ARIZONA PILOT WINS AOPA SWEEPSTAKES CESSNA 170 IN HIS BACKYARD
AOPA Member and Southwest Airlines Pilot Cliff Gurske Looks Forward to Returning to the Alaska Backcountry
BUCKEYE, Ariz., February 17, 2024 – Cliff Gurske has flown a wide range of aircraft in his professional and personal flying career. He has a type rating in the Boeing 747 and 737, and is qualified to fly the DC-3. Now, Gurske will have to dust off his tailwheel skills to fly the AOPA Sweepstakes Cessna 170 he won on Saturday at the AOPA Fly-in at the Buckeye Air Fair.
Understandably, Gurske was overcome with emotion and his first words standing next to his new airplane were: “I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say.”
Getting Gurske, a resident of nearby Goodyear, to the event posed a challenge, but not because of the mere 15 miles between his residence and Buckeye, but due to the logistics involved in adjusting the schedule of a Southwest Airlines check airman. Working with AOPA, his Southwest co-workers developed an involved ruse to ensure he was at the Buckeye Air Fair to accept his new airplane.
“They took me off a three-day trip and asked me to staff a booth for one day. Sign me up!” Gurske exclaimed.
Gurske, a 30-year member of AOPA, spent more than 33 years growing up in Alaska, where he learned to fly a variety of tailwheel airplanes, beginning with a Citabria.
When asked about returning to Alaska with the 170, he said “yes! This airplane is absolutely meant for Alaska. We’ll be going.”
The giveaway was the culmination of an 18-month process that transformed the stock 1953 Cessna 170B to a 195-horsepower, backcountry-equipped adventure machine.
“Cliff is a terrific person; a nicer guy couldn’t have won this airplane,” said Southwest Airlines colleague Mel Meadows. Meadows masterminded the ruse needed to ensure Gurske would attend the surprise giveaway.
Gurske’s first call after winning was to his wife.
“Do you like small airplanes?” he asked her. “You will now.”
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