Todd Ware competes in flying

If you see a light-sport aircraft flying around cellular towers in the Flathead Valley in the coming weeks, it’s probably Todd Ware out for a practice run.

The Bigfork pilot and certified flight instructor has been selected by the International Aviation Federation to compete in the 2015 World Air Games in Dubai the first two weeks in December. Ware is the only pilot to represent the United States in the weight-shift control aircraft category.

Weight-shift control aircraft are also known as powered hang gliders, or microlights in Europe.

Held every four years, the World Air Games are the largest international air races, a kind of Olympics for pilots, Ware explained.

And it takes practice to win.

This year’s World Air Games feature an eight-pylon course over water, followed by a spot landing competition on a simulated aircraft carrier deck.

“I’ve been training for the past two months, whipping mean turns around cellphone towers and boats with masts,” Ware said.

Getting a chance to compete on a global level was a complicated process. Ware was nominated for the World Air Games by the weight-shift control aircraft champion from the games held in Italy in 2009. Then Ware had to be certified by the National Aeronautic Association, which in turn referred Ware to the Federal Aeronautique Internationale, which then selected Ware for the global games that also will include various display air shows.

Ware’s life has been up in the air since he was 7 and took his first flight in his father’s Cessna. He recalls having to sit on a thick Los Angeles phone book to see over the aircraft’s control panels.

“My dad was a recreational pilot. He had a runway at our ranch in Southern California,” he said.

Ware first flew a light-sport aircraft, also called a delta-wing trike, in 1998. He has been flying professionally for five years and now operates his own company, Air Therapy Aviation, based in Bigfork. Sport-pilot licensing became a requirement about six years ago and Ware got his license in 2009.

In addition to giving introductory and sport-pilot lessons, Ware flies his light-sport aircraft with Young Eagles, a national volunteer pilot program that introduces flying to children. He also has tapped into helping veterans by offering free or discounted flights in the Flathead Valley. Ware is working to get corporate sponsorships to take veterans on flights.

As the name of his business suggests, there’s something therapeutic about flying in such a small aircraft, he said.

“It’s a feeling of really soaring, and you’re so supported by the air,” Ware said. “They’re just so fun to fly; you don’t get claustrophobic.”

The small aircraft Ware pilots is the same kind that was used in the popular movie “Fly Away Home,” in which a young girl leads a gaggle of geese in their migration.

“It is beautiful to fly up with the geese this time of year,” Ware said. “At 68 miles per hour, the trike flies a bit too fast for geese to keep up, though.”

Flying these air trikes is an unusual passion for someone who’s afraid of heights, as Ware confides he is. He can’t go near the windows on the upper floors of a air.

“It’s a strange, irrational thing,” he admitted. “On my birthday I go to 10,000 feet, but I’m really scared of heights,” so it’s a big stretch psychologically to fly that high.

Ware moved to Bigfork eight years ago because other family members have gravitated to the community on Flathead Lake over the past 25 years.

“My father bought a ranch [in the Flathead] and needed help, so I moved here from Oahu, Hawaii,” he said.

Flying isn’t a full-time occupation. He has been a massage therapist for 29 years to support his flying habit and has a private practice in Bigfork.

Weight-shift control aircraft aren’t exorbitantly expensive and can range anywhere from $17,000 to $118,000. They run on premium unleaded gasoline, burning 3.5 gallons per hour. Ware said he can fly to Missoula and back without landing, staying in flight about three and a half hours.

The aircraft are most popular in Australia and Europe, but popularity is growing in the U.S. A new air trike manufacturer in Florida, Evolution Trikes, is now producing one of the hottest models in the world.

Ware said he is the only pilot flying weight-shift control aircraft in the Flathead Valley. He is among 62 certified flight instructors for light sport aircraft in the country.

When the World Air Games commence, Ware will be competing against 24 other pilots from throughout the world. He’s anticipating a good run.

“I’m looking forward to racing — and beating — the Russians and the Chinese,” he said.