One of our own Bethel High School grads, Stephen Tibbitts, just made a significant announcement. His company, Alpine-Vertical is developing a vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (VTOL), called the Raven.

The Alpine Vertical website is officially live.

Raven, a hybrid VTOL aircraft, is designed to get you beyond the runway without giving up the range and feel of a fixed-wing plane. On the new site you can explore the aircraft, see how Raven fits recreation, personal ownership, wildfire evacuation, EMS, and flight training, and check out our development roadmap to see exactly where things stand.

You can also join the Founders List to reserve your production position. It’s a fully refundable deposit with no obligation.

Take a look: alpine-vertical.com

[Editor Note As above and beyond the story, Stephen is an engineer, a former chip designer for Intel, and built his own home on Spanaway Lake. If you have lived in Spanaway long enough, you might also know his father, Dale Tibbitts, who had a veterinarian business with Dr. Valentine at 143rd & Pacific Avenue. His grandmother, Dorothy Koepka, taught home economics at Bethel High School and lived in Rocky Ridge on part of the Benston family homestead. His other grandparents on the Tibbitts side at one time had a dairy on 208^th Street and started the Elk Plain Café. So, Stephen is pretty solidly local material.

Since this editor also grew up on Shady Acres Airport, with 5 pilots in the family and an Air Traffic Controller, this entire project is really exciting news and I for one am all about cheering for him and the development team! ]