By Michael Mossman
When I heard that Ernie Winters was hosting a fly-in at his private little airstrip, I got excited. There wasn't anything else planned for this weekend within an hours' flight for me and his place was a new place to go. I cleared my calendar and started watching the weather forecasts.
On Saturday morning, September 20, Charles Westerfield and I boarded the Zenair and departed Boone County Airport for Winters' field. I tried a half dozen times to plug the field coordinates into my GPS but to no avail. But since the trip was less than 40 NM and the visibility was at least 20 miles, I knew that we would eventually find it. My plan was to fly SSW from my home field and once we got about 4 NM past I-70, start looking. This was strictly a VFR-only, pilotage mission.
With Charles at the controls, I kept scanning the countryside but couldn't find the field. Winters' area of the state has lots of fields that look like airstrips, but after getting closer we decided that they weren't the right place. Charles said to keep looking for airplanes taking off or landing. Nope, didn't see those either. We were a bit too early for that.
Winters told me that his place was about 4 NM almost due west of Pegasus Farms. I remembered a water tower to the SSE of Pegasus, so when we spotted the tower we knew just about where Winters' place should be. It turned out we were a bit too far west. Charles scanned the countryside and spotted a few planes in a front yard. That had to be it!
Since the wind was favoring 36 when we departed Boone County, we entered the pattern on the downwind for 36 at Winters and set up for a nice, smooth landing. Winters' runway is about 1,800 feet long of smooth turf. It has a slight depression the middle, so towards the end of your rollout you'll be going uphill, helping to slow down.
Ernie's home is on the north end of the strip. When Charles and I arrived they already had a few other airplanes there: a Skybolt, Pitts, a Cessna 172 and a Piper Comanche. Later in the morning, another Cessna 172, flown by Mark Eminger, a Cessna 182, a Rocket and a Taylorcraft all came in for the fun.
My wife Katie works with Lisa Gregory, who really wanted to go for an airplane ride, so I invited her and her boyfriend, Paul Manning, to meet us there. They didn't have too much trouble finding the place, even with my complete lack of directions, and were excited to get into the air. Since the north end of Winters' field has some power lines and the wind was essentially dead, I departed to the south for each of these rides, saving myself some long grass taxi time. Both Lisa and Paul enjoyed their rides and are anxious to get into the air soon. Sometimes rides like these just pay off.
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everal people were flying radio-controlled models airplanes, and a few people drove in with some antique or exotic automobiles, including a rare Shelby Cobra. But the visual highlight was an aerobatic demonstration flight in the Pitts, where the pilot performed a series of loops, rolls, hammerheads and other maneuvers. Lisa really wanted me to fly some aerobatics during her ride (I didn't) but she had Paul "had to go" when I asked if she wanted to get a ride in the Pitts.
Winters' fly-in was a part pitch-in lunch and part meetings for EAA Chapter 1374 from Greencastle and Chapter 83 from Terre Haute, where Ernie is also a member. The goodies included fried chicken, meatballs, baked beans, vegetables, all kinds of desserts and many other delicious items.
Early in the afternoon Charles and I needed to head back home, so we departed on runway 18. Congratulations to Winters for the excellent airfield and great fly-in.
On Friday, September 26, the time finally arrived for an event I had been waiting all year to attend: The Wood Fabric and Tailwheels fly-in at Lee Bottom Field in Hanover IN. This year we organized seven airplanes from Boone County Airport with thirteen people on board to fly in a gaggle so that if we could land together we could camp together. At about noon that day a few of the pilots arrived and started getting their airplanes ready for the flight. Since I planned on working that morning, I had fueled the airplane and did my initial pre-flight and partial loading the night before. All I had to do was load Katie's stuff in the plane and we could be ready for the scheduled 2 p.m. departure.
Katie and I arrived at about 1:30 to note that some of the guys were chomping at the bit to depart. It was another of those stunningly beautiful autumn days with almost unlimited visibility and only scattered cloud cover. The wind was a bit brisk, but it was from the north so we were going to get a good tail wind. After finally getting the rest of the planes fueled and loaded, the group was ready to depart at about 2:15 or so.
Chad Williams and Charles Westerfield departed first in Williams Cessna 172 to lead the group. Next off, Chuck and Pam Leucht departed in a Cessna 150, then Katie and I were off in our Zenair. Mike Jackson departed solo in his Cessna 175, followed by John Komnick and Jesse Badell in Komnick's Cessna 175, then Kristen Henke followed up in her Maule. Last off was Gary, Gayla and Jessie Rogers in their Cherokee 180.
Williams made a nearly straight cut across Indianapolis towards Lee Bottom Field but without a transponder I elected to fly eastward towards Mount Comfort Airport and avoid Indianapolis International's airspace by a wide margin. The rest of the group seemed to get in line behind me so we flew for at least a half an hour before we finally caught up with Williams, who was loafing along over southern Indiana in slow flight. He found some relatively smooth air at 5,500 MSL so we cruised there until we were ready to descend. Although it was a crystal-clear day and certainly a destination for hundreds of airplanes, we scarcely heard another soul on the radio and didn't see anyone else flying the entire flight.
When our group was about 15 miles out Williams started his descent and called positions for the party of seven. We all got in line and set up for downwind over the river for a right pattern into runway 36. I always get a little spooked flying over water and this trip was no different. I get automatic rough (in my hands, not in the engine) so I tried hard to focus on keeping a good distance behind Komnick's 175 throughout the pattern. The air started getting a fairl wiggly on the way down and was very bouncy on final when we descended below the level of the hills and through the trees. It didn't seem to bother Katie too much; she just sat there starting straight ahead and didn't say a word until we were on the ground.
Lee Bottom Field had volunteers with golf carts and Jeeps directing the taxiing aircraft to the camping and tie-down area on the west side of the field. This year they parked aircraft back-to-back in an attempt to accomodate more aircraft, so some of us had to push ours back into position. The scheme seemed to work OK and still left plenty of room for everyone to set up camp.
Although our group got split up during the pattern flying, we all got to park nearly together. Williams had a friend, based at Indianapolis Metro and flying a Cessna 170, who wanted to join up with us but he departed too early and wasn't able to hold long enough so he landed and parked early. Even so, he was able to camp just a few parking spaces away.
Once tied down, we started unloading the airplanes. I set up a couple of chairs so Katie could start supervising in comfort. Others gathered around and helped each other pound tent stakes and set up camp. In a very short time we were all set up and ready for our group photo.
Ginger and Rich Davidson always do a great job organizing their annual fly-in in spite of the limited resources. This year they had an additional handicap: no electricity! The week before, the remnants of Hurricane Ike knocked out the power to the airport. Since many of the utilities volunteers had gone south, the Davidsons didn't know when the power would be back on. So they moved their computer to a hotel room, set up shop and went right back into coordinating the event. If you hadn't visited the web site you might never have known what grief they went through during that harried last week.
The Davidsons scheduled a catering company to serve a barbeque dinner for the campers that pre-registered. Three of our group headed over for the dinner, which they said was pretty good. Most of our group didn't get signed up in time so we broke out a picnic dinner and with a few frosty ones we toasted our group's aeronautical prowess.
The next morning Katie and I awoke to the sound of engines flying overhead; the field was starting to fill up. After finally waking up enough to stagger out of the tent, we joined the others who had risen earlier and headed over to the east side of the field, where a group from Hanover College was serving breakfast, which consisted of scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, coffee and juice, and perhaps some other items. Five or six bucks for a filling breakfast was a pretty good deal.
One of the great things about a fly-in like this one is the incredible variety of aircraft that show up. This year we noted a lot of Swifts, which is starting to become a club favorite. We saw more Cubs and Chiefs and Champs than we could count. I also noticed more of the taildragger Bellancas. New this year were on-field vendors. Quite frankly, it's idea that's time has come. This has got to be an expensive fly-in to host, and vendors can help pull the load. One display was the new LSA CT Flight Design, which was a pretty, if slightly unusually-proportioned aircraft. A few other vendors were selling shirts, hats and toys. I bought a commemorative Lee Bottom Field hat at the "official" store by the check-in.
Several other Chapter 1311 members made it down that weekend. Jeff Chapman flew down in his Piper Tri-Pacer and camped on Friday evening. Kim and Karen Shumaker were there on Friday evening, too, but didn't say whether they flew or drove. On Saturday morning Bryan Ruberson flew in with his beautiful Aeronca Chief. Mark Eminger flew on top of the overcast from Bloomington but couldn't find a hole to descend so he had to turn back and missed the event. A few more chapter members might have made it down but I missed them.
Katie and I had commitments at church that afternoon and had to depart early. Although the Davidsons had posted that there would be no departures during the late morning and noon hours, getting out wasn't really a hassle. They asked that we notify a marshal and let them know what we were doing. We hurried back to the plane and broke down our camp, all the while trying to entertain questions from passers-by. Probably due to the solid overcast, there was a lull in the arriving traffic, so we were able to taxi around the north end of the runway then all the way to the south end without holding for any airplanes, ground vehicles or pedestrians. We waited scarcely a minute at the south end when we received our approval to depart on runway 36.
Although arriving over the hills is a bit intimidating, so is departing with all of those folks watching. Our camping friends were posted at the south end of the runway and were judging every arrival, so I am sure that they scored our take-off, which lacked any drama whatsoever. Alter climbing out, Katie and I headed north and flew under the solid overcast until we were nearly to Indianapolis, where the clouds finally parted and the sun brightly shone through. At that point the air got pretty rough but the trip home was uneventful.
The Davidsons hadn't posted the final attendance numbers by newsletter deadline, but it appeared that at least as many camped out on Friday, and the field was filling up on Saturday morning. Many more aircraft probably arrived after we departed, so this could have been their biggest year yet. It certainly was the most fun year for Katie and I. There were a good bunch of volunteers marshalling airplanes, cooking food, driving tractors, checking in campers and performing a thousand other services. We hope to see you there next year.
Sunday, October 12 marked the unofficial end of the "Indiana" fly-in season, with the annual fall barbecue hosted by EAA Chapter 67 at Noblesville Airport. The past several years the chapter has been blessed with some unseasonably warm and sunny weather, so what would this year bring? I vowed that if the weather was anyway flyable, I would be there. Chapter 67's food always makes Noblesville a worthwhile destination. That Sunday, the weather forecast held out to be true, with the temperatures already in the low 80s, with ceilings and visibility unlimited.
Last year we had a nice group of people depart together from Boone County Airport, so this year we put the word out that we would be departing around 11 a.m. or so; anyone wishing to join us could simply show up and fly. At about 11:30 Wayne Deckard and Anthony Dawes departed in a Cherokee 140, followed by Randy and Jennifer Shrewsberry in another Cherokee. Katie and I took off on our Zenair, followed by Charles Westerfield and John Komnick in an Ercoupe. Also joining us en route were Chuck Leucht and Erick Roldan in a Piper Colt, Chad and Clay Williams and Sandra Westerfield in a Cessna 172, followed by Don Deckard and Roy and Jake Dawes in a Stinson 108. Because of the greatly mis-matched aircraft and the short distance we didn't attempt to fly in any type of formation. Our only goal was to get there without running into anyone.
Noblesville is a very easy flight from Boone County Airport; my GPS doesn't even have it in its database. The routine is simply to fly easterly towards the gravel pits north of Indianapolis Metro. When you cross I-69 start looking down as it will only be a few more miles. We were getting a bit more tailwind than I anticipated, because before I knew it we were over the field. We merged behind a few RVs, a Piper Cub and a Taylorcraft then entered the left downwind for runway 27.
Short final on 27 for Noblesville is a lot of fun. Some genius land developer decided to place a subdivision immediately to the east of the airport so there is no way to land on the field without either overshooting the runway or buzzing the houses. Since I was greatly concerned about the safety of the folks in the Taylorcraft in front of me I elected to land as short as possible, and that meant flying a lot closer to a house than I am used to. I wonder what the realtor told that homeowner before he sold the house. Anyway, careful speed control made our arrival a non-event.
Chapter 67 always has lots of volunteers marshalling aircraft and directing pilots to parking spots with the use of golf carts. This year was no exception. Their ground crew made finding a parking spot easy and reduced the worries about hitting a bystander who might not be paying attention.
If you are into checking out airplanes, Noblesville is always the place to be in mid-October. This year they had their usual antiques, which included several Stearmans, a Waco, Cubs, Bellancas, a T-6, and many other old airplanes. Many RVs flew in, including a group of four RVs, one flown by Troy Grover. A pair of very nice Sonexes was parked over by the Stearmans. Other homebuilts included a Kitfox Lite, a couple of Zenairs, a T-Bird, a KR-2 and more others than I could record. If you are into classic or contemporary aircraft, they were represented in good numbers, too, along with a helicopter.
Noblesville's fly-in draws more than just airplanes. Along with the many cars and trucks crowding the parking area, they had a few very nice hot rods, racecars, antiques and replicas, plus an old Indian motorcycle. They had something for nearly everyone's taste.
Since it was nearly noon and Katie and I were already hungry, we made our way to the food line. In years past we have waited in line for what seemed to be hours; this year there was no one in front of us! She kept our place while I went back to gather group and get them in line. In just a few minutes the line had grown to perhaps 50 to 100 people long.
Chapter 67 charged $8 (adult price) for their barbecue lunch, which is very reasonable for a complete Sunday lunch. Katie and I had some freshly barbecued pork on sandwiches, plus macaroni and cheese and some broccoli casserole. They also served baked beans, potato chips, hot dogs and a very nice assortment of desserts. Since it was lunch I skipped the desserts but Katie tried a little bit of each. Her favorite was a cocoanut dessert they said was made by Faye Gustafson.
Most of our group sat outside during lunch and enjoyed the sun. Later, the individuals started going their own way, with some resting under the wing of a Cessna to watch the planes come and go; others walked the line to check out the airplanes on display. Every year I field a few questions from Zenair builders or wannabes, and this year was no different. Most of the questions are about building or flying characteristics. I really like to talk to people who are getting hot on building an airplane.
Going on 2 p.m. Katie reminded me that we had to chores to do at home and needed to get back. Quite a few other airplanes were departing on runway 27 at the same time, so we were asked to delay our startup for a few minutes. No big deal, but with that bright sun we needed to keep the canopy open as long as possible. After we were directed to start the engine we taxied to the end of the runway, did a quick run up then departed on 27 with a right pattern out then headed west towards home.
All in all, 2008 was a great year for fly-ins. It started a bit slow with rainy weather and too much morning fog, but as the year wore on the sun magically came out on the fly-in weekends, giving us some very fun and memorable events. I can hardly wait for next year!
Coming up: How about some hamburger runs and restaurant reviews in the coming months? Those of you with aircraft who want a writing assignment, get going! There's lot of great flying to be done between now and the 2009 fly-in season.
Wrapping Up the Fly-In Circuit
Nov. 1 (Sat) — Mt. Vernon IL — Fly-in/Drive-in Pancake Breakfast, Mt. Vernon Airport (KMVN), Biscuits & gravy. pancakes and sausage, 8-11 a.m., $5 per person, http://www.airnav.com/airport/KMVN
Dec 17 (Sat) — Mt. Vernon IL — Fly-in/Drive-in Pancake Breakfast, Mt. Vernon Airport (KMVN), Biscuits & gravy. pancakes and sausage, 8-11 a.m., $5 per person, http://www.airnav.com/airport/KMVN
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My favorite time of the year is winding down quickly. If you have an aircraft and are looking for places to go, we've got some great locations and events. The following is a list of fly-ins and other aviation events located in Indiana and adjacent states. If you don't have an aircraft but are willing to drive, the list below is round-trip "do-able" in a day. We can't guarantee that every fly-in is listed. Also, we strongly recommend that you contact the event before committing your 100LL. However, we guarantee that if you visit some of these you'll have some great fun.