HOWLAND — Wings & Wheels has been the primary fundraiser for the Ernie Hall Aviation Museum since it opened in 2014.

With this year’s event canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum’s board of directors is hoping to offset the loss by giving someone a chance to win an airplane.

The museum is raffling off a 1992 Aviat Husky A-1 two-seater valued at $85,000.

“We hope this will put us back in the same type of revenue we got from Wings & Wheels and hopefully a little bit more,” board member Tom Grohl said. “We’re just hoping this becomes successful, because if it does, we’ll be able to do better things.”

The aircraft had two local owners before its acquisition by the museum.

“He was very generous,” Grohl said. “He gave us a very good deal on it. He knew what we were going to do with it and agreed to let it go.”

The Aviat Husky A-1 is a light utility aircraft that is popular with bush pilots and is useful particularly in areas where a pilot doesn’t have access to a traditional runway.

“It has these fat tires on it,” Grohl said. “You can take off and land fairly quickly in one of these.”

In addition to selling tickets locally, the board is publicizing the raffle in national aviation magazines and newspapers in hopes of luring pilots from outside the area to take a $50 chance on winning the aircraft.

The Husky A-1 will be on display outside of the museum, 4033 N. River Road NE, on weekends, weather permitting, while the raffle is under way. Those interested in scheduling a time to inspect the airplane and its log books can call 844-837-3276.

A maximum of 4,000 tickets will be sold.

“We want people to have halfway decent odds of winning,” Grohl said — and the raffle drawing is planned for mid-November. If less than 2,500 tickets are sold by Nov. 16, however, the board reserves the right to extend the deadline. There is no cash option for the winner of the airplane. Second prize in the raffle is $2,000 and third prize is $1,000.

“If we can sell the 4,000 tickets, we’ll do really well,” Grohl said.

In addition to covering the monthly operating expenses for the museum, proceeds from the raffle also will be used to purchase a flight simulator for the museum that could be used by children.

“We’d also like to provide an aviation scholarship, start a scholarship fund in (museum founder) Bill Griffin’s name,” Grohl said. “Kent State has a nice flight program. Maybe we could do it with them.”

Tickets for the raffle and complete details are available online at www.erniehallaviationmuseum.org.