Nordo News

It's All Your Fault - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 20:13:00 +0000

Without core beliefs, your opinions can sway. Opinions that sway, are easily pushed over. Push overs have no place in our aviation groups. Unfortunately, that’s all we have.

With each passing day, I wonder whose side they’re on. You know what I’m talking about. Alphabet groups that constantly sell us out and answer our questions with condescension. Is it really that hard to find one person with some decent management experience who really is on the side of aviation? Is it? I’m not being flippant. I’m serious. How damn hard can it be for one true aviator to make to the head of either of our groups?

Don’t get me wrong. I am glad, for example, that Craig Fuller has found aviation with the purchase of a Husky. It’s great to see he has spread his wings to search for the joys of flying that so many of us have known for decades. Yet at the same time, I can’t help but wonder if that Husky isn’t like the President’s dog. Rolled out, photographed, and written about extensively, it often feels more like a way to make him seem more, um, pilot-like.

This is aviation leadership’s latest angle. Show the chief executive flying a plane he or she owns (or restored) to prove he’s one of us. But you know what? I can’t ever remember one pilot who is “one of us” having to prove they were. If they were, we knew it. Yet, I also believe people can change and until recently I held out hope for them.

Then came an AOPA eBrief I just couldn’t believe. The date was May 16th.

Inside the virtual brief was a nice little introduction to a larger article as to how TFR violations hamper efforts to ease TFR’s.. If you actually click on the link in these ebriefs, you’ll be amazed at how much more there is to every story. That’s what I did and there I found a nicely painted picture.

What was it? Here is the paragraph:

“AOPA has joined an unprecedented dialogue, a cross section of aviation groups sitting at the table with representatives of a host of government agencies, from the FAA to NORAD and the U.S. Secret Service. GA groups hope to ease the size, if not the number, of TFRs, a difficult argument to make when so many careless pilots wander into exclusion zones created to protect the president and other VIPs.”

I hope you read that paragraph because I would like to close out part one with the poll below.

Fort Fest 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:03:00 +0000

If you are within a hop of Ft. Parker, Texas, you should fly on over to Ft. Parker Flying Field tomorrow. Fort Fest 2012 is going on this June 2nd and it looks like it could be a lot of fun for pilots and music lovers alike.

Fort Parker is a historic site with a background story that will be recognized by many who never knew where it originated. You can read it by clicking here.

Next door to Fort Parker is Fort Parker Flying Field. Our friend Jed Keck has built himself an airport there where he welcomes vintage aviation openly.

Fort Fest 2012 will offer the best of both places. If you can drive or fly, stop in tomorrow for the event. Jed is just getting his airport up to speed and I’m sure he’d love to see some nice old aircraft arrive to help him enjoy the fuits of his efforts.

Poly-Fiber - Flabob

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Tue, 29 May 2012 02:19:00 +0000

As I mentioned in a prior post, late last year I was able to spend a few hours with some friends at Flabob. One of them was John Goldenbaum of Poly-Fiber. Having always wanted to see the campus of the world famous aircaft covering system, we talked him into giving us the tour.

If you don’t know John, he is somewhat of a humble man and his words are measured . Therefore, our tour turned out to be a little bipolar. It was really quite funny. Despite commanding 75% – 80% of the aircraft fabric covering market, John was constantly downplaying the operation with his typical sense of humor while I expressed how it was the coolest thing I had seen in ages. So, there you had John standing in the middle of one building joking about the need for a bus to handle the demand for tours (there’s just one building), while I’m looking at the majority of all the Poly-Fiber in the world and acting like a kid in a candy store. John would say “This is it; not much to it” and I would answer “Hey, this stuff keeps my kind of flying in the air; this is great”. And that’s how it continued all the way to the end of our tour.

If you ever end up with a need for a recover job, I highly recommend Poly-Fiber. It’s a proven system and they offer unbeatable customer service with an unbeatable record. And if you ever find yourself near Flabob, drop in for the tour. You’ll enjoy it.

AeroCraftsman - Flabob

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Mon, 28 May 2012 23:03:00 +0000

Late last year I went on a trip with a friend to deliver his Travel Air Project to AeroCraftsman, a restoration shop at Flabob. While there we spent some time with some old friends and finally met, in person, some fellow vintage aviation nuts with which we had previously only exchanged emails or phone calls. All in all it was a good trip.

Seven months later, I was deleting old photos on my phone and came across a few from this trip. That got me thinking and this in turn led me to email Mark Lightsey to see if he would tell me the story of his restoration business. What follows is word for word what he sent. Ordinarily I don't do that but it was such a good basic autobiography of his journey in aviation, and it since it included some great information about his current projects, I asked him if I could and he said yes.

"I don’t remember when or where I got interested in airplanes, it’s just something that’s always been there. I grew up in Southern California which has always been an aviation hot spot. I had neighbors and teachers that were pilots. I also got a ride in the Goodyear Blimp as a little kid. No matter where it came from, it’s just always been there. Balsa and tissue models led to control line, which led to R/C and so on.

I used money saved from paper routes, pet departments and pizza deliveries to pay for flying lessons at Long Beach airport. Right after getting my Private license, I started making the trek to Santa Paula airport where taildraggers were available for checkout and rental. I learned some acro and had a chance to fly Cubs, Decathlons, Great Lakes, etc. After flying, I’d usually grab a soda and wander around the airport to see what was going on. There was hangar right behind the FBO where an old guy was usually working away on some project or another. He wasn’t real chatty, but he’d let you watch if you didn’t bug him. I later found out it was Jim Dewey. Anyway, standing there watching this guy building and restoring antique planes, it struck as about the coolest thing a guy could do.

In the interim, I did the normal stuff. Went to school, had a series of “real” jobs, got married, bought houses, etc, but aviation was always there and I was always reading, learning, trying to soak it up. I bought flew and sold a variety of older planes including a J-3 and a Bellanca Cruisair that I used to commute to work for several years. I also build a Corben Super Ace from the 1934 Popular Aviation articles. If you own and build these types of planes, you start learning a lot of new skills. After a while, I started to become the “go to” guy at the field in Hemet where I was located.

After a while, my wife suggested that I make a go of it as a full time occupation. She agreed to be 100% supportive as long as I was successful. With an offer like that, how can you refuse, so I left The Gas Company and started doing this for real. First with a partner who was already in the restoration business, and about a year later on my own when he left for other opportunities.

Maybe I’m just lucky, but each project led to others. Decathlon, Stearman, TravelAir, TravelAir, Commandaire, etc….

About the time I was trying to finish the re-restoration and recover of Bob Lock’s Commandaire, I was approached by Jon Goldenbaum, the president of PolyFiber. Jon had been operating a restoration arm of PolyFiber, but his main guy was moving out of the area. After some discussion, I agreed to move my operation to Flabob to take over the projects being left behind. These included the Caudron C.460 racer replica and a 1937 Waco YKS-7. To get the Commandaire finished in time for Barnstormer’s Air Tour, I had the Mendoza brothers, Hualdo and Nando come out to Hemet to lend a hand. They were a couple of young guys working for PolyFiber learning the trade. With their help, we got the airplane finished and out the door just ahead of the deadline.

After moving to Flabob, I talked with the owners of the Flabob projects as well as the projects I was bringing from Hemet and we established some timelines and expectations. I didn’t want to jump into too many projects at once; it’s better to finish one thing before starting another, so we set the projects in order and got to work. At Flabob, I was able to tap into a lot of local expertise when needed to keep the projects moving along. It’s a lot different than being a one man shop.

Two of the standout projects are the previously mentioned Cabin Waco and a TravelAir speedwing.

The TravelAir is owned by Richard and Dan. About 15 years ago, they got the bug for an antique biplane and after researching all the designs, settled on TravelAir. Rather than just restoring one airplane, they decided that the economies of scale would more make sense to restore 7 airplanes at once. Fast forward a decade plus, and I met Richard and Dan through Bill Hill who had done the majority of the restoration over the years. The economic realities of a large project like this had caused several stops and starts along the way, but they were now ready to get at least one ship finished and in the air.

At that point, most of the structural work for ship number one was complete, but it still needed wiring, plumbing, sheet metal work, cowling and of course fabric and paint. The paint scheme was not a simple one, but it was certainly a challenge to layout and install. At this point, we’re just a couple of weeks away from final assembly and rigging. Licensing will be another hurdle since the airplane was previously a duster and was in Restricted category, but we’re planning to get it back into Standard category.

The Cabin Waco is owned by Jerry. He’s a great guy grew up in the Riverside area and took his first airplane ride here at Flabob. Jerry has had a number of interesting airplanes over the years and found this Waco at an Auction. He fell in love with it and considered flying it home, but wisely decided to take it apart and truck it back to California. For Jerry, one of the compelling aspects of the project was the chance to use the project as an opportunity for the Mendoza brothers to further develop their skills, so this project had been started by the previous Flabob restoration shop. Unfortunately, much of the disassembly work started by that shop wasn’t well documented and most of the original woodwork was lost. Add that to the fact that this poor airplane was flat worn out and you have the recipe for a challenging project. In any case, the guys have had the chance to up their game on this project and then some. When it came time to choose a paint scheme and theme for this airplane, Jerry wanted something a little more custom. We worked with Jim Bruni the designer of the TravelAir scheme to come up with some options for the Waco. I think the final design strikes a nice balance between custom and traditional. We used the Waco logo to develop the winged design on the fuselage and wings and used Jerry’s company logo as a medallion on the front. We were trying to capture the look of a corporate airplane from the era and the end result is quite stunning.

Both of these airplanes are very close to being finished and we have a couple more TravelAir projects in storage, patiently waiting their turns.

It’s been a bunch of years since I was a teenage kid, standing outside that Santa Paula hangar, yet here I am, doing exactly the same thing, and you know what? It is the coolest thing in the world."

Take a look at Mark's website to see more of the projects he and his crew are restoring. They have some amazing machines going together.

Our Friends at Peach State Aerodrome

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:49:00 +0000

You may recognize that DC-3 from several of our events.

If you live in the Atlanta area, be sure to visit the Vintage Days event at Peach State Aerodrome this weekend. The following is from their website.

"Step back in time to the 1920's" is the motto for the upcoming Vintage Days at the Candler Field Museum in Williamson, Ga on Saturday, June 2nd. Admission is free for everyone. There will be a $2 parking fee per car to assist in offsetting expenses. The activities include vintage aeroplanes and cars on display, people in period costumes, biplane rides, food, music and more. Gates open from 9 AM until 4 PM.”

The folks at Peach State Aerodrome have always supported us so be sure to show your support for them if you are in the area.

Weather or Not

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Sat, 26 May 2012 04:16:00 +0000

A local farmer was here a few days ago to cut our hay. While on his way in he stopped to talk. That’s when the subject of the forecast came up. He was about to cut hay but the forecast for the next day was predicting rain and according to him his wife would not be happy if she knew he was doing so.

If you’ve never been involved with the hay cutting process, from the time you cut it to the time you bale it, you want it to be drying. Rain is not good. Yet, when our friendly local farmer finished his prediction about what his wife would do to him, he said, “Oh well, they always say it’s going to rain”. Three days later he bailed it having had no trace of rain.

This conversation led to the discussion about productivity and accurate weather forecasts. The farmer’s implication was that if we waited for a perfect forecast, we’d never get anything done. Therefore, I wonder, is it possible modern weather prediction actually decreases productivity? Here’s how; people see a chance rain in the forecast then they put off work that could be done, or at least partially done, on a day with a better forecast? I think there’s a pretty good chance this is much more prevalent that we know.

So how does this relate to aviation?

I have long lamented all the reasons people have today for not flying. The one that gets me more than any is the weather. I may be old fashioned but I remember when pilots were taught the difference between a cirrus cloud and a tornado. Remember when pilots could distinguish hail from dandelion seeds floating through the air of a warm spring day? What happened to our aviators?

I’ll tell you what I think happened. Our pilot group fell hook, line, and sinker for the notion of safety and planning. Yeah, I said it; safety and planning is killing aviation and our alphabet groups aren’t helping. In fact, they are the pushers who move this stuff into the shady neighborhoods of aviation where spineless pilots wear helmets when they bike and eagerly inject this garbage into their bloodstream for a quick excuse not to fly.

Delivered directly to the nervous system via light waves, iPads, smart phones, and even TVs are killing aviation with the notion they are making it easier. Don’t believe me? How many people do you think would fly from the East Coast to the West Coast without a GPS? Very few today would yet there was a time when even kids did it. Yep, flying is expensive yet nobody can live without their pricey gadgets that could easily be replaced with fifteen dollar charts.

I know what you’re thinking; live weather radar helps. And you know what, you’d be right if people knew how to read it and use it to fly instead of not to. I’ll give you a good example.

See the red dot in the middle of this radar picture above? The pin is on Louisville. Northeast of there you will see a vertical band of two shades of green surrounded by a thin blue outline. Immediately to the right of that, where the Ohio River runs North/South, is where Lee Bottom is located. What kind of weather do you think that is?

The next photo was taken immediately after the radar screen shot. It is an actual image of what that weather radar screen shot looked like from the ground. As you can see, or I hope you can, the green blob from the radar is actually an area best described as a high altitude area of high humidity. This was the same day the farmer cut his hay and it never rained.

If you had been east of Lee Bottom wanting to go west, would you have done so?

Ultimately, today’s weather technology is so good it's quite possibly too good. For as long as most of us can remember, rain or weather was displayed as green. Now though green, and several shades of it, most often represent a level of moisture that at one time could not be detected by weather devices. Back then pilots looked to the sky, observed the color, felt the moisture, read the thermometer, and went flying. Today, they turn on some gadget, see green, and stay home.

What do these people do with their spare time? They read books about the freedom, romanticism, and daring of flight.

Another WACO Takes to the Air

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:59:00 +0000

Our friends up at Poplar Grove are always up to something fun. This video is a window into some of it. The caption, "Sean Soare restores, repairs and flies his 1937 Waco YKS-7 at the Poplar Grove Airport (C77) with the first flight on the 75th birthday of the Waco!" says it all. If you have fourteen minutes to spare, sit back and watch this version of what goes into such a project.

The moral of this video: Celebrate every step of the process and there will always be a reason to keep working.

Congratulations to Sean and the team.

Tragedy at Toowoomba

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:36:00 +0000

Those damn cameras; always there to catch the most painful moments. Here's to a speedy recovery.

Shoot to Kill Authorized Over Chicago?

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:41:00 +0000

Why would they risk asking a pilot to shoot down one of his own? Drone Operators are experienced with such things. Just like camera bravery, when looking through a lens or at a screen it doesn't seem as real.

News has been swirling wildly about the upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago and the accompanying “No Fly Zone”. What has everyone all worked up? The word, or implied wording, “shoot to kill”. That may come as a shock to some of you but others have asked “Is this really any different than the usual TFR?”

Here’s what I have found. This link for a Standard TFR over Chicago is for things like sporting events; a typical TFR. Read it and you will not see any wording of shoot to kill or use of force. But, if you look at this link to the “TFR” over Chicago for the NATO Summit, you will clearly see the words “deadly force against the airborne aircraft” on the first page.

It seems it really is different from a Standard TFR and it also does seem to include the authorization to "shoot and kill" any stray airplanes. What I can't seem to find is if there is anything similar for vehicles or people on the ground. Maybe someone out there can lead me to it.

Whatever the case, don't be flying around Chicago during the summit held May 19-21, 2012.

Lyme Disease - Could You Get It?

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:44:00 +0000

This is a little off topic but we wanted to pass it along to our friends. Lyme Disease is real and isn’t rare despite what your doctor may tell you. How do we know? Our dog Bair, Ginger, and our friend Larry Hagen have all recently been diagnosed with it. We mention Bair because were it not for him being diagnosed with it first, Ginger’s doctor indicated that she would have initially run other tests.

Why are many doctors hesitant to give the blood test to patients? Well, it’s hard to say but the number one reason we’ve heard is that most doctors don’t think it is common or even something people in their area get. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case. Without question, it is in our area and many other areas of the US and also other countries. Yet, Lyme disease symptoms do resemble many other disease symptoms and therefore diagnosing Lyme Disease may seem to a doctor to be a shot in the dark.

Like I said, Lyme Disease symptoms are often similar to other health issues. If a patient doesn’t remember being bitten, as is usually the case, a doctor will most likely feel the need to run heart tests, joint scans, and everything else because other things are more common and could potentially be more serious in the short term. In the long term though, Lyme Disease is something you don’t want to live with undiagnosed. If you don’t catch it early, it can be severely debilitating.

There are several things you should know about Lyme Disease. First, it is the tiny Deer Tick that carries and transmits the disease. They are usually reddish in color and they are about the size of a head of a large pin. They have to be attached to your skin for at least 24 hrs to transmit the disease but watch the area, and yourself, for symptoms of the disease should you remove one you believe has been on you less than 24 hrs. Many places say 70-80% of people with Lyme Disease get the bulls-eye rash but other more recent studies indicate as few as 30% get it. Therefore, don’t assume you don’t have it if you do not get the rash. Ginger did not get a rash. This is why it is important to look for symptoms. Here’s a site that covers them all. It also gives you a checklist. If you circle 20 or more symptoms you need to be tested.

The prescribed way to kill the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease is with antibiotics. The sooner you get the antibiotics into your system, the better your chances of getting rid of the disease without any long term health problems. But there is a problem with antibiotics. For so long, antibiotics were prescribed for so many things and so often that it began to cause a problem of super bacteria. In turn, there has been a huge movement to limit the use of antibiotics. Therefore, it now seems the pendulum has often swung too far the other way to the point doctors are hesitant to prescribe them when they would help. This leaves many physicians extra-cautious about diagnosing Lyme Disease.

If you are a doctor, feel free to add your thoughts on this subject. We are going only from what we have learned and the stories of others who have told us of their experience with this disease. Ginger was fortunate in that she had a great doctor who actively listened and obviously wanted to make sure she got the correct diagnosis. Thanks Dr. Jett.

Oh, I almost forgot, there is something very important for you to know. Studies have shown that taking 200mg of Doxycycline after a severe tick bite works like a morning after pill and keeps you from getting the disease. The problem is that you don’t want to take one of these pills every time you get a tick bite. You want to know or feel very sure the tick has been in your skin for over 24 hours. Unfortunately, over 50% of people who get Lyme Disease never knew they were bitten because the ticks are so small. Ginger was lucky because she knew of the bite. When she began to get the symptoms, she had a doctor that listened to her story and symptoms and made the decision to test for Lyme immediately. That made a huge difference.

Today, Ginger is feeling much better. Her symptoms came on during the tornado clean up and so she thought she was just worn out from all that was going on. Then she began to sleep all day and stated that she felt like she was in a fog. We remembered the bite and she went to the doctor. The diagnosis came within six weeks of the bite and thanks to that it appears she will come out the other side with no lasting issues. Even with that though, it often takes up to six months for someone like her to get over all the symptoms.

Mirror Swift

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Tue, 01 May 2012 02:01:00 +0000

Ginger and I were outside with the dogs yesterday when a beautiful Swift flew over, dropped the gear, and proceeded to land. We had seen it working the pattern here at the field before but never knew who it belonged to. This time they taxied over and stopped.

My words to Ginger went something like this, "Holy cow! Woooo, look at that polish job. Who in the world would take that on?" Then out stepped our friend Dan Gidzinski. If you knew him, at this point it would all make sense. Dan is a perfectionist and he produces some of the finest work on aircraft I've ever seen. Yet, it seems this wasn't all his doing.

Dan bought the plane after it had sat for a while. One of the last things it had done before being parked was win a polish award at the annual Swift Fly-In. The previous owner did an amazing job and Dan was glad to take over. His reason? While he worked on perfecting and finishing the Swift project he has in his hangar, he really needed something to fly. This one fit his standards and he now owns the job of keeping the polish up.

What's involved in a job like that? Well, I won't go into detail but I can tell you that he was able to tell us how each different kind of rag works at each step in the process. He even knew of several special manufacture polishing towels and he clearly had a favorite. Like I said, Wow!

When you have a job like that, it pays to have the attention to detail Dan does. If you live in the area and you see a chrome bullet cross over your house, it's not a UFO; it's likely Dan out enjoying the sunset.

Ernie Was Right

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:45:00 +0000

We’ve all had them right? Those moments when fate and fortune found common ground. Our minds collect them; life’s baseball cards.

Digging through the dusty shoe box of history, one of my favorites comes to mind. Like many great cards it represents the beginning of a career. Its stats convey an image of who that person is and who they would become, the photo captures their youth, and the card itself smells like used oil and exhaust. Well, actually that last part is due to creative license. But, if there were baseball cards for pilots lost in time, I’m sure that’s what they would smell like.

Having said my goodbyes to the last ride of the morning, my mind drifted to Chici’s. Across the road from the airport was the best Cuban sandwich in town. I could almost taste the mustard when someone said “A FED is in there and he wants to talk to you”.

Most people tend to flip out when A FED shows up. Myself, I’m the opposite. Yeah sure, like everyone else I run the mental checklist to make sure I have everything I’m supposed to have but other than that, I really couldn’t care less. FEDs are, after all, just normal people with a penchant for polyester and a hard-on for paperwork. Humor them, make them feel like real people, act impressed with their knowledge of regulation minutia, and pretend that their attempts to fit in are working and they’ll pretty much always leave you alone. What most people seem to forget is that back at their office, the egg laying queen (you saw Aliens right?) is to them, what they are to us. Help a FED make the next level of incompetence happy and your life will be better for it. Got it? FEDs are people too.

Therefore, like so many times before, I set out to find THE FED. Yet before I could, he and his trainee found me. I wish I had a picture; right there in front of me was an image only government could create. A rather tall white guy wearing boots, a cowboy hat, and a Texas size attitude stood with the air of self-importance over a timid black man dressed in polyester, wearing a tie, and carrying a clip board. It was like being on the set of an Eddie Murphy movie.

While driving to Key West they had seen me fly over and turned around to let me have it. Apparently, the cowboy was sure he could accurately judge the altitude of a plane from a speeding car and was doubly sure I was too low. To prove it, he asked me how high I was. In complete shock that someone with such a great knowledge of regulation minutia and an impressive ability to fit in anywhere would ask me such a stupid question, I laughed. Looking back on it, I’m forced to consider that maybe it wasn’t such a good thing to do. Yet like the title of Ernie’s book, Fate Is the Hunter.

Honestly, it wasn't on purpose. It just snickered out. Therefore, when he asked me what was so funny, I just answered his question; “High enough”. It seemed like a good idea at the time but the look in his eyes told me I would soon be punished. It’s bad juju to openly mock a cowboy in front of a black trainee, at least it was to him, and I could see he was going to make me pay for it.

Initially I kind of felt bad for the new guy. It was obvious the queen (Aliens, remember?) had placed him with this penis dressed as a cowboy and sent them away; most likely to get cowboy out of the office. Egg layers have jackass thresholds too. Therefore, when Neal the new guy (the trainee) asked me if he could look at my plane, I said yes. While doing so, Brokeback Bob did his best to impress me with the power of his title and distract me from what was going on. When it became obvious they were going to look the plane over until they found something, I walked away and went to lunch.

Back then, Chici’s Cubans were like crack with crystal meth sprinkles. You just couldn’t get enough and I had to get my fix. Now let’s take a break and ponder me doing crack with crystal meth sprinkles. It’s a good thing I don’t do drugs because I’m pretty sure none of you would want to experience that. Right? OK, back to the story.

Walking back in the door from Chici’s, someone said “That FED's looking for you again and he isn’t happy”. And once again, before I could find him, he found me.

“Where the hell have you been; it’s a good thing you showed up; I was just about to ground your plane” he said. Then I received an amazing lesson on FAA Constitutional interpretation. According to him, once he talked to me, he owned me and I had no right to leave until he told me so. After that, we grabbed a cup of coffee, chatted about the weather, and had a rather colorful debate as to who the #&%$ he thought he was. His answer: "The guy who found a problem with your plane".

Knowing that the Miami FEDs always traveled south on Friday so they could spend the weekend there on your tax dollars, I was doing my best to set them on their way. “Don’t you guys have an appointment in Key West?” “Yes we do but first we need to show you what we found”, said the belt buckle wearing erection. Walking around to the lower left wing, he said “My trainee noticed your aileron has a problem”. That’s when the timid black guy, with a huge self-congratulating smile on his face, reached for the aileron control link that connects the surface to the belcrank in the wing.

The official Stearman repair manual shows where the link fits into the picture.

Grasping the zinc chromated part, he rocked it back and forth 1/8th of an inch or less in each direction. “See, something is obviously wrong with this part. It moves”, were his words. I honestly didn’t know what to say. He was dead serious but there was just one problem; that part has or is connected to bearings on each end that allow it to move like that. Yes, it was perfectly normal but it was clear they were going to try to make it an issue.

Turning to look at me, the cowboy said, “You’re lucky I’m not in the mood to ground your plane. Do what you want but that part has a problem”, and he turned to leave for Key West. That left me with a dilemma; replace it or not?

Walking by my friends who had gathered on the bench to watch this all go down, I could hear them laughing. Once Woody had left the building, I learned he had been building a wonderful reputation for himself. Having been run off from several FSDOs for being a trouble maker, he had landed in Miami and the word was spreading fast. Hearing this, I got nervous and went into my full-on the-best-defense-is-a-good-offense mode.

First I called a friend at the FAA. Yeah, I have (or had) friends at the FAA. Anyway, this guy looked at the double dog secret FAA computer and told me the cowboy had already added information about me. According to my buddy, it appeared he was hoping to get the next FSDO, where I hopped rides in summer, to serve me up a cold dish of trouble. Then I called an attorney. He assured me I was ok and said to call back if anything new came up. After that I called the head of the Miami FSDO. Using my FAA buddy as a reference, I gave him a detailed dissatisfied customer report. Finally I got on the horn and ordered a new aileron link that was rebuilt with new bearings and freshly painted.

One of the great things about a Stearman is if something breaks you can get the part overnighted. The expense would be worth it. If the local Rodeo star were to show up early, I’d already have it fixed with yellow tag in hand. The balls were in the air. “Tomorrow”, I thought, “I’ll see where they drop”.

Jackasses have an uncanny ability to suck the fun from anything. The next morning was proof of that. Pedaling at an increasing rate, exotic plants, colorful birds, and the warm tropical air blew by without notice. Life in The Keys was, at that point, nothing more than life with a booted bureaucrat. Ten minutes later, the UPS guy waved me in front of his truck as he rolled into the airport. The first ball, the new part, had dropped right where I wanted and when.

Tony (The Key’s best mechanic), asked me what I needed and offered any required help. Once you leave the mainland, you are part of the team. Mainlanders need not apply and the locals do their best to keep them out. If you work for the government, your ranking as a human is at the bottom of the list. Your name, on the other hand, goes to the top of the most wanted. Therefore, anyone and everyone offered a hand that day. I had become a part of the team; for a while I was part of The Keys.

Lying under the wing, a bead of sweat rolled off face and onto my neck. Performing aviation’s version of arthroscopic surgery, I could understand why you always see that person in the movies whose job it is to wipe the surgeon’s brow. A simple linkage replacement becomes tortuous when time and nature’s coolant combine to piss you off. And yet I kept turning the wrench. My life, and the patient’s, depended on it.

Almost to the last thread, I could feel the bellcrank coming loose. From here on out the procedure would require spinning the nut off by hand, removing the bellcrank, disconnecting the the FED's favorite link, and then reversing the process with the new one. Reaching into the hole, my attitude improved. The idea the FED would come back early only to find it had already been replaced put wind in my sails although I couldn't believe a perfectly good part was being replaced just for him. All I had to do was rotate it one fuuull - "CLINK, THUMP, THUD, CLUNK" went something from inside the wing. The thud was the sound of whatever it was hitting my head before dropping onto the ramp.

I still have the parts.

“What the hell was that!". Rolling over to grab it, the bushed zinc chromate color tab confused me. "That must have been in the wing for ages", I thought. “There’s no way that..”. Then I looked up and saw reality. While removing the nut from the bellcrank bolt, one ear of the casting that holds it in place had fallen free. Likewise, the assembly had fallen loose in the wing. I was stunned. A critical flight control had just disintegrated while sitting on the ground.

Upon closer inspection, it had been this way for a while. Only a small hairline of fresh metal could be seen on the ear that bounced off my noggin. One good jolt was all that separated a good day from a bad. Thanks to chance and an over-zealous FED, it had been found with my butt planted on terra firma.

“High enough”; I knew it felt right. Was it not for that response, Cowboy Bob and his sidekick Neal may have left me alone. I have no idea how or why they decided to pick on that specific aileron link. The other moved the same but they said it was ok. Perhaps it was the shiny top side where the paint had worn on the edge of the spar. Or maybe it was because the left wing had all the patches from people getting in and out of the airplane. And maybe, just maybe, it was pure dumb luck. Whatever the case, Ernie was right.

A FED showed up to cause trouble, claimed something was wrong with the plane that wasn’t, and because of my zeal to shut him down, something potentially disastrous had been found. Sometimes the cowboy gets you, and sometimes you get the cowboy. When it’s your time it’s your time and for the moment it wasn’t mine.

Note: Fred the FED, or Cowboy Bob as I called him, turned out to be the son of a man in congress. Whenever he would do something completely off the charts, they would ship him out to another FSDO instead of firing him. After I raised hell with everyone you could imagine, all the way to Oklahoma City and DC, I received a call from the Miami FSDO manager. He was sending an inspector who knew something about old planes down to see me and he would be sending the inspector in question with him. When they arrived, the guy who “knew something about old planes” stuck out his hand and said “Al Kimball”. He then proceeded to ask Bob, sans Neal, where the problem had existed. Walking around to the wing, shrinking in stature with each step, he pointed to the link and attempted to slander it. Al gave it a quick look then proceeded to give Bob a learn’n. To this day, it is one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed. Despite Al’s professionalism, every one of his words cut an inch off Bob’s legs. By the time they left, it felt like Al had brought a kid to my house to make him admit to and apologize for stealing something. Cowboy Bob and trainee Neal were never heard from again.

Aircraft note: If you have a Stearman and your ailerons have ever been left without the control lock on, I highly suggest you inspect those bellcrank castings. There was even a crack in the tab that broke off. It went all the way through from the bushing to the apex of the piece.

What’s your "Fate Is the Hunter" story?

We Could Get 1600 Hrs Out of an 1830

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:03:00 +0000

This is what a "dropped valve" does to a piston. Many years ago, WL Paris was flying for the family business when one engine developed a "small problem".

Listening to my friend describe his treasures, I could see a smile in his eyes. Every guy, and I suppose every gal, has some point in their life they’d like to revisit. Whatever their sex may be though, commonalities exist among those favorite memories.

Passion, risk, and reward season the most bland of life’s days and tenderize the toughest cuts. Monotonous turns momentous and misery becomes memory when they are at hand. How else could one explain the excitement in his voice as he handed me the stressed metal?

From a distance the part was recognizable; in hand unbelievable. Once a piece of mechanical artwork, the piston was ugly defined. Pounded repeatedly by the head of an errant valve, its original tolerances were a distant memory. Only now after decades of darkness and dust does it again have purpose. It is history; a mile marker in time.

“There was a small miss but it kept running; occasionally it would backfire. Today’s engine couldn’t do that,” my friend said. He was right.

WL Paris owns and operates Central American Airways out of Bowman Field in Louisville. The company was started by his father and two friends immediately after WWII. Back then they offered the first non-stop flight from Louisville to New York. Their aircraft of choice was a DC-3. Eventually though, they operated across the planet using Connies, Convair 880’s, and many other airframes; then came de-regulation. But, that is a story for another time.

Today Central American Airways is easily described as the most successful charter company in the area. While going through family and business heirlooms, WL recently came across an original Central American passenger manifest from 1947, his father’s RAF uniform from a time before the US was in the war, and among many other things, this piston and valve. If I can ever get him to slow down long enough to make sure my details are correct, I’ll tell you the entire Central American story.

The valve that once helped power a DC-3 made itself a nice little bed in the top of this piston. It should be noted, Central American had the engines figured out to the point they were able to get as much as 1600 hours out of an 1830. Anyone who operates DC-3s today will know how amazing that number is.

Video of P-40 Found in Desert

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 03:18:00 +0000

This video of a P-40, discovered in the Al Wadi al Jadid Desert, was recently published on youtube. The two part series (part one, part two)appears to show locals more concerned with making a quick buck and grabbing the still loaded guns than selling it for big money to a collector. Judging by the post, rumors of the find were floating around and the person posted the video to prove its existence.

If anyone knows more about this aircraft and the person who posted the video, we'd love to hear from you. Is this truly a recent find, is the plane still there, and are there plans to rescue it?

Ginger Resigns From Event Planner Position

noreply@blogger.com (NORDO News) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:19:00 +0000

I have resigned my position as event planner at Lee Bottom Flying Field.

As a marketing professional, you know you’ve been effective when you see others replicating your slogans, sayings, advertising, and pretty much everything you do. They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, but frankly, I’ve grown tired of it. Yes, it is nice to know my efforts have inspired others to do better. But now that we’re here, I’ve decided to gracefully bow out of this race to look for greener pastures. The next direction for grass runway airports is about to launch. And so it begins; the effort to once again set our airport apart as that special place everyone loves to enjoy.

Some of you are probably thinking, “What marketing? Huh? We don’t see your airport’s flyers on event boards at our airport. What are you talking about?” And, to that, I say “exactly”. There is more to marketing than putting up flyers.

You may not realize it but we work full-time on marketing the airport and events. If you doubt that because you haven’t seen Lee Bottom advertisements or flyers posted everywhere or lying on every table at every other event you go to, ask yourself “Why is their fly-in and airport so popular?” I’ll tell you why. It’s a FULL TIME JOB and we are available as consultants if you want to make your brand known and take advantage of our knowledge.

As for the events, I started helping with the fly in during 2001 when the entire thing lasted a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. Back then it only included lunch, and the day we reached 100 planes we thought we had hit a milestone. During these early years, it took a month to brown the meat for the big pots of chili we stayed up all night simmering. There were no port a pots, no tents, no special t shirts, and no auto parking section. We didn’t have showers nor did we have hot water for the public restroom. There were no overnight campers and 2 picnic tables sufficed for everyone. The restroom facility was a dirty, filthy mess filled with spiders and lady bugs. Signs were made the morning of the event with markers and poster board, there was one event vehicle, and we did not spend the week prior laying down parking lines. Furthermore, the aircraft parking area was only 10 acres instead of the 40 acres available today. We had no special operating procedures for arrivals nor did we have coffee for those that arrived early. There was no website, no logo, no special Lee Bottom attire, and your ticket for lunch was a clothespin which had been scavenged from the many thousands Fritz had purchased throughout the years for some unknown reason. Rich’s old room mate flew over the night before and used the weed whacker on the tall grass around the shelter building so visitors could find the picnic tables. Green moss grew on the siding of all the buildings, which also needed painted, and there were no flowers or plants growing anywhere - actually there were tall weeds everywhere. Mayor Maggie and Sir Cory were the only volunteers and neither of them was old enough to legally drive. Myself, I even had time to fly during the day of the event.

As this atmosphere became more and more popular, we struggled with ways to keep it going. But as the years wore on, our old friends stopped coming. My only guess is that they thought we had money and should be entertaining them for free. Instead, they were replaced with new friends who longed for a place like this. Yet, at some point, it became apparent something had changed.

With new friends came those that didn’t understand. They had never met Fritz, didn’t know the history of the airport, nor did they seem to care. We had some pretty contentious arguments with people who wanted to cross the runway while planes were landing while others couldn’t seem to grasp that the only way we could continue to host these growing events was to charge for attendance. And still others didn’t follow the very few simple rules thus placing the event and airport’s existence in jeopardy for their own self fulfillment. Despite these issues though, I have to say the majority of attendees were, and are, really awesome and they rapidly became members of our new airport family.

In the past 12 years, the airport has seen its share of weather phenomena. We’ve had a blizzard that collapsed a hangar and crushed planes, a certified Midwest hurricane that took out the electricity for a week prior to the September fly-in, an ice storm that left us without power during the cold winter months, droughts that killed the grass, torrential downpours that washed away thousands of pounds of newly sown grass seed, all time record setting rain storms that caused all of the aircraft parking areas on the field to be mud which resulted in a cancelled event, and the river has flooded into our auto parking areas. But, this year’s smiting was the worse and it has taken a toll on us: The Tornado of March 2, 2012.

During all those years, with one exception, events have gone on despite weather phenomena, broken bones, and family emergencies. We have rescheduled surgeries, attended events in pain, missed weddings and funerals. Vacations have been postponed and missed all together to make sure that events can be held. Our home needed remodeling but it always took a backseat to the welfare of the airport and the events.

If you could have seen the inside of the buildings when I arrived for the first time in May 2001, you’d understand. Fritz had not been gone long and Rich was struggling to do it all himself. You can not believe the disarray of papers, clutter, and utter mess. It was barely suitable for human life. Slowly though, things were cleaned, painted, washed, and organized. In 2001, the tools, equipment, and associated hardware were all laying in the middle of the shop floor. You couldn’t find the top of a 30’ work bench if your life depended on it. Things were picked up, put into piles of similarity, and eventually into labeled boxes.

The costs for maintenance were evaluated and savings made wherever possible. Fuel purchased in bulk at the right times, utility bills combined and re-evaluated, heating and cooling issues were addressed, winterization of plumbing and pipes were changed to make them simpler and more effective, and we operated under-insured for property damage. Yet, we kept the runway expansion going despite problems at every turn. Everything was for the airport so that people would have a great place to fly. And now as it turns out, all the cleaning and organizing of the equipment, tools, and such was futile because it is currently worse than it was the first day I arrived. Thanks to the tornado, if our lives depended up on it, it would be difficult to find or get to a screwdriver.

Maybe I should get back to the events; otherwise I could go on for days about the time spent managing the airport that is allocated to meetings, phone calls, letters, and emails sent to people to help our cause.

Last year, we had 3 people who stepped up and helped us coordinate some areas of the fly in throughout the year. Thinking that we could continue this technique and keep the events going, we enlisted the help of others. The help that we were looking for was that of event planning and implementation. The first meeting was very successful with over 30 in attendance. The 2^nd meeting however produced 6 attendees plus us. It was held just days after a tornado hit our home.

Not being ones to give up, instead of rebuilding our lives, both of us spent an entire Tuesday planning for the meeting. When we arrived to six people, we felt abandoned. We have a rule that everything for the fly in needs to be planned by May 1 so we can spend the rest of the summer implementing the plan. At this point, we were only weeks away from this deadline and the event facilities were gone or in shambles, most of our equipment was damaged by wind or water and our help had disappeared. Were we really the only ones who cared if aviation stayed alive for others to enjoy? What? You thought we did these events and provided the airport for our own personal enjoyment and enrichment? That’s about as silly as the person who thought we were going to get rich off of FEMA payments after the tornado.

Hoping that most would take the initiative and see what needs to be done, we asked individuals at the meeting to prepare a document on what they planned to do for their respective areas of responsibility. That simple task would save us some critical spare time. Yet, only 2 people followed through on this assignment. Again, we saw the trend.

But this isn’t meant to blame the people who had the courage to step up and offer to help. They went one step further than many others. Far too many people are eager to sit in the background and tell you how to do things but very few actually rise to the challenge of doing them.

When it comes to money, the event is financially draining. There is an old saying that goes “He who spends freely has many friends”. Unfortunately we aren’t into buying friends. We’re into helping aviation but the reality is that putting on these events in addition to operating the airport is financially draining. Here are the generalized, annual, rounded figures which have been going up at break-necking speeds:

Airport operation expenses $30,000

Event expenses $30,000

Grand total $60,000

We were recently told by a helpful soul that we should hire an event planner. Well, that sounds good in theory but it would cost an additional $30,000 minimum and that was already being done successfully, and for free, by me. Additionally, a committee of assistants would still be needed. Furthermore, most airport managers make around $50,000. This too is something I have been doing as a volunteer. If you’re mad at me for making this decision or you think I’m ungrateful, think again. I hope that you can see that I have been doing my part. All I wanted was for others to be involved and committed to helping me.

2011 left us with 2 additional debts to pay off:

1) Fly in weather was average and left us with a $7000 bill;

2) The runway received an extensive fall maintenance program because of the effects of the past 3 years weather phenomena’s causing the expenditure to be twice the normal amount with an additional $8000 going to a special herbicide treatment, fertilizer, and overseeding program.

Although we do get contributions from the calendar mailings, this funding typically covers the calendars themselves and the current year grass maintenance fund, with us footing the additional $15,000 in operational expenses (we understand that is our choice). The events also bring in some revenue but have yet to cover the expenses as can be seen by the bill we are still trying to pay for 2011. Therefore, although we have managed to pay down some of the debt from last year, we have additional expenses for this one that are currently mounting.

Having recently watched the movie ‘Courageous’, there was a line from this movie that made me realize that what I am doing is not important in the grand scheme of life. “You can't fall asleep at the wheel only to wake up one day and realize that your job or hobbies have no eternal value”. The tornado and the events surrounding it have made me realize that I was ‘asleep at the wheel’ and there are things I could be doing which would provide eternal value. I’m sorry that planning events for the airport, at least how they are currently held, is not one of them. If it were, more people would be here and committed to making it happen.

Ginger

The Road Forward

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:12:00 +0000

There is a theory that exists that says in order to be successful, in business or life, occasionally you have to tear it all down and build something new.

Interesting Book

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:01:00 +0000

A book review from our friend Tom Lowe:

Dr. William Lloyd Stearman, the son of famed aviation pioneer, Lloyd C. Stearman, has recently published a memoir which should garner the attention of anyone who has any interest whatever in early aviation, WWII in the Pacific as a Naval Officer, life in the diplomatic service in Europe during the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the workings of the White House National Security Council staff.

This book, titled: AN AMERICAN ADVENTURE From Early Aviation Through Three Wars to the White House, is published by the Naval Institute Press and is available on Amazon as well as other book sources.

Of particular interest to Stearman enthusiasts are his recollections of the lives and history of various members of the Stearman family, their interactions and of the many of aviation’s famous personalities that he encountered as a young boy at his home, as well as at the Stearman factory. He also describes how the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation (now Lockheed Martin) came into being. His father was its first president.

This volume displays his keen insight into life from the 1920s to the present and his opinions and perspective on world affairs and leaders is very insightful and persuasive. It is one which should join the list of required history reading. His elegant prose and writing style makes for a very interesting and informative easy read. I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend it to all.

Moreover, I agree with John F. Lehman, Reagan’s Secretary of the Navy and author of several books, who wrote “With a novelist’s sense of drama and a historian’s rigor, he had given us a real page turner full of insight and anecdote.”

Thomas E. Lowe

President - National Stearman Fly-In

And Then The Winds Came

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:41:00 +0000

Here it is coming over the hill.

Two free tetanus shots and a world of giving; that’s what we got out of it. If you think there’s anything else to be had after such a disaster, you’re dreaming. Once the Weather Channel collects stories to sandwich between commercials and the government puts a pretty face on everything, they drive away and leave you with a mess. Fortunately, our friends were an enthusiastic lot showing up daily to help us clean up the tornado's mess.

Wait, you didn’t know we were hit by a tornado? Really? How could you not know? It was covered by every major publication in the township of Fritzville Indiana. Where have you been?

Oh well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. We ourselves just figured out today that we are going to have to rebuild and some decisions will have to be made. So then, in all fairness, I should fill you in on what happened.


Here it has just left the sheep pasture and hit the river. Note the second one coming into view.

Six weeks of chaos, five weeks of fighting the county for our neighbors, four weeks of waiting on the insurance company, two weeks of looking for a new car, ten days of living in a hotel, eight days of clean up, five days of walking the runway, three of disbelief, two days of temporary repairs, and one day’s worth of hell, is how we’ve spent our time since March 2nd. That’s when the tornado hit Lee Bottom.

One local crossroad that was devastated.

So that you won’t have to ask the same questions everyone else has, I'll just give you the answers. When the tornado hit, I was at work and Ginger was here. Fortunately, my little AM radio was on and our local stations were doing an excellent job of reporting where it was. Basically, the tornado was coming straight for the airport. Hearing that it was heading her way, fifteen minutes before it hit, she ran across the road to a neighbors storm shelter. There she waited with our friends. Tightly secured underground, they heard it approach, whip things around, and roar past. At the time they were sure they were going to open the door to a home that was no more. Fortunately, it survived mostly intact and Ginger ran out to check on the sheep, donkey, bees, house, and pets. All of them came through unscathed except the home and the bees.

Here you can see the shop that was blown to bits.

Our house lost part of its roof and received water damage. It is still under tarp. For now we are able to live in it but not for long. The shop/garage was destroyed. Inside was all our equipment and tools. Unfortunately, it was also the place where nearly everything we do here on a daily basis happened or originated. Since it is, er, was attached to the hangar, the hangar also received a blow. One of the hangar doors was ripped off with the other three being bent beyond reasonable repair. The roof of the hangar also received damage. Amazingly, neither the Cub nor Champ inside moved; not even an inch. Weird.

Three of our trees, one of them my favorite, our prize maple sap producer, and an heirloom apple were lost. Two cars were destroyed and the one metal patio where so many event functions were held was destroyed in the process of damaging our primary tractor and another mower. Fifty feet away our log cabin was moved on its foundation resulting in everything inside being broken. Simultaneously, thirty or so plastic Adirondack chairs were shredded as three picnic tables were crushed and one was thrown 100’ through our garage door. Yep, it was a first class tornado; well, actually it was an F-something but who’s counting right?

Need we say more?

Across the road four small sheep barns were blown to bits, two sheep hutches were ripped from the ground, fencing was wadded up, and a farm wagon was tossed like a toy. Flying through the air and landing next to it was our steel dumpster from over 600 feet away. Meanwhile, tens of trees were twisted, ripped, or toppled from the ground. Dropping in randomly among this chaos were many of the things blown from the shop as its walls collapsed.

Piercing the ground evenly across every acre, tree limbs stabbed the earth leaving the appearance of a planet size porcupine. Well traveled plaster, plywood, and sheet metal fell from the sky. It was the classic tornado story. Likewise, similar to most people hit by tornadoes, we ate a significant amount of green ($). Unless you are significantly over-insured, that’s just how it goes.

Now for what we learned.

FEMA: Everyone asks about “FEMA money”. This is both hilarious and sad. Apparently, even the most well healed conservative believes or thinks the government is going to ride in to the rescue. That just isn’t the truth. In fact, what FEMA was most interested in was collecting data on families and their homes and whether or not they had any underground rooms.

After disasters like these, everyone is told to file with FEMA to see if there is any assistance available. Folks then spend twenty minutes filling out a long form which requires them to offer up all sorts of information about their lives. Finally, the very last thing you are asked is “How much do you make?” 99.99999% of the time, this income is too high to receive any “FEMA money”. In fact, the threshold for “FEMA money” is so low that you would damn near have to be homeless to qualify for it. Oddly though, before our area was declared a disaster area, FEMA, TSA, Homeland Security, and the SBA came to our home to run up the tab. What’s “the tab”?

The tornado hit the cemetery where Fritz is buried. If you look closely you'll see his headstone slid on the foundation.

Well, to be declared a disaster area there has to be a certain dollar amount of damage done to the area. Without that level being reached, these groups don’t get money to play with. Therefore they go around looking at things that were damaged and dream up wildly inappropriate dollars amounts to assign to them. Thus they, the foxes in the hen-house, run up “the tab” in order to get additional tax money allotted to them so they can go around collecting more information on you or handing money out to people who likely didn’t have $31,000 worth of stuff to begin with. $31,000 is the max amount that was available in our area. Everyone else is told to apply to the SBA for a low interest loan.

Did you get that? The SBA helps run up “the tab” so that they can get an additional allotment of tax dollars in order to loan them back to you. That’s a nice little padding of the bureaucracy. Next door (at the one stop shop) the IRS representative tells everyone that it is very difficult to write off storm losses. Back at the FEMA desk, they tell you not to give up.

Here in Indiana, when disasters hit, our state sets up locations called “one stop shops”. These are places where everyone you might need to talk to after such a disaster is located in one place. That's where we talked to all these groups. It is also where we received the only governmental plus entry on our tornado balance sheet. What was it? We each got a free tetanus shot.

But wait, I’m not done.

Part of our cleaning crew. Notice the trees where the tornado went up the other side of the river bottom.

Among the other lessons we learned was that we will never give to the Red Cross. This group seems to have become a mere shell of what it once was. Today our experience tells us that it serves mostly to collect information and make its donors feel like it is really doing something by offering bottled water and blankets the first day. Unfortunately for the organization, local residents, churches, and even people who traveled overnight from far away, did a far better job of both. The Red Cross was nothing more than flashy vehicles with uniformed personnel poorly attempting to do jobs done much better by others. If you love the Red Cross, we’re sorry but that’s true. In one local place, the Red Cross folks had some words with a church group. Apparently the well uniformed Red Cross soldiers didn’t like the church butting into their territory. Seriously, it was amazing how many different people brought up the Red Cross and how disappointed they were in their efforts.

FEMA, TSA, and Homeland Security are a joke. I know I know; you already knew that but hey I have a story to tell.

We were all in the middle of the clean up a day after the storm when I heard Ginger’s voice and the words “We don’t like you”. Naturally wanting to investigate such an odd statement, I walked over to see who all these people gathered around her were. You guessed it; it was FEMA, TSA, and Homeland Security, plus the SBA. When Ginger introduced me, the TSA guy said to me “So what do you think of us?” At which point I replied, “We don’t like you”. That’s when the little (literally) troll of a lady representing FEMA said in an incredibly annoying condescending shrill bureaucratic voice “Well that’s what’s great about this country; we can all have our opinions”. Then she asked us about our 8 million dollar VORTAC she heard was destroyed. If you’ve been paying attention, this is the point you should look up and too one side as if you are thinking back about something prophetic. Done correctly, above your head a memory cloud should appear, and in that cloud should be the image of me saying, with an echo to my voice “RUNNING UP THE TAB running up the tab running up the tab”. Fortunately for the FEMA lady, the TSA guy spoke to me again at which point I recognized him. Not knowing from where, I asked. He had worked with the police department (don’t ask) and he said “Well, I don’t really like TSA either but labeling me as TSA was the only way we could get money to fund my position”.

Did you get that one? Yep, the hits just keep on coming. If I need to explain, you should just go back to filling out your TSA application.

Here you can see a few of the holes in the hangar roof.

Despite our conversation, it took us a full week to get them to accept the fact our $500 Davis weather station was not worth 8 mil. Ultimately, their estimated dollar damage to our house was equal to the insurance company’s estimate on everything we lost (debate that among yourselves), and our FEMA numbers helped the area be declared a disaster. Yes, that's right, ur house helped FEMA, TSA, Homeland Security, and the SBA gain funds that we did not qualify for unless we were willing to pay them interest. Hmmmmm. Are you starting to understand why so many places today are labeled “disaster areas”?

As for the real help, located in each county were several food banks that were actually more like miniature Wal-Marts sans weird people. Everything you could ever need or want was available in abundance for free to anyone hit by the tornado. Food, cleaning supplies, water, storage containers, diapers, you name it they had it. Most or all of these were located in churches and the people running them were wonderful. It was such an amazing sight I asked them where it all came from. The answer? It came from individuals and business owners. Not one item in the storehouse was government supplied and they were having serious problems getting much of it to those hit by the storm. The biggest problem being that the people of our area are proud people who insist on taking care of themselves. Therefore, the biggest effort went toward getting them to understand that others wanted to help and this was how they were doing it and that it wasn’t a handout. It was a gift from nameless friends. Seeing that example of giving almost makes me tear up with pride from writing about it. We live in the greatest country in the world with the greatest people who ever lived.

Other forms of giving also impressed us. The Lions Club is apparently well experienced and skilled at disaster relief. Their method was the best. Direct and easy, this organization went to great lengths to find out who had been hit by the storm and then they gave gift cards to those people in an effort to help them clean up or rebuild. Similarly, some churches had locations where those affected by the tornado could pick up gift cards. Although there were a few random cards from different businesses in the mix which were donated, the vast majority of gift cards we saw or heard of were donated by Wal-Mart. Remember that the next time you slam this retailing giant.

When it comes to us specifically, Girls Inc, a group for which Ginger is a board member, sent us a Lowe’s card which was extremely useful. They also gave us a card for our favorite sandwich shop which was a perfect gift. Having never been through something like this, most people do not have the knowledge of what is really needed and when. Everyone wants to hand out water, and although that is useful, there are many other things you can do that would better benefit those affected by such a disaster.

After a storm, many people are without livable homes. Therefore, restaurant cards offer a welcome respite from what’s just happened. Likewise, a card from a place like Lowe’s is extremely handy. Gas cards are also a great idea as long as a family’s cars aren’t destroyed. Yet, even then if they are borrowing a car or being offered rides, it gives these people a way to get themselves around by also not feeling as though they are taking too much. I can tell you from experience, pride does come into the mix and despite the fact everyone wants to give, it is often hard to feel as though you are not just taking. Gift cards offer a way for people affected by a disaster to give back to the community while getting the things they so desperately need.

One unique example of kindness came from a guy in Indianapolis who owns a billboard company. Today’s billboards are printed on material that can best be described as mega-tarps. Super strong and wear resistant, once each specific advertisement has run its course and been pulled down from the sign frame, they are often sold to farmers or other folks as tarps. This gentleman brought a truck load and gave them to people who could use them on their homes or whatever. The idea of a used sign being handy seems odd on the surface but in the end they were extremely useful to many people.

And I can’t forget Wolverine. This company dropped off a load of waterproof shoes and boots for anyone affected by the storm. They were set out at the Chelsea General Store and as people came through, they sorted through them, found what they liked, and off they went with a new pair of kicks.

In this photo you can see the path of the tornado, to the horizon, by following the smoke from burning debris piles.

But back to those proud people; A few days after FEMA first showed up they came around again to look for more damage dollars. While here, that little whiney lady actually complained about how quickly people were getting the clean up done. Yeah, our extended neighbors were not making these government folks look good. With nobody groveling at the feet of FEMA, it became obvious they were a little put off by it. That’s your government; upset that there are still people who can take care of themselves.

Thankfully, not everything was bad about this storm. To start with, our friends Mike and Crystal Korff were very helpful. I was flying with Mike when I learned of the tornado strike. About the same time, not knowing we had been hit, Crystal sent Ginger this light hearted text, “Isn’t it great the guys always leave us at home for these storms”? Ginger was able to get into her smashed car, hook her phone up to the charger, and call her back to let her know we’d been hit. After that, Crystal ran out to buy tarps and started making her way to our place through multiple turns and back-road switchbacks. There was so much stuff lying everywhere, I’m still not sure how she made it. When Mike and I landed back in Louisville that night, he rode home with me in case there was something he could do to help and to then catch a ride home with Crystal.

A power tranmission tower up on the hill from us that was blown over.

After the tornado, over thirty people from all over creation appeared to help us clean up. Friends far and wide arrived to put in time helping us in our time of need. Most of them surely had better things to do and most of them likely had important things to do. Yet all of them came that day to help, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day. For a full week people did their best to help. One friend drove from five hours away, others flew in, and quite a few of my co-workers even came to help. Wherever, whomever, or for whatever reason they came, they were and still are greatly appreciated.

As for other positives, thanks to the storm we now know many more of our extended area neighbors. They are a widely varied bunch of good people and we’ve enjoyed our time with them despite the terrible circumstances. This is a story in itself that we will tell you about in the future. Therefore, let me wrap this up.

Right now, we are seriously struggling with how to move forward. Enough damage has happened to make significant rebuilding necessary but what and how to rebuild is the question. Nearly everything we have is damaged to the point that bulldozing and rebuilding would be equal to repairing yet doing so would pretty much put us out of commission for a long time. On the other hand, repairs are just repairs despite the benefits of shorter finish times. Whatever we do we’ll have to redo plumbing, wiring, concrete, and the well; all of it. Like so many other things, to look at the damage it doesn’t look that bad. But with a little understanding of the details, it becomes a nightmare. The decisions yet to be made are not easy. And yet we came through much better than others. Some of the people in our area lost family members and every square inch of their homes.

A Pilot's Sunrise Service

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:31:00 +0000

There is a time of day I love, that I rarely see. The onset of darkness means nothing to me. Yes it is morning, the best time to be free.

Many of my best memories are framed by sunrise. One of those is the subject of this post and the reason for the lines above.

Mostly perfect with its deep first light glow, black silhouettes define the horizon as if the sky were cut free from the Earth. The manicured edge reveals all that existed before night trimmed it away. The trees are most obvious and their limb to limb splits. With exponential fray toward the limits of canopies, the planet’s veined inner workings appear to the eye as an unforeseen hand placed upon light. It is magic beyond magicians with truth denied astronomers; no tricks up the sleeve and no formula for understanding.

Purity defined, a clean slate is morning delivered; each day a new life for the living; the movie version of the book that has yet to be written. The Earth is my prison and my pen has wings.

A brisk walk of intent implies a fleeting chance. My escape from this place lies in the dark and I have little time. My secret is out.

Warm pools of air pass over my senses. “I am here”, they say; the sprites of sunrise. “Flowers and fescue come 'round to lift your soul”. The planet’s exhale expresses the unseen; its fragrance a reminder that I should return.

Like horse to a hitch, the ship stirs with tension released from the rope; dew drums on the canvas and my leather it crunches. Inside the cockpit goggles fog from my breath; the craft shakes under power; a mind stirs.

With a vector of color against a fresh new sky, a two-dimension world is about to turn three. My wings shall make it so; something the avians know. It is why they sing the chorus of morning.

Yep, That Pretty Much Covers It.

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:24:00 +0000

My Position and Hold Has Lined Up to Wait

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 05:54:00 +0000

Several years ago, after a particularly discouraging four day trip, I sat down at home, fired up the computer, and was immediately confronted with headlines about commercial airline passengers. During an otherwise normal flight, one had flipped out and it was the story of the day. The question; why is this happening? My response; who cares?

My indifference may sound harsh but my reasoning was simple. With the pilot population on the precipice of breakdown, why were we worrying about passengers?

Don’t act like this is a surprise. Flight crew bar escapades have been a subject of conversation for decades. Publicly, pilots are derided one month for drinking on overnights and the next pitied for the world’s most stressful job. Yet the two are always left standing alone. They make much better stories that way. Fortunately, nature always creates balance and my observations tell me that for many pilots, despite what doctors may say, beer and stress actually do form a workable balance. There’s just one problem. A new factor has entered the picture.

After 9/11, America lost what was left of its proverbial mind. Citizen psyches were running scared and they wanted someone else to make it all better. Having been coddled for far too long, the American mind wasn’t up to the task, and so it turned to government. At this point, let’s just all agree to make a very long and pathetic story short; Homeland Security and TSA were created to make you feel like you were being protected. Like it or not, you wanted it and you got it. The creation of these agencies shipped the last vestiges of common sense into permanent exile.

Don’t act like this is a surprise either. We’ve all known it from day one. Those who are most likely to attack an airliner were given a pass while grannies and kids were subjected to cavity searches. As for the people who fly the planes, they were treated to psychological warfare.

Pilots, by nature, have an inherent ability to assess risk. Additionally, due to the nature of the job, they must also be somewhat intelligent, logical, skilled, and self-confident. Do you see the ticking time-bomb here? Wait, I see someone in the back of the room raising their hand, yes, you sir, can you tell me what it is? “Yeah, these are all things that fly in the face of Homeland Security and TSA”. Ding ding ding, we have a winner. Did you hear that folks? That guy in the back corner; the one refusing to give us his name for fear of a TSA reprisal, is correct. After 9/11 Americans chose to allow our government to subject employees, of one of the world’s most stressful jobs, to psychological warfare. What? You think I’m exaggerating?

With the occurrence of 9/11, pilots flying for airlines of the United States were deemed, by our government, a significant threat to the safety of America. With that, a good job turned horrible. Subjected to searches beyond belief, profiled and interrogated like enemy combatants, and forced to defer to people whose jobs were advertised on pizza boxes, pilots struggled to remain calm. Most of them, being proud Americans, sucked it up as an over-reaction and assumed it would all soon end. Then it got worse.

"Remove your shoes, you have too much shampoo, unbuckle your belt", and "we’ll have to confiscate those nail clippers" were among the endless ever-changing top secret list of things best described as a dog and pony show. "Show me your ID, I have to hold your ID, your ID can’t be in a lanyard, your ID must be on a lanyard, yes I know you are on the paperwork but pilots who don’t have our local ID must be escorted to the plane, I know you just flew this plane in but I have to see your ID to make sure you aren’t trying to hijack this plane, What? My ID? I don’t have to show you my ID, everyone must display an ID, I’m the TSA I don’t have to show you my ID, I need another form of ID, I need to make sure your ID isn’t forged, your ID must be on an outer garment, your ID must be protected from theft", and my personal favorite “Yeah your ID passed but it could just be a really good forgery” were merely a small sample of the things heard on any given four day trip.

“Please step aside for additional screening” was a particularly sore spot. Pilots have far better background checks than TSA agents but were constantly flagged for additional screening. Before long, aviators realized that they were being pulled aside because TSA agents knew it would be an easy screen for them. When they began to voice this issue, they were threatened loudly, treated with suspicion, and made to feel as though Gitmo was in their future. Then, at some point, the random additional screening of pilots was quietly dropped. Gate agents everywhere celebrated.

Although some issues were addressed, there was still a problem. Pilots are logical independent thinkers and also privy to all parts of the transportation system. In fact, I believe they are the only people who almost daily see every part of airline operations. Therefore they also spot the weaknesses. After years of knowing and watching the folks who work the ramp and load bags bypass security, many pilots began to express concern. After all, a lot of these people fit the profile of the terrorist who took over the planes on 9/11 and the fact they could potentially come to work with a bomb in their lunch bag, bypass security, and then load it in their plane after the pilots spent half an hour trying to explain to a guy, whose last job was a toll booth operator, that they need access to the aircraft in order to actually fly people to their destinations, was beyond anything any logical independent mind could handle. The length of that sentence is relative. When one pilot video taped it as proof, he was threatened with some of the highest crimes on the books. Today, rampers still bypass security.

Airlines filed bankruptcy, executives took bonuses for decreasing losses, and pilots took pay cuts and lost their retirement. Hours increased, income decreased, love of country vanished, flying lost its sparkle, and in the end the only thing left, a respectable job, disappeared. In its place was left that of a glorified bus driver. When pilots complained, they were made fun of for having easy jobs and crying about lost wages. Even their own kind mocked them despite no real understanding of the job. While GA pilots complained the world thought every pilot was rich, they bashed on airline pilots for being so. It was a no win situation and many of those who had useful degrees quit flying to take up jobs with better hours, income, and stability. Meanwhile, people whose dream it was to be an airline pilot jumped at the chance to pursue it only to find it was a myth. Unfortunately, this always happened after borrowing well over $100,000 to get the $24,000 per year job.

Today American pilots must have the words “English Proficient” on their licenses to be legal while airlines and ATC hire people who can’t speak it. “Position and hold” has changed to “line up and wait” because we need to be more like other countries despite their safety records that rarely stand up to ours. The FAA is passing rules to promote puppy mill flight schools while simultaneously holding conferences to discuss the alarming loss of basic flying skills in the airlines. FOQA, a silly flight monitoring program that demands a flying technique so sterile FO’s can never learn and all the Captains can do is forget is all the rage. And last but not least, TSA just keeps getting bigger.

Clearly, all these things fly in the face of logic. Independent, confident, intelligent people have no problem seeing this. For that reason, they have paid the price. The pilots of yesterday are not acceptable in the post 9/11 world; hence the psychological warfare. Am I saying this was something planned and executed with the intent of tearing down pilots to the point of accepting that which is not acceptable? I just don’t know. Yet planned or not, that is what they have done. Unfortunately, there's still a problem. Prisoners of war routinely lose their minds. One pilot has already done so and I suspect he'll not be the last.

"Psychological warfare employs any weapon to influence the mind of the enemy. The weapons are psychological only in the effect they produce and not because of the weapons themselves."

The Fly-In – How’s it Going

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:35:00 +0000

As you may remember, a while back we put out the call for help with the fly-in. From our perspective, the time had finally come for everyone to vote up or down on the event. But, there was a problem with that idea. Getting a good even sampling of the fly-in population in order to get a quantifiable outcome would be difficult. Therefore, we resorted to an old standby method used by many groups facing the same problem. Put out a call for help and see how many people show up. The number of people that actually show are compared to accepted percentages that relate to the larger group. Then if the total crowd falls above the line, your results fall in the “highly support” area. And, of course, if it is below the line it is in the “not much support” area.

Then the day came for the meeting.

As people began to arrive, Ginger and I began to feel much better about all the effort we had put into this thing. Lining the walls were giant post-in sheets. On these pages were the areas in which we needed someone to take responsibility. Out to the side, people were given a place to post their ideas. It is hard for someone to understand how many different things need to be considered for such an event and just writing them all down was a chore. Yet, with more people coming in by the minute, we were sure the critical areas would be covered and our efforts would yield some results.

During the meeting we discussed everything. Should we have the event? Should we continue to have Sinful Sundays? Should we have more or less of each? Should we do something else all together? Were there any other ideas? Whatever the answers were, they needed to make sense for the future of the airport and the bottom line. Ultimately, everyone agreed we should have the events and we moved forward.

Next, attendees were told that sponsorship was critical to the bottom line of the fly-in. And once again people stepped up and agreed to find sponsorships. Things were moving right along.

Finally, to round out this abbreviated synopsis, it was explained that we would meet once a month and that since Ginger and myself have to be here for all important events, anyone who was agreeing to be part of this was also agreeing to do the same. It was ok to say no but if you said yes you agreed to it. This meant that for someone to miss a meeting on a date not already on their schedules would be a no-no. Further explained, this means that family members don't get ill, daughters don’t get married on these dates, and a deep gash to the leg or a broken bone is certainly not an excuse. We have been and would have to be here despite all the above and so if they were going to get us to keep holding the fly-in by agreeing to volunteer, then they were in it for the long haul themselves. Oh yeah, I forgot that one; helping for one year is not the help we need. Every year someone drops out is a year we have to train people and therefore short term sympathy volunteerism is of no help to us. Yeah, we appreciate everyone who wants to help but we're trying to make some long term plans and we need people willing to do the same.

Ok, so there you have it. That is what the meeting was about. Some of it may have seemed rather blunt be we wanted to be clear about what we needed while also making it clear there would be no foul if someone wasn't up for it. Then we ended with everyone signing up for items and offering ideas.

Within ten days were we a third of the way to our sponsorship goals, people were working on improvements, and ideas were flowing freely. Then we were hit by the tornado. Two full weeks is what we spent on clean up and it still is not complete.

Naturally, this put our fly-in efforts on hold. Thus having worked non-stop on clean up, we decided that at the next meeting we would discuss where everyone was with their goals and how to move forward with much of our critical infrastructure destroyed. There was just one problem; would anyone be there? We wanted to believe but our education told us otherwise.

Our education won out. Only a quarter of those at the first meeting were at the second. It was a tough blow considering all we've been through recently. But, that's how things go I suppose.

On the up side, a new friend of ours came early to get briefed because she has a thousand other groups she helps on the same day (something we knew in advance) and if she couldn’t stay for the meeting, she wanted to come early to uphold her commitment. Seven other great friends and volunteers also made the meeting. These people can always be counted on, they always give their all, and we simply cannot thank them enough for being who they are.

With that out of the way, our next fly-in meeting is April 17th. How many people do you think will be there? Enough? Tune in next time for the answer.

Vintage Flying in Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:36:00 +0000

Some of you may remember our story from a few years back about running into Roy and Primrose Fox at Oshkosh. Hailing from Australia, and possessing wonderful personalities, we quickly took a liking to them. Roy and Primrose were there because Roy had brought his Comper Swift and Klemm to the show and I couldn’t believe our luck of running into them.

You know those kinds of people you meet and immediately consider them friends? Roy and Primrose are those people. It’s a shame we live so far away from each other. It would be great to spend more time with them. If you ever get a chance to meet them I advise you to do so.

Anyway, the reason I brought up the subject was that I had wanted to go see Roy and fly with him to the Antique Aeroplane Association Fly-In at Cowra. Unfortunately, several things blew that out of our calendar. Therefore, I am forced to get my jollies from the fly-in by knowing Roy was there wearing the official Lee Bottom uniform. He bought the sweatshirt last year when he visited our fly-in and he sent us the photo seen here to let us know he’s getting the full mileage out of it.

Note: Roy and Primrose have an airport in Australia that is amazingly similar to Lee Bottom. In fact they could almost be considered, like the old Sister Cities, Sister Flying Fields. Look for us to have more information about their place in the future.

They're Out There

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 02:53:00 +0000

Inside the airline industry, aviators are rare. Today they have been replaced by pilots.

Pilots don't fly outside of work. Most have no interest in flying small planes. The majority of them would prefer the computer do all the work. And they certainly can't do a visual approach.

Yes, I was exaggerating. There are some pilots who can fly a good visual approach but not many. Granted, nobody seems to care. But for folks with an interest in real aviation, folks like me (us, you know who you are), it does get lonely at times. I just wish there were more aviators than pilots and, at the very least, that the pilots had the slightest interest in aviation. On the other hand, I suspect the pilots that fly with me are thinking, "I really wish this guy liked to talk about baseball stats, playing X-Box, or the difference in rivet patterns on the Airbus 319 vs 320". I don't care for either.

Fortunately there is an upside to this disconnect. Through the years I have learned how best to spot, seek out, and locate the old school underground. You know; the aviators. They're not easy to find for good reason.

Like rats in the city, the government wants rid of us and citizens wish we'd go away. The final strain of aviators are marked for extermination. Yet, like all well intentioned federal programs, the solution replaces perceived problems with real. In this case mice.

Bred in FAA sanctioned schools, their rate of multiplication necessitates inbreeding. Each one like the last, all chasing the cheese, they come out highly polished, spit-shined and creased. Looking the part is all the feds want and that's what they get.
Whenever I end up flying with someone whose existence lies within the bands on their shoulders, I find myself looking for clues; clues that my people are still out there somewhere. Like tracks in the forest or broken twigs on a path, each little calling card lifts me up for although I cannot see them, I know they are there.

The photo at the very top is one such example. Upon first viewing, you likely didn't notice anything special about it. Yet I suspect a few aviators out there might have seen what I do every time I cross that threshold. There, on centerline, just short of the runway end-stripe, are two sets of tire marks. Those are aviator tracks.

How do I know? In subtle aviator code, the placement of the marks indicate they were clearly intentional. Roughly translated they say, "I am a pilot and I will not go away".

Whenever I see them I start to laugh with great joy. Beside me, pilots appear concerned as though I may have lost my mind. In reality though, I laugh with renewed sanity; sanity returned with the knowledge that I am not alone.

The Fly-In That Cried Wolf?

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Davidson) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:55:00 +0000

I really like that title. It’s funny. Plus, as one friend said last year when we asked if they would be attending, “Sorry, but I can’t be there. Plus, you’ve said this might be the last for the past few years”. The meaning there was that they thought we were crying wolf. That’s why I like the title. There is much more there than meets the eye.

Today, it seems everyone takes everything for granted. In turn, our world is filled with “looking back” headlines. Yeah, nobody seems to care or care enough until it is too late. They vote or don’t vote and then find themselves in a world of hurt because who was elected; people put things on their bucket lists and then get upset when that thing they always wanted to do disappears all together before they could do it; friends cry out in disbelief when one of theirs jumps off a bridge when all along the person was telling them they were going to jump off a bridge. Yep, nobody cares until something is gone. Then they get all worked up. Unfortunately, too late is too late.

How does this relate to Lee Bottom? Well, just in case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been telling everyone for several years now that the end of all the fun was coming unless we got some help. I love the old saying, “The man who spends freely has many friends”. And I must admit it often feels very much like a description of our fly-in. Though in reality, it is our fault for not fully explaining how much work and money goes into it. A few weeks back we corrected that error when we laid it on the table and asked for help. Last Tuesday we held a fly-in meeting to see if anyone got the message.

We have always said we have the best airport family and last Tuesday they proved it. Nearly 80% of the small cross section of people (38) we emailed, plus several more that were not on the list, showed up to see how they could help. That’s a pretty impressive showing and I think it indicates that as long as people are told up front what they are up against, and what they need to do to make things work, if they support the goal they’ll do their best to be part of the team. Thanks to all of you who attended; many of you driving several hours to be there.

What did the people in the meeting learn? We need help and we need sponsors and we need them by May 1st. That’s what it all comes down to. Thanks to those who attended, the fly-in moves forward.

Did you get that? The fly-in moves forward.

Wait! Don’t stop reading; there is more to do.

Lining the walls of the conference room were large yellow sheets of paper listing items with which we need help. These items were labeled A, B, and C. In past years, we had been responsible for all the items and even I found it hard to believe how many there were. By themselves, there were 32 A items. The “A’s” are critical to having the fly-in.

Thankfully many of the A items were accepted but we still need people to step up to help. As we told our airport family members in the meeting, when we say help, this is what we mean:

* Helping this year is of no help to us unless you are willing to commit to at least 3-5 years.

A person who volunteers only one year merely kicks the can down the road. When someone helps from year to year they know where things are and how to do it and nobody has to train them or watch over them to make sure things are being done correctly.

* If you commit to help you are actually committing yourself to help. In the past we have had to schedule surgeries around the fly-in, miss weddings, funerals, and sporting events, and have even worked the event with injuries that would make most people no-shows. Therefore, if you commit to be part of the team, you will be doing the same. You will tell your daughters that they will not be getting married on the weekend of the fly-in, games that you would love to see will be recorded and watched later, a plumbing leak in your house will be fixed by someone before hand or it will continue to leak until the fly-in is over, you will not be attending re-unions that fall on that weekend or the weeks leading up to it, and you will not cry about the nail you drove through your hand last night as it will have to stay there until the fly-in is over and cleaned up. That’s what we have to do and if you are telling the rest of the team you’ll be there to help, then you will.

* Helping means working year round, not just at events. We have a rule of thumb that if something isn’t planned by May, then it probably isn’t going to happen at this year’s event since May through September is spent on implementing the plan.

* Fun. Even if you have a nail sticking out of your hand, you’ll have fun. There is no reason for any of us to do this unless we are having fun. So, if all the planes and great people who attend the event don’t sound like fun to you, then there is no reason to volunteer. Yes, leading up to the event and during, it often feels very much like work. Yet without fail, half-way through the fly-in you always start thinking about the next one. Nothing worthwhile is easy and anything that is fun has a price.

Here I think it is important to share another thing we shared with our airport family members at the meeting. People often act as though, or think they are helping us, Ginger and myself, when they volunteer. Well, that isn’t the case. When you volunteer, you are helping aviation.

We are doing this for aviation and not ourselves. I realize that may be hard to understand but that’s the reality and if you aren’t in this for aviation, then you are in it for the wrong reason and you are keeping us involved in something we don’t need to keep doing. Yes, it can be fun but it is a lot of work and it is work we don’t need if aviation doesn’t want it. So just to be clear, when you help us just to help us you are not supporting our hobby or being helpful. You are perpetuating senseless work. If you get it, and you want to be part of the family, then there is plenty of room for you to help.

What do we specifically need? We still need volunteers to take charge of some A-items, and we really need sponsorship commitments. This year’s fly-in budget is $30,055 not including the airport operations budget which is an additional $20,000+. I should also note that by trimming costs everywhere we can find them, having a caterer do the food (they bear the cost), and by doubling last years attendance, we would just break even with $12,000 in sponsorship commitments. Any of this that isn’t sponsored we eat.

Those of you who have had the Lee Bottom Fly-In on your bucket lists for several years should take note. We are in the process of making long term plans for the airport and that involves the discussion of changing the flavor of the fly-in, Sinful Sundays, and even the airport in the coming years. Although we think the changes, if any, will be seen as favorable, with the future in mind everything is on the table for modification. Therefore, it is time for you to scratch The Wood, Fabric, & Tailwheels Fly-In off your list.

As for everyone else, our airport family members can work their butts off but if you do not attend, then it will all have been for nothing. Gas will be going up this summer, everyone will be complaining about it, and fly-ins everywhere will continue to thin with fewer and fewer people flying. If you would like to see this airport come out the other end as one of the survivors, you should start making your plans now to attend. Put September 29, 2012 on your calendar, set aside the money and time, find someone you’d like to share aviation with, and come hang out in one of the last places your kind are welcome.

With your support, enough volunteers, and the needed sponsorships, you’ll never hear us talk of ending the event again.

A-item coordinators still needed:

Trams

Medical Emergencies

Store Apparel and Cashiers

White Cone Adoption

Event Listings

Please let us know if you are up for doing any of these.
http://www.leebottom.com/