At first glance, Keith Kossuth appears to be unremarkable, but his calloused hands and dirt-ridden nails betray the story hidden underneath his gentle eyes, bushy beard and soft spoken mannerisms.
Since 2017, Kossuth has flown around the United States and beyond, stopping in towns like Chehalis, where he visits annually, giving scenic rides for hire, sleeping at the airport and spreading the joy of aviation by way of his 1929 Travel Air Model 4000 biplane.
Though he started his business, Barnstormers Biplane Rides, just eight years ago, the 53-year-old’s story with aviation goes back 23 years when he was gifted a flight in Brian Shepherd's biplane in his native town of Chino, California.
That experience left him a changed man.
Kossuth began to think about aviation and, more specifically, biplanes, constantly. He kept a photo of himself from that first flight in his motorcycle shop and when asked if it belonged to him, he would just say, “yes.”
And while the memory of that flight belonged to him, the plane didn’t and, as it usually does, his white lie found the end of its road when a friend of the plane’s actual owner called him out.
Rather than tear Kossuth down, the stranger suggested he just go to the airport and take a flying lesson, which he did, expeditiously.
“So, yeah, half an hour later, I went to the Chino Airport,” he said. “And I went to the first school that I saw there and I started taking lessons the next day. Six months later, I had my private pilot.”
It was 2006 and Kossuth still hadn’t stopped thinking about that first biplane ride. Though he bought his own Cessna 140, what he really wanted was a Travel Air biplane.
He began doing research, calling everyone he could find with his dream biplane and traveling around the country trying to find the right plane. Along the way, he connected with Rod Magner of Orcas Island, who consulted him on his hunt.
Magner owned a 1929 Travel Air Model 4000, but Kossuth never even considered asking him to buy it. He was just happy to have a new friend with similar interests who was willing to help.
But in 2016, Magner experienced some health issues and was no longer able to fly his biplane. He and his wife made the difficult decision to sell, but to whom?
None other than Keith Kossuth, friend, motorcycle mechanic and fanatic for the Model 4000.
Not surprisingly, Kossuth was ecstatic to receive the offer and made his way to Orcas Island with a one-way ticket to meet Magner in-person for the first time, but more importantly to buy the plane he had obsessed about for 13 long years.
To his delight, the plane was everything he wanted and more. Magner took him around on a few flights to get the two acquainted and then Kossuth was on his way back to California with his very own Travel Air Model 4000, filled with supplies and extra parts in the front cockpit.
“The first four landings by myself were pretty intense,” he said, reflecting on getting to know the biplane.
His fifth landing took place in Arlington and the sixth took place in the heart of Lewis County at the Chehalis-Centralia Airport where he was met post-landing by a local pilot who told him, “that was an amazing landing.”
That interaction is part of what keeps him coming to Chehalis each year to spread the joy of aviation which he said, “everyone can do it.”
While he usually just stops for the night, pulls out a sleeping bag and goes to bed underneath his biplane, Chehalis is one of the places he stops for a few days, sets up the tent and talks with people around the airport in between scenic flights.
Kossuth said that he’d be heading toward home in Chino after a short stay in Sequim, but set no deadline for his return.
Just like everywhere else he goes, he’ll move at his own pace, get there when he wants to and change his path if there’s any chance of adventure.
