From the Flight Deck

Shoreline Aviation 2023 highlight of the year: BETA Technologies’ ALIA 250 charges up at Shoreline Aviation’s Level 3 charging station at Marshfield Municipal Airport during the commissioning celebration. Photo courtesy of BETA Technologies

Happy New Year, from your friends at Shoreline Aviation!

While we all prepare to take off into 2024, let’s take a look back at some of our highlights from 2023. What stood out at Marshfield Municipal Airport in 2023? Turns out, quite a bit!

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We caught up last spring with Kassie Slowey, up from the Cape for a flight lesson with then head flight instructor for Shoreline Aviation, Mike Brown (Mike is a charter pilot for Shoreline now). Kassie and Mike were going up in one of the Piper Warriors to practice takeoffs and landings on this warm, sunny day in April. At the time, she was just a few hours from soloing. Kassi experienced her first flight on a small plane at age 8. Thirteen years later, she was soon to join the thousands of aviators who embrace the blue with their Private Pilot’s License.

Kassie Slowey smiles wide after her lesson.

Flight instructor Vince King and student Una Delabruere are all smiles after their third flight together.

Una Delabruere, a Cape Cod Community College student from New Hampshire and another of Shoreline’s many flight students, went up with flight instructor Vince King this fall. Una took off on Runway 6 and before heading south flew out over Cape Cod Bay to practice maneuvers, first making clearing turns, which means making broad turns to inspect the sky and ensure the maneuver area is free of other aircraft or obstacles such as terrain or wires. Clearing turns are always made to ensure safety and are performed within the Airman Certification Standards of the FAA. She also performed aerodynamic stalls, which slow the plane until it’s buffeting, and then recovering. Una’s reward for her successful maneuvers was a scenic coastal cruise.

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Great news for Shoreline and KGHG! Shoreline Aviation / Marshfield Municipal Airport (KGHG) were voted BEST LOCAL AIRLINE / AIRPORT in South Shore Home, Life & Style magazine’s annual “BEST OF THE SOUTH SHORE” contest. Nominees were voted in by readers and winner announced in June. We congratulate Cape Air / Nantucket Airlines for placing runner up. And cheers to the fine airports stretching from the Cape to Providence to Boston that also garnered their fans’ votes. Then came the celebration in September. SSHL&S sponsored the celebration of winners in more than 225 categories. The magazine sponsored the event with the South Shore Chamber of Commerce. Shoreline President Keith Douglass and associates Lisa Scharoun and Erin Mulcahey represented Shoreline at the event, held at Weathervane Country Club in Weymouth, on Massachusetts’ South Shore.

Lisa Scharoun, left, Keith Douglass and Erin Mulcahy have a blast at the 2023 BOSS Bash.

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Flying clubs are a thing. They’re everywhere across the country, nearly 1,100 of them. One of those thriving clubs flies from Marshfield Municipal Airport – the South Shore Flying Club. South Shore Flying Club owned two single-prop planes – a 1999 Piper Archer III low wing and a 1976 Cessna 172 Skyhawk, a high-wing plane. The planes live in hangars at the airport (KGHG), which is operated by Shoreline Aviation. The club recently picked up another plane. Being a member of a flying club provides greater flexibility and lower costs than plane rental or purchase. We wrote the fun article in the link, and it was picked up by five newspapers along the South Shore.

Steve Rusconi and Karl Swenson of SSFC

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More good news for Shoreline – retired Delta pilot P.J. Flanagan joined Shoreline as its Director of Operations in July. Upon retiring from Delta in 2020, P.J. renovated his and wife Doris’ home on Massachusetts’ South Shore. But then he got antsy and needed to get back into the captain’s seat. At Shoreline, he happily accommodates passengers on business jets. He sees his biggest value in using his extensive global flight experience to help pilots learn to step up and achieve certification to fly business jets in the charter world.

P.J. Flanagan

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Allen Snyder was checking a few things off his bucket list. He wanted to fly somewhere in a private jet. He wanted to visit Gander, Newfoundland. And he wanted to cruise along the Nile River in Egypt. The first one he did on a Shoreline Aviation flight. The second he accomplished as the destination of the Shoreline flight. And the third he did flying British Airways – but he wore his Shoreline Aviation cap while navigating the Nile. That’s Allen in the photo wearing his Shoreline Aviation hat he received during this charter experience. And that’s the hat he chose to take roughly 5,500 miles to visit Egypt in June and cruise the Nile. “I took it because it was white and clean,” Allen said. “I wanted a white hat for sun protection, and my Shoreline hat did the trick.”

Allen Snyder wears his Shoreline Aviation cap cruising on the Nile River in Egypt.

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An exciting moment for a local teen! On Timmy Stiles’ 16th birthday he arrived at KGHG to fly solo for the first time. His parents and grandparents joined him for the big day, only the event had to be scrubbed by Shoreline flight instructor Roger Means because of the weather. But two days later Tim was back, ready to shoot off into the sunny sky. Tim and Roger did one take off and landing together, and then Tim went solo as parents both gasped and beamed. Three landings later, he pulled the plane to its space on the ramp and emerged to a boatload of hugs, handshakes and kisses. “I’ll tell you what,” Roger said to Tim’s parents as Tim took flight solo for his first time. “He’ll remember that for the rest of his life!” Timmy’s story in the link ran in local papers, too.

Dad Mark Stiles, left, Tim Stiles, mom Julie Stiles, grandmother Peggy Kantaros and grandfather Bill Kantaros.

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Probably Shoreline’s biggest event and highlight of the year was the long-planned, delayed, rescheduled and eventual celebration of the commissioning of the first and only electric aircraft charging station in all of Massachusetts. A celebration of this aviation history-making step, to feature BETA Technologies’ all-electric aircraft ALIA, was scheduled for late June, and ardent climate champion Senator Ed Markey was primed to speak at this game-changing event. Then the rain came. And came and came. For weeks it came. And last minute, the event had to be postponed. Jump forward to Friday, October 13 (yes, Friday the 13th!) and Mother Nature blessed Massachusetts’ South Shore with the loveliest day imaginable. Not only did ALIA fly in the day before, a gathering of about 75 invited guests came together to cheer the significant advance of transportation technology. The project poised on a four-legged foundation anchored by BETA, who developed the flying and charging technology; Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Aeronautics Division, who championed the project; Eversource, the power company who built the electricity infrastructure; and Shoreline Aviation, who’s foresight into the future pulled all the parts together resulting in the four-year project culminating at KGHG – a fantastic feat for all involved! Read our eight-part series on the project at the above link. The event got extensive coverage – in Boston print and television media, regional papers, and trade publications.

Shoreline Aviation President Keith Douglass addresses the audience at Marshfield Municipal Airport. Photo courtesy of BETA Technologies

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And maybe the most fun event was all about turtles! That’s right, turtles. Pilot Steve Bernstein once again stepped up to help the cause of saving stranded turtles. Sea turtles travel south to warmer water when the water they live in in the northeast all summer starts getting cold. But look at a map of Cape Cod and see how the lower Cape hooks up like a flexed arm with ragged catchalls. Turtles heading south in Cape Cod Bay get stuck there. They become what Senior Biologist Linda Lory, manager of the New England Aquarium’s Rescue and Rehabilitation Department, calls cold stunned. Linda and associates arrived to unload 35 saved turtles at Marshfield Municipal Airport on the first day of December for Steve, who flew in from New Jersey, to fly to North Carolina for their next round of rehabilitation before being released into warm water down south. Steve and his family flew their first mission on behalf of the organization Turtles Fly Too in 2015 and he has been a regular volunteer since. Shoreline Aviation has been involved in volunteer turtle missions for years, and there will likely be many more turtle flights from Marshfield this winter season. The company offers a charitable discount on fuel to these pilots and charge no ramp or tiedown fees. And Shoreline’s line team gets to help load the recuperating turtles into the plane. You can see why it puts a pretty big smile on their faces!

Shoreline Aviation’s Chris Davis and New England Aquarium’s Emilie Davis hand sea turtles to volunteer pilot Steve Bernstein. Photo/Shoreline Aviation

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Well, that’s a good handful of highlights from over the year. There were others, including local kindergartners who visited the airport to learn about flying, and local Scouts who earned the Aviation badges during a trip to KGHG. What will pop up in 2024? Stay tuned!

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Have you considered private charter for your business or family?

You likely already know many benefits of chartering flights. Such as, when chartering you get to travel where you want, when you want. You get to skip all the long lines at commercial airports, you get relaxed privacy aboard, and you get to meet, chat or just chill as you wish.

Shoreline’s Charter Team can take you to over 5,000 public access airports in the US and many more globally. That’s 10 times the locations commercial airlines can go to just in the States. Your time, your schedule, your way.

If you think this makes sense for you, please visit us online here, or call Shoreline Aviation at Marshfield Municipal Airport KGHG at 888.291.JETS or 781.834.4928 and chat with our Charter Team. And you can click here for a charter quote. It is not inexpensive. But you get what you pay for!

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Thank you for your connection with Shoreline Aviation! If you enjoyed this month’s newsletter, please feel free to pass it along to like-minded people. They’re welcome to sign up for our free newsletter on our website.

Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy New Year!

Your friends at Shoreline

About Shoreline Aviation

Shoreline Aviation, Inc. has been offering premier aviation services for 42 years. An FAA Certified Air Carrier since 1981, Shoreline operates a versatile fleet of turboprop, light jet, midsize jet, and large cabin jet aircraft. The company is headquartered in Marshfield, MA, where it is the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) at Marshfield Municipal Airport. Shoreline also has an office at Palm Beach International Airport. The company offers aircraft management, sales and acquisitions, executive and personal charter services, FBO services, aircraft maintenance, airport management services, flight lessons, and more. To learn more about Shoreline Aviation, call 888.291.JETS (5387), visit www.shorelineaviation.net, or email info@shorelineaviation.net.

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