I joined up with Chuck Long at Boone County Airport. Since it was fairly cool overnight, it took a while to warm up the oil in our engines. But we were soon taxiing into position and departed 6I4. By the time we took off, the air was starting to warm up and the slight bumps became noticeable. Still, we flew in a loose formation toward Pegasus Farms. A few miles out, we tuned our radios to 122.9 and listened to the chatter about the traffic in the pattern at Pegasus. What was that? Traffic at Pegasus?

Turns out, Vern Sullenger's Cherokee was on final for runway 34 and Gary Reynolds elected to remain in the pattern to allow Vern some room to back taxi. Chuck and I joined the pattern, so Gary waited a bit more for us to land and hold on the north end of the runway. Since Gary flew from Hendricks County Airport in his slick RV-6A, he probably spent more time in the pattern than he did for the flight over.

Once at the south end of the runway, several chapter members were waiting to help push the aircraft across the paved road onto the grassy parking area. Not long after we parked our airplanes, Mark Eminger flew in a beautiful blue and white Cessna 172.

Mike Laurenzano trucked out the tables and chairs from 2R2 and made the arranged for the food and secured the use of Peggy Mershon's hangar. Dennis Singleton cook bratwurst on the grill, complementing the full menu of fried chicken, baked beans, slaw and potato salad, raw vegetables, chips, cokes and drinks, desserts and other items.

While standing outside on that beautiful sunny afternoon, we were treated to a high speed fly-by from a Harmon Rocket, who then flew to altitude and did a few nice rolls a bit east of the field. Each member flying in departed individually then did high-speed low pass (save one) before leaving the pattern, providing lots of photo opportunities for the folks on the ground.

At about 2 p.m. I was on my way home. The crisp, cool morning air had warmed up into a very pleasant afternoon with visibilities that were practically unlimited. The air was getting a bit wiggly but not too uncomfortable. Chapter 1311 lucked out with some unbelievable weather for a perfect fly-out.

Kokomo IN — The next weekend, the folks up in Kokomo had rescheduled their annual "Glenndale Days for Saturday, September 20. Gary Rogers flew his Cessna 150 with his daughter, Jessie, and I was in my Zenair.

Glenndale Days had yet another incredibly beautiful day for a fly-in. The air wasn't too rough for small airplanes, the wind was light and practically no clouds in the sky for a warm autumn afternoon. Glenndale's turnout appeared to be a bit lighter than last year's event, possibly because of the last-minute change of date. Regardless, there were plenty of nice aircraft to look at and lots of folks on the ground giving support to the fly-in.

Glenndale was serving an ala carte style lunch in the maintenance hangar: hamburgers and hot dogs, nachos, chips, drinks and other items. I ordered a hamburger and thought that a cheeseburger would be nice, so the server poured some nacho sauce all over my hamburger! I suppose some people might like that but I wasn't fond of it. It still was a nice lunch and at a very low price.

A big attraction at Glenndale is the high-speed low pass of a P-51 Mustang. This year was no exception. Gary, Jessie and I were eating lunch when all of the sudden we heard it scream by. The pilot then spent about fifteen minutes in a holding to the south of the field, waiting for the pattern to clear so he could come in for a landing. No doubt that everyone made a bee-line for the Mustang when it was finally parked. A Mustang is always an amazing addition to such a small field's event.

Hanover IN — On Friday, September 28, the event I really had been waiting for all year finally came: The Wood Fabric and Tailwheels fly-in at Lee Bottom Field. This year we were planning on camping for the evening.

On Friday, September 28, five airplanes from Boone County Airport were readied for loose formation flight to camp together at Lee Bottom Field. Chapter 1311 member Chuck Leucht and his wife Pam filled their Cessna 150 to the hilt and were the first to depart. Immediately thereafter, Katie and I launched in my crammed Zenair 601 HDS and met up with Leuchts. Chad Williams and Charles Westerfield took off in a straight tail Cessna 172, carrying a bit of the Leucht's gear. Gary and Gayla Rogers had Wayne Deckard's Cessna 175 fully loaded with their gear, libations and our cooler. Bringing up the rear, John Komnick and Jesse Badell flew in John's fully-loaded Cessna 175.

By the time we were over the east side of Indianapolis, the five airplanes were nearly in formation. John Komnick elected to climb to a higher altitude to cool off a bit but those of us in the heavily-loaded two-seat airplanes had to slog it out in the warm, turbulent air. But the visibility was outstanding and made for a beautiful view over southern Indiana.

After about an hour and fifteen minutes of flight, our gaggle of airplanes descended into the pattern for landing at Lee Bottom Field. Komnick held over Madison and had re-joined the group so that the five of us could land at about the same time and camp together.

Flying over the river for a right pattern into the field at that time of the evening was a bit unnerving for me. Once on final, the shadow of the bluffs to the west of the field make it seem like a rapid change from daytime to near darkness. Since the plane was flying a gross weight I carried a bit more speed on final and touched down a bit faster than normal. I am sure that the "judges" rating the landings scored me pretty low for my performance.

Plenty of other Chapter 1311 members made it to the show: I spied Jeff Chapman's Piper Tri-Pacer parked among the camper. Mark Eminger flew in, too. David Stucker was there with his camera. Bryan Ruberson was there with his award-winning Aeronca Chief. Former chapter member Bill Harrington stopped by to say hello. And of course Ginger and Rich Davidson, owners of the airport, were there.

Also attending from Boone County Airport: Chuck Long and Jim Kunz in Chuck's Zenair, Roy and Dick Dawes in their Cherokee 140/160, Ron Lehrman and Don Deckard in Lehrman's Piper Tri-Pacer, John Mullenax in his Cessna 140, and Wayne and Kathy Deckard in their Navion.

Along with the airplanes from Boone County, there was an unbelievable amount of airplanes and people flying in. The Davidsons' report on their web site that 150 aircraft came on Friday, with 121 tied down for the night. They report that 269 people stayed for the catered barbecue dinner; another 100 people pitched in for the pizza runs. On Saturday, the aircraft count was 380 airplanes on the ground at one with a total of 425 aircraft through the end of Saturday. That number of aircraft should have overwhelmed the tiny airfield; fortunately, they had some well-prepared volunteers assist with parking airplanes. Even a few campers pitched in to help direct aircraft.

Getting up early on Saturday morning, the ground was covered with dew and the airport was completely socked in with a dense fog that soon dispersed as the sun came overhead. The Davidsons had a booth set up in the morning serving some hearty breakfast sandwiches and coffee. By the time we finished our breakfast the first round of morning arrivals came so we were no longer able to cross the runway. No matter; they had a pickup truck and trailer with hay bales pressed into service as an airport "shuttle." Riding the shuttle a few times; I noticed that some people were not getting off at any of the stops. It was a great way to see as many aircraft as possible in the shortest amount of time.

"Wood Fabric and Tailwheels" was my favorite fly-in for the year. The event marked the first time that Katie had ever been camping in a tent, and she didn't rule out coming back next year! The scenery is absolutely gorgeous and the people we camped with and around were about as much fun as you could expect anywhere. We even flew with tailwinds both directions!

Noblesville IN — One more tradition in my annual flying calendar is the autumn barbecue at Noblesville Airport, sponsored by Chapter 67. These guys really know how to put on a fly-in. With it permanently scheduled for the first Sunday of October, it's easy to keep the date on the calendar. Plus the attraction of good food means that plenty of great airplanes will show up, which means that even more aviation fans will come to see the airplanes. With the promise of good food and airplanes, Charles Westerfield and I headed east for some fly-in fun.

This year was no different. Noblesville can always count on three of four Stearmans and a few other biplanes, plus an assortment of other military training aircraft, some very nice antiques, plenty of classics and contemporary aircraft. You'll always see some interesting RVs plus plenty of experimentals that are legal for Light Sport Pilots.

What was different this year, was the weather. Noblesville had been blessed with beautiful weather for their past several fly-ins, and the weather was again beautiful this year. But the temperature on Sunday, October 7, was an unseasonable 90 degrees with very little cloud cover. The chapter had done a great job of setting up serving lines and dining tables in one of the hangars and had shaded areas with tables outside for more diners. Being able to sit in the shade made the blazing sun a bit more tolerable. Kudos to Chapter 67 for shelters.

Noblesville's menu consisted of barbeque chicken, hot dogs or barbecue pork, macaroni & cheese, baked beans, cole slaw, desserts and soft drinks or water. The food line was remarkably short this year; perhaps the heat had something to do with it. Anyway, the friendly volunteers keep the line moving quickly.

The one thing notably missing from Noblesville's fly-in this year was their cook emeritus, Maurice Hobson. Previously, Maurice has risen early to start the grill and begin cooking for perhaps a hundred fly-ins. This year he was in the hospital and couldn't participate. We wish him a quick recovery and look forward to seeing him at future events.

With the unseasonable weather, crowd thinned out pretty fast that Sunday afternoon. Shortly after lunch the airplanes filled up and departed. I've loved to have stayed and photographed just about everything there but the heat was exhausting. So Charles and I packed up the Zenair and headed back to 6I4 shortly thereafter.

Shelbyville IN — I'd been wanting to get my father out for a ride from several months. When learning that some of his friends were the co-hosts at the fly-in chili lunch at Shelbyville, it was the perfect opportunity to get together and go fly. I promised him that there would be about 100 airplanes there so he was really looking forward to the show.

We departed under the partly sunny skies around 11 a.m. and headed around the northwest corner of Indianapolis for the short trip to Shelbyville. The visibility was pretty good that morning, as we could see about 20 miles or so (the last time he went flying with me the visibility was only three or four miles). Nearing the pattern at Shelbyville I announced my position and intention then tucked among the airplanes lining up on downwind for a landing on runway 19. We were a bit early but the airport was already starting to get busy.

I taxied up as close as possible to the hangar where they were hosting the luncheon and parked amidst some very nice RVs. We hopped out and were soon greeted by Vern Sullenger, who had flown in his RV-7A. After checking out a few airplanes, we headed to the chili line, signed in, and stopped by to say "hello" to Dad's buddy, Joe Underwood, who has a smokin' RV-8.

The folks at Shelbyville hosted a great lunch that afternoon. In addition to the huge kettle of chili, they had very large bowls of shredded cheese, crackers, sour cream and many other chili "modifications." They also had fresh salads, fresh vegetables, an awesome dessert table and coolers full of bottled water and sodas. The entire lunch was free to the public. I didn't even see a donation jar anywhere.

We sat for lunch with Vern, Jim and Peggy Lewis, Jim Winings' wife and several of Dad's friends from the Continental Dance Club, which Underwood is also a member. After I'd eaten my fill I got up to take a look at some of the airplanes while Dad and his buddies sat in the shade at talked.

Shelbyville held the lunch in one of the cleanest and best appointed hangars that I've ever seen. It was a fairly new building with an extremely wide full-width bi-fold door. The hangar was large enough to hold five or six airplanes. One side of the hangar contained workbenches and tool boxes. The entire floor was coated with a spotless white epoxy. In one corner there appeared to be an office. Upon further investigation, the office was a lounge with separate men's and women's restrooms. Did I mention that this was a "private" hangar?

Plenty of great airplanes showed up at Shelbyville that day. First of all, Tom Wood's Mustang was there, recently refurbished after its wheels-up landing a few months ago. His T-6 was there, too. Along with his T-6 were about five other T-6 and/r SNJ-5 aircraft. I counted at least four Navions and their variants, ratcheting up the warbirds total. There was a nice assortment of RV's and other homebuilts, and the usual nice turnout of type certificated airplanes. The most memorable "event" of the fly-in was the formation flight of five "Yak" aircraft in a nice Vee formation over the field. After their flight the five came in for a landing and parked in a row. We had fun taking note of the five "bad guys" (Soviet and/or Chinese-built aircraft) parked together like comrades in arms. It's comforting to note that these five "commies" could fly overhead and yet we felt perfectly safe and secure.

At about 2 p.m. the field started to thin out so it was time to head some. With zero winds nearly everyone departed on runway 1. We flew home at about 2,500 MSL. The air was a bit choppy but the visibility was pretty good so he had some good sightseeing for the return trip.

COMING UP: Although there is no official "close" to the fly-in season, that Saturday pretty much marks the end of it for the Midwest. However, that's not the end of flying, and certainly not the end of the food runs. There are plenty of airports within a half-hour or so flight. Stay tuned for more flying fun ahead.

photo credits: Bob Braaf, Michael Mossman, David Stucker and Chad Williams

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