Hovering above Olympia airport, Tyler turns to Makenna and asks: Will you marry me?
Tyler Rhoades wanted to surprise his girlfriend on Saturday, so he arranged a flight aboard a helicopter. It took off from Olympia Regional Airport, flew west for four minutes, then returned to hover about 500 feet over the runway.
It was then that Makenna Wade, 25, asked, “What’s going on?”
Rhoades, 27, got out of his seat and reassured her that nothing was wrong. He then lowered himself to one knee, presented her with the ring and she said “yes.”
Rhoades, originally from Lacey, has been fascinated with flight since he was a boy. He later volunteered at the Olympic Flight Museum and now works as a mechanic at Northwest Helicopters. Both are based at Olympia Regional Airport.
Northwest Helicopters typically sells rides aboard Vietnam-era Huey helicopters during the Olympic Flight Museum’s air show Father’s Day weekend. But this time, coming out of the pandemic, it was limited to employees and family, Rhoades said.
The final flights of the day are offered to event volunteers.
Rhoades tried his best to keep the proposal a secret, but Wade grew suspicious at times.
When he told her he needed to do something work-related aboard the helicopter, Wade thought: Wouldn’t you do that on the first flight rather than the last?
And Rhoades felt she got suspicious because an Olympian photographer tagged along for the ride.
She did, Wade said, except it was when Rhoades tried to play it too cool and asked, “Why is that guy taking so many photos?”
Still, Wade said Sunday that the proposal was just right. The couple met about a year ago at the Museum of Flight in Seattle and they came full circle Saturday to get engaged mid-flight.
“It was a special moment and I wouldn’t want it any other way,” she said.
Rhoades works in the Olympia area and Wade in Tacoma, so the couple has found a happy medium in DuPont.
And when’s the big day? That is still to be determined, Rhoades said.
This story was originally published June 20, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
