We're a backcountry flying family and we love the freedom of flight, but we also like to bring as many creature comforts as the airplane can carry. The WingTent was born out of a need to get out of the sun and the heat in the sometimes harsh backcountry environment.
I learned how to fly in 2010, a year after my first daughter was born. A few years later I discovered backcountry flying, and learned that people actually camp under the wing of their aircraft. I was blown away that something that cool was possible for me. I was immediately hooked, and have since flown into several destinations all over the Pacific Northwest in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
Unfortunately, my wife was not quite the fan of backcountry flying that I was. Even less a fan of camping primitively. I quickly realized that if I didn't make her forrays into the backcountry as comfortable as possible, she would probably not come with me. I remember seeing her sitting under the wing one hot afternoon at Cavanaugh Bay, trying to get out of the sun under the sliver of shade under the wing, and a lightbulb went on for me.
That was in 2014. The seed was planted, and I started working toward a dream of bringing a shade-tent, wing-tent, social-watering-hole kind of experience to my fellow fly campers. But mostly motivated to get my wife out there with me. Any pilot married to someone who is "enthusiasm challenged" with aviation will know where I'm coming from!
Dustin Woodhouse