maneuverable design. Aside from the lower cost compared to buying a factory-built plane, Battles said that having the freedom to customize the aircraft as he built it was a great benefit. 

“I felt like I was wearing it,” Battles said. “I just kind of became one with it, really.”  

He ended up flying the plane around the country from North Carolina to Idaho, then down to Southern California and eventually Oklahoma.  

Brent met his wife, Donna Battles, 75, at an Experimental Aircraft Association meeting in Grants Pass, Oregon where they lived for some time before landing in Bigfork. Donna Battles is a life-long pilot and instructor who was also inspired by her father, who piloted a B-17 Flying Fortress in World War II.  

He took her on her first flight in 1956.  

“And I’ve been hooked ever since,” she said.  

While the two had the privilege of having pilot parents, they have a long history of teaching young people about general aviation. They plan to teach courses out of the new building and bring the national Young Eagles program to Kalispell.  

Since launching in 1992, the Young Eagles program has given over 2.5 million young people aged eight to 17 a free introductory flight flown by Experimental Aviation Association volunteers.  

The Battles led summer classes for middle schoolers in Grants Pass. They taught about GPS systems, navigation, airplane design and on the final day gave kids their Young Eagle flight.  

Brent Battles loved watching their fright turn into fascination in the air.  

One takeaway Donna Battles hopes to gift her students is that pilots can make a living in many ways, not just commercial airlines.  

She held a variety of pilot jobs flying a handful of different plane models. She operated charter flights, including scenic trips around Mount St. Helens after it erupted in 1980, and even flew a National Geographic photographer around. She was also a flight instructor for 35 years.  

There has been a pilot shortage, “and I think there’s going to be a real need in the future,” Donna Battles said. “It’d be nice to start children off at an early age, get them interested and hopefully they’ll continue with a career in aviation.”  

Becoming a pilot also provides valuable life skills, Brent Battles said.  

“You are using your head. You are developing real skills that are unique. Very few people out there are pilots, and you have a tremendous amount of responsibility, and you earn it, and it requires some discipline. When you develop all of that together, that makes for something really satisfying,” he said.  

Donna Battles, who continues to fly, said her love for the lifestyle is hard to explain. 

“I can’t think of any reason specifically other than it’s just so nice to be aloft, to look down at all the scenery and the different perspective. It’s all I can say, it’s just really, really nice,” she said.  

“[Flying] opens up a whole new world” Brent Battles said. “It’s the pride, it’s the accomplishment to think that I’ve done something special here.” 

The local chapter holds meetings the first Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. at the Kalispell Aviation Hall, which includes a potluck dinner.  

Brent Battles said the space is open to all valley aviation organizations such as the Montana Pilots Association and the Seaplane Pilots Assocation.  

The building is located at 1825 Airport Road, Kalispell Airport. Learn more about Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 102 at eaachapter102.com or reach out to Brent Battles at 406-407-0868.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 or [email protected].

 Charles White, a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, flies his Sling Aircraft over the Kalispell City Airport on Friday, Aug. 1. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Charles White, a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, gets ready to taxi his Sling Aircraft before takeoff at the Kalispell City Airport on Friday, Aug. 1. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Leather chairs donated by Flathead Valley Community College inside the Kalispell Aviation Hall at Kalispell City Airport on Friday, Aug. 1. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider