Chet Harris
#00 Aught Nought
Chet Harris knows exactly when he decided he would be a pilot: he was eight years old and he saw a picture of a family friend standing in a farm field next to an iconic, yellow, Piper J-3 cub. Years later while working a split shift for $8.00 an hour he took up lessons between shifts and learned to fly. The idea that the image of that cub inspired, of flying a small airplane to remote places, was realized when he first landed a plane off airport in the valley of the Knik Glacier.
With the love and support of his lovely wife Darcy, he has continued to refine his flying at the slow end of the envelope by exploring the wilderness of Alaska with her. Ironically, it was the connection to backcountry Alaskan flying that led to Chet's real introduction to race flying. He remembers it as something from "The Wild World of Sports", but thanks to an invite from Matt Conklin, a back country compatriot, Chet attended the Pylon Racing Seminar (rookie school) and first raced Miss Demeanor in 2014. He was voted rookie of the year by his fellow Formula One pilots. He has found he cannot get enough of the high speed end of the envelope. He is sure it makes him a better pilot, and it's just plain fun.
He got another chance to fly at the National Championship Air Races (NCAR) in 2015. He flew Miss U, a Wagner Air Race Special, solidly in the Gold.
Chet finally abandoned his tool pouches in 2018 to take his first flying job. It was a late in life career change at 49, but he loved flying float planes for Rust’s Flying service. He is fortunate to have a great job flying the 737 for Northern Air Cargo, based out of Anchorage.
Miss Demeanor has since been remade as Aught Nought, race number 00. It required much work and many resources dedicated by the owner and Rick Poe. Justine Stinemetze, the race crew chief has put in countless hours assembling, repairing and refining the plane. To Chet’s good fortune. Justin and Rick agreed Chet would be the pilot to race the plane at the final NCAR at Reno. All together they agree, they make a good team, hope to race again in the future.