Oct 14, 2007

Fundraising efforts soar at aviation museum gala

By Adria Murray / Society Columnist

Asking friends where they've "been lately" takes on new meaning when the group is that of air pilots. The question, a graduation from the ranks of idle prater, is usually followed by an enthusiastic, "So, what were you flying?"

Such was the conversation guests were having as they mingled during cocktail hour at Hiller Aviation Museum's third annual "Come Fly with Me" gala. Walking among the winged artifacts at the San Carlos Airport-based museum, gala guests sipped cocktails and sampled hors d'oeuvres served by a wait staff costumed as flight mechanics and pilots.

The aviation theme was continued to great effect with the gala's centerpieces - square glass vases filled with rocks and layers of colored pebbles that simulated helipads, circled by tiny blue taxi lights and topped with model helicopters.

Museum President and CEO Jeffery Bass welcomed guests to the benefit dinner by thanking them for supporting the museum's educational programs, which were the center of the night's fundraising efforts. With programs designed to engage students of all ages in activities ranging from aeronautic design and testing, model aircraft construction and air traffic control, nothing personified the museum's spirit of hands-on learning and childlike wonder quite like Bass himself, who returned to his seat after introductions and began disassembling his centerpiece helicopter in an effort to fix the propeller.

As the fundraiser's live auction got under way, it became clear that organizers - gala chairwoman Barbara Hiller and committee members Jana Cashin, Helen Calhoun and Patti Randall - knew their target audience too well. The abundance of skyward packages excited attendees and made for lively bidding. From the winners of a ride-along trip on a KGO morning news helicopter, to the winners of the "Fantasy Island" water landing excursion on a Grumman Mallard N2945 Float Plane and the two-hour cocktail tour for 10 over the San Francisco Bay in a vintage 1945 DC-3, air enthusiasts helped the museum raise more than $208,000 total.

The night's Fund-A-Need auction, benefiting the soon-to-be debuted "Forces of Flight" education program, brought in about $27,000 - $12,000 more than organizers had anticipated.

Developed in partnership with NASA Ames, "Forces of Flight" teaches students about the four different forces that react with planes in flight: thrust, lift, drag and weight. The program has been designed to enhance in-class and post-visit activities, including the construction and testing of model aircrafts.

Guest speaker, esteemed world record-holding pilot Clay Lacy opened his address to the crowd by saying in jest, "You're in trouble if you don't like aviation."

Having flown an impressive 48,000-plus hours, Lacy has spent more time flying a plane than anyone else on earth.

"I've seen the evolution of the Jet Age and have flown more than any other pilot," Lacy said, having spent nearly every day over the past 62 years on a plane. "I've used my share of jet fuel," he deadpanned.

Others in attendance who, too, prefer spending their time off the ground included master of ceremonies and Bay Area broadcaster Jim Gabbert, museum founder Stanley Hiller Jr's sons Jeff Hiller and board chairman Steve Hiller, board vice chairman Rick Gostyla, Hayward pilot Mike Phillips, and pilot Cameron Rolfe, who has flown Santa by helicopter to the San Carlos Airport for the past 13 years.

As a member among the elite group of air pilots, Gabbert summed up the mission of the museum, saying, "Hiller opens the world of aviation to others."

Adria Murray's society column appears every Sunday in the Daily News. For consideration, please send event information to 324 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94301, or e-mail amurray@dailynews group.com or call 650-327-9090, ext. 328.