By LINCOLN BENEDICT
Brunswick Executive Airport (KBXM) in Maine is a retired naval air station now home to a vibrant aviation community.
The twin 8,000-foot runways have been taken down to one runway, 1R/19L, with the alternate 1L/19R opened every now and then for maintenance needs (or even functioning as a taxiway for Air Force One when it came to town).
The airport users range from business jets to a Cirrus-based flight school to powered paragliders, truly a smorgasbord of General Aviation.
One thing it didn’t have was a grass runway, but that changed when Ethan Brown worked with the FBO and airport management to create an informal 2,000-foot grass runway in 2024.
Ethan is also a budding private pilot and in June, when these photos were taken, he was ready to solo. (He has since earned his ticket).
His instructor (and my hangar neighbor) was headed out to watch, so I grabbed my camera gear.
It was the quintessential summer evening, a soft warm breeze blowing the new green grass with the sun gradually sinking to the west.
Watching Ethan solo his 1946 Champ 7AC was a joy — so much hard work had gone into this moment that you couldn’t help but break into a smile.
Heck, even the airplane seemed to be smiling!
Thanks for all your hard work, Ethan.
