Three days. Three very long days.

That’s how long it took 23-year-old C.J. Bowker to fly from Ponca City to every airport in the State of Oklahoma.

Bowker, a 2014 Po-Hi graduate, decided last December to give it a try after his father, James Bowker, suggested he land in one airport in each of Oklahoma’s 77 counties.

That morphed into landing at every paved, public, non-military airport in the state. All 123 of of them. Oklahoma has a total of 149 airports, but besides the military-only airports, there are also a number of unpaved, grass-strip airports.

CJ was no stranger to long flights having flown to North Dakota before to visit family and having about 650 hours of total flying time under his belt. And, as a certified flight instructor, he had the necessary skills to make it happen.

CJ explained that what gave his dad the idea was a program in Minnesota called Fly Minnesota Airports. It’s a program sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Minnesota Council of Airport to promote general aviation in Minnesota. It rewards pilots who fly to Minnesota publicly-owned airports, attend FAA safety seminars and visit Minnesota’s aviation museums. Each flier is issued a ‘passport’ that gets stamped at each airport, event, or museum. Once a pilot visits

C.J. BOWKER visited every airport across the state as a way to raise awareness of small general aviation flying. (News Photo by Mike Seals)
at least 130 out of the 136 public airports in Minnesota, goes to 6 museums, and attends 6 FAA safety seminars, they are awarded a leather flight jacket.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma doesn’t have a similar program. But that didn’t hinder CJ.

On the first day, the 13th of July, he and J.W. Hill flew to 39 airports. The next day, he and Hill flew to 43 airports. And, finally, on the third day, he and J.A. Stockwell flew to 41 airports ending the adventure will and 11-hour day. Altogether, it took nearly 31 and a half hours of flight time and 315 gallons of AvGas (at a cost of over $1,100.00) to make the trip.

“It was a really remarkable trip,” he said. “It originally started out on a smaller scale, and turned into a massive endeavor, but it was very rewarding.”

Bowker made the trip in one of the two Cessna 177RG Cardinals that his family owns.

The purpose of the trip, he said, was to raise awareness of small general aviation flying.

“Without general aviation, we wouldn’t have airports except in places like Oklahoma City or Dallas,” he said. “General aviation keeps airports alive.”

Bowker works as a fuel lineman at the Ponca City Regional Airport, and as a fuel lineman at the Stillwater Airport. He also teaches private flight lessons.