Get Hal Back in the Air: Rebuild His Dream

Hi All, I'm Trent Palmer, pilot and content creator who's looking to help out his friend Hal.

Hal Stockman, once described as the most famous pilot on the internet who isn't on the internet, recently had a very unfortunate situation that he's lucky to have survived.

While flying back to his home in Elko, NV from a fly-in outside of Salt Lake City, UT, Hal's nearly brand new plane suffered every pilot's worst nightmare, an in-flight fire. Luckily, Hal was able to rapidly descend 3000 ft from his cruising altitude and land on a dirt frontage road along Interstate 80. Hal was able to exit the plane safely and sustained only a few minor burns on his right ankle. After exiting the plane, he had only a few moments to pull as many of his belongings as he could from the plane before it got too hot, and he was forced to stand back and watch his plane burn to the ground.

As of now, we aren't sure what exactly caused the fire, and since the NTSB has the aircraft and is conducting a full investigation, we won't jump to any conclusions. But it appears to have been an oil fire that was ignited by oil contacting the turbocharger on Hal's engine. Hal mentioned that during the event oil sprayed all over his OneWheel that was mounted outside of his plane on his landing gear, which is what leads to that assumption that the fire was started by oil, and the flames ignited on the righthand side of the engine which is where the turbo is located. We are unsure of what oil line would have broken or come loose, but I am sure the NTSB will be able to find the source.

I spoke to Hal a few days after the incident (it took that long for Hal to get a new phone as his phone was in the plane when it burned). Hal mentioned that because his plane, a Badlands Vaquero, was the first and only of that model ever built, he was unable to get insurance to cover the hull on his plane. So unfortunately, this was a total loss for Hal and he had over $160,000 into the plane.

Really quickly, I want to give some context for anyone that doesn't know Hal. He is one of the biggest-hearted, kind, and helpful individuals you'll ever meet. He has an unbelievable passion for aviation and does everything he can to share his love for it. He attends nearly every flying event in the country to demonstrate and compete in STOL competitions. If you've ever been to the ultralight field at Oshkosh, you've probably seen Hal flying sunrise to sunset in one of his "Lawnmowers" giving rides to kids. He is the first to offer rides to anyone and everyone, just to hopefully spark someone else's love for aviation, never asking for a thing in return. In fact, this was so important for him that while building his Vaquero, which he built as a STOL competition airplane and was shaving every single ounce to save weight, the one thing he would not compromise on was having dual controls so he could let kids try flying the plane when he was giving rides.

Hal did not ask for any help with this, but I felt the desire to pitch in a little, I figured I probably wasn't the only one, so asked Hal if he would be willing to accept a few donations to help him rebuild, and he said he would be okay with that and was very grateful for the offer. Hal is a retired mechanic living on a fixed income, and while it wasn't the most expensive plane in the world, it was still a huge hit. Knowing Hal, he will find a way to rebuild, but I know even a small bit of help would go a long way.

Thanks for reading this very long, and likely poorly written, description. Let's get Hal back in the air!