 SWANTON, Ohio — The hangar is quiet at the moment, but it is easy to see that a lot of work goes on here. There are tools on the floor underneath the aircraft, waiting to be picked up and used again. Because it is unpainted, all of the shiny, hand-drilled aluminum rivets can be seen. In this state, it looks like a sort of prototype. Especially because it has “EXPERIMENTAL” stamped under the canopy.
This plane was hand built, and the man who built it stands next to it with a combination of pride and adoration on his face. It needs some tweaks here and there, and needs a few more bits of fiberglass, but it flies. Its builder needed to finish it before he had to move it in pieces again, but the entire project took a little longer than planned.
As Chief Master Sgt. Jeff Trabold, airfield operations manager at the 180th Fighter Wing in Swanton, closes one chapter of his Air National Guard career and opens another, he has also completed a 22-and-a-half-year long dream of building and flying his own kit airplane.
Around the same time as Trabold became a licensed pilot, in September 1991, he was helping an acquaintance of his build an airplane. Trabold said he had also attended the Experimental Aircraft Association convention in Oshkosh, Wis., an annual gathering of aviation enthusiasts, that summer.
“I’d been helping this gentleman build his plane so I got the idea that I could do that too,” Trabold said. “I didn’t think it would take 22 years.”
He thought the project, a Van’s RV-6 airplane, would take about 10 years, but various challenges extended his schedule. Job changes, moving around the country and active-duty tours all took up precious time, Trabold said.
“And then Family, I had my first boy in 1998,” Trabold said. “Everything just slowed down after that.”
“Chief Trabold’s vision and hard work have truly been inspirational,” said Lt. Col. Timothy Moses, 180th Operations Support Squadron commander. “While many aviation buffs enjoy flying around and tinkering with airplanes, Chief Trabold took his passion to new heights by actually using his own hands to build his RV-6.”
Trabold, whose Family lives in Kalkaska, Mich., has had more time recently than ever before to work on his plane because he currently works full-time at the 180th FW, about four hours away from home.
“When I came down here in November 2011, I brought it down in parts and did the final assembly here,” Trabold said. “I think because my Family is up north, I had more time to work on it down here. My wife basically told me it wasn’t coming back in the garage; it wasn’t coming back unless it was flying.”
Trabold said his wife is the understanding type though. He said he was always careful to keep the plane from becoming a burden on his Family.
“I had a separate checking account that my drill pay went in to,” Trabold said. “That’s what I did for the longest time. I wanted to keep Family income separate from hobby income.”
Perhaps that’s why Trabold’s wife even helped him put in the almost 10,000 rivets, which hold the aircraft together, by hand.
“This lofty goal is something that most general aviation pilots shy away from due to the extensive costs, time commitment or lack of technical knowledge,” Moses said. “These challenges did not blur Chief Trabol’s vision to press on, cross a few speed bumps and create outstanding results.”
Alhough he has enjoyed his time with the 180th FW, Trabold said he is looking forward to his upcoming transition to the 110th Airlift Wing in Battle Creek, Mich., which will be closer to home. His previous deployments and career changes have prepared him for this move, he said.
“Change is never easy, but I’ve done it a lot of times,” Trabold said. “It doesn’t scare me. I went up to Battle Creek and drilled with them. I met a lot of really nice Airmen up there.”
Trabold’s military career began his enlistment in 1990 with the 131st Fighter Wing in St. Louis, and he has changed jobs and duty stations many times since. For the past 22 years, however, one constant in his life has been the airplane. Now it will go, as a complete plane, back home with Trabold to Kalkaska. Trabold said he has humble, yet fitting, plans for his first flight in his new airplane.
“I think the first will be to take it home to northern Michigan,” Trabold said. “That’ll be its first flight.”
Added Moses: “As his commander, I have been impressed by his airplane, his work around the squadron and his dedication to the 180th FW Airmen. I am proud to say that Chief Trabold fully epitomizes what the 180th Fighter Wing chiefs are made of — good old-fashioned hard work, commitment and excellence.”
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