Weiser man builds plane in local barn  

    You might say Weiser resident Adam Kruse can’t help giving up where he was born and raised.
 Though not immediately detectable, the slight dialect in his voice, perhaps unbeknownst to him, reveals a lot.
 “I grew up in Decorah, Iowa,” said Kruse, 33, when asked about his hometown.
 The city is located in northeast Iowa, not far from the Minnesota and Wisconsin borders.
 Kruse, who is restoring a rare 1953 Cessna 180 in a barn at a location within Washington County, spoke soft and relaxed, with Johann Sebastian Bach gently swelling in the background, as he carefully brushed a gooey substance to a set of airplane wings used to remove paint.
 The SkyWest pilot, who flies out of Boise, couldn’t find a hangar at the Weiser Municipal Airport to house his project, but was able to find a barn, the location of which he doesn’t want made public.
 “I don’t want anyone coming and stealing anything,” he said with a smile.
 You can hardly hold it against him, considering he searched for what he calls the “perfect Idaho backcountry plane” for over a year.
 Ironically, he found the Cessna 180 in Wisconsin after moving from Minneapolis, Minn. to Weiser.
 Kruse, whose wife, Ashley, just gave birth to their first born, Liam, July 25, said the harsh winters pushed he and his family west.
 “Actually, I was looking around for a cool, small airport community, and I went down to Hubler [Field], in Caldwell, and I was asking around there, but mainly because they didn’t want me there – they had enough people – they told me to go check out Weiser,” he said. “So we did, and checked out the town. At that point, I was, like, ‘Sweet. I want to be in a cool, small town,’ and it’s been outstanding.”
 Kruse, whose father was an airplane mechanic, has bought and restored five other planes, all Luscombe aircraft, three of which he has sold. The other two, one a 1946 and the other a 1948 model, he has kept and is considering using for potential pilot certification and instructional purposes.
 Both are kept at tie-down spots, one at the Weiser Airport and the other at the Emmett Municipal Airport.
 “I’m considering starting a flight school here in Weiser, at the Weiser Airport, offering tail-wheel endorsements and maybe even private pilot lessons, stuff like that, because that’s what I did to build my time to become an airline pilot,” said Kruse, who flies for SkyWest three to four days per week. “I have 1,200 hours, just in flight time, teaching people how to fly.”
The Cessna 180
 The Cessna 180 “Skywagon” is a four- or six-seat, fixed conventional gear general aviation airplane produced between 1953 and 1981. No longer in production, the all-metal airframe is constructed of aluminum alloy and is still used as a personal aircraft and in utility roles, including bush flying.
 Kruse’s motor is a 0470J cubic engine, with 235-horse power. It is original to the aircraft.
 The Cessna 180 received widespread recognition after Geraldine Mock became the first woman pilot to successfully fly around the world in 1964, piloting the same 1953 model, which she called “The Spirit of Columbus,” that Kruse is currently restoring.
 And, it wasn’t easy to find.
 “I sent every owner in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho a letter, asking if they would sell me one,” Kruse explained. “I called hundreds of people, spent at least a hundred hours on the phone. The only reason I got this one is because I was calling about some airplane parts for my other plane and I just asked if the guy knew of any 180 projects around there.”
 He wasn’t expecting a “yes,” but that’s just what he got, the parts dealer, located in Wisconsin, providing information for a possible seller.
 “He said he knew of a guy who had a 180, so I looked him up and called him, and asked if he wanted to sell and he goes, ‘Yeah, I do,’ so I was literally there within two days because that’s how hot the market is. I paid him cash and I had it shipped here in a semi.”
 The plane, which is in good condition, needs to be assembled and there is still a lot of work to be done.
 The original wings would have needed to be rebuilt, which was more than Kruse wanted to commit to, so he found a new set in Fallon, Nev. and had them shipped to Weiser.
 They are being stripped of old paint and will receive a matching paint scheme in time.
 “I don’t typically like to put timelines on it, but it will be finished quicker than you’d think,” Kruse said.
 Kruse also runs an aircraft parts website at www.airmans-exchange.com.