This newsletter is created in html.  It should be viewed while connected to the internet.

If your email system does not support html, you see strange characters, or you do not see the photos, click here

To view in your browser, copy and paste the following link to your address line: http://www.leebottom.com/nordo/Archives/Nov 2007.htm

        Holding Aviation to a HIGHER STANDARD™    

     Nov  2007

ISSN: 1930-0131

It’s been a while since a NORDO News has gone out and we have so much to say.  Therefore,  we have decided that rather than creating one large NORDO News, we would do two of them close together.   Keep reading to learn all about the fly-in and soon we will be back with another NORDO News on every day subjects.  Some upcoming topics include:

What we recently learned about Champ wheels

Seeding & fertilization of the airport

What effect does the wind have?

Where has Lee Bottom attire been spotted now?

An Apache helicopter visits Lee Bottom

Restorations shops . . . the saga continues

2007 Wood, Fabric, & Tailwheel Re-Cap

Those of you who did not make it to the 11^th Annual Wood, Fabric, & Tailwheels Fly-In really missed out on a great one.   The combination of recent press coverage, great weather, Ginger’s amazing organization skills and attention to detail, and an “airport family” of people who love to fly combined to test the field’s capacity.   Thus, when the sun set on Saturday, September 29, 2007, over 425 aircraft and 1800 visitors totaled to make this the biggest fly-in to date. 

Further interesting numbers about the fly-in include 380 planes on the ground at one time, five countries, and four continents, and all the states were represented with attendees from each. Around the field you could also count 8 different amphibian aircraft, 8 helicopters, one auto gyro, and two motor-gliders.  Among the list of planes on hand were some incredible machines such as a Clipped Wing Monocoupe, Staggerwing, Curtiss Robin, Culver, Great Lakes, Meyers, tailwheel Varga, Waco, Stearman, Fairchild, Commonwealth and more.  

Additionally, Ron Alexander and friends brought his DC-3 and Tina and Steve Thomas arrived in their beautiful Beech 18.  But these are just a few of the antiques and classics.  We haven't even mentioned the wonderful number of other great planes on hand because there simply is not enough room.  Our hope is that next year you will come take a look for yourself.

Please put September 27, 2008 on your calendar so that you don't miss it next year.

Other stats that we thought you might find interesting stats

Friday night dinner:

121 planes spent the night

Over 400 people fed

140lbs of pork

Over 40 pizzas

The entire bar was sold out

Saturday's lunch guests devoured:

75 gallons - Chili

975 - Hot dogs/chili dogs

210 - Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

100 Apples

1000 - cookies

2009 - Sodas or bottle water

BE SURE to check out the large sample of comments we received from fly-in attendees.   They are listed at the end of this issue of NORDO News.

2008 CALENDARS ARE IN THE MAIL

Here you have one the rare photos of Ginger and Rich together.   It's rare because one of us is usually holding the camera and if not, we are running in different directions trying to do the work of ten people.  What you see stacked around us in the US Mail containers are all the 22nd annual Lee Bottom calendars.  We are smiling because it was taken right before we sent them out. 

You would think all you have to do is have them printed and mail them but in reality the process takes at least a month and a half from start to finish and includes enough steps that each of us have touched those calendars at least nine times.   Furthermore, the demand had grown so great again this year we had to increase the number printed to 1500.  Do the math on that one and you come up with at least 13,500 operations.  Now can you see why we are smiling?  We hope you enjoy them.

This year we also included, once again, a donation letter with each of the calendars.  Last year was the first year for us to do so and the resulting contributions allowed us to purchase a new tractor, top trees, and fertilize and overseed among many other things.   Our goal this year is to start construction on a club house that will include a basic kitchen, showers facilities for the fly-in, and an area for meetings.  If you like what we've been doing and would like to contribute toward the club house, but did not get a calendar, we hope you will visit our website where you can make a contribution. Note:  Those that contribute will be on next year's list.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION   www.LeeBottom.com/donations.htm

Variety is the Spice of Life

Without a doubt, the one subject everyone was talking about at this year’s fly-in was the variety of aircraft in attendance.   Our event was created for, and has always had a focus on antique and classic aircraft but for very specific reasons, we have always welcomed everyone.  This year was no different and boy did it show.  As each flying machine made its way onto the turf here at Lee Bottom,  it seemed yet another aircraft model had arrived.  

“I heard there were over 400 planes at the fly-in this year” is something we’ve listened to hundreds of  times since the fly-in.   It seems everyone has heard about the number of planes we had here on the field.  But, for those that were fortunate enough to be here during it, there was another subject that must have been referred to a thousand of times.  “I can’t believe the variety of aircraft that are here” was easily the number one most repeated comment of the fly-in and it makes us swell with pride.   Here on this little field in the middle of nowhere was a variety of planes and pilots that would be hard to beat. 

We'd recommend watching this 5 minute video by Rudy Siegel.  He's done an excellent job of showing a little bit of everything . . .

www.airshowbuzz.com/videos/view.php?v=774604bf

Why we park the way we do?

Throughout the years as attendance has grown and the airport has expanded, we have explored many different methods of parking aircraft.   The issues associated with parking multiple aircraft at a rapid pace in a safe manner are much more complex than most people would think.   Consider landings happening at the pace of one every 30 seconds, parking areas on each side of an active runway, different sizes and types, a limited number of volunteers, and a limited amount of space and you have a real task at hand.   Last year, we decided we  would solve this problem once and for all and set out to observe what works and what doesn’t at other fly-ins. 

Visiting and watching fly-ins to observe their operations can be a real learning experience.   Many or maybe even most events today are held at somebody’s airport but hosted by an EAA Chapter.   The big thing this means is that by nature you have some creative people running the machine and doing the problem solving.  Furthermore, it seems that every event has the same hills to climb with how to make cheap easels and keep them from falling over, parking aircraft, selling tickets efficiently, keeping track of who has visited, managing volunteers and keeping everyone including them happy, where does everyone sit, and where do we put all this stuff when it’s over being just a few of these.  But all we were after were the methods used to park aircraft. 

Having observed everyone's parking operations we came up with a short list of things we did not like.   These items included people who did not know they should stand off to the side of a taildragger while marshalling, pilots who do not know the marshalling hand and arm signals, wing riders (walkers on mopeds), marshallers who thought you were incapable of parking an airplane without them, and parking like aircraft together.   Each of these is a real issue but it was the last one that gave me the solution.  

If you are in aviation and haven’t figured it out yet, we live in a “little pond”.  Somehow somewhere though, some group started the idea to separate everyone into even smaller ponds as they parked.   This in turn led something simple like fly-in parking to become as politically significant as which side of the floor you sit on during the State of the Union Address.   We realized this two years ago while at Oshkosh.  Volunteer marshallers in the vintage area were doing their best to keep up with arriving traffic and to meet the desires of whoever decides who will park where when they parked a really nice N3N at the undesirable end of what would turn out to be “Howard’s Lane”.  A few days into the event, and after getting to know our next row neighbor in the N3N, some Howard guy walked up to him and actually said “you don’t belong in this row”.   Soon after, a patrol of marshallers showed up to “help him move”.   This of course was met with an instant invitation by those of us in the front row to join our party and the problem was solved.   This was also the moment that gave me the answer to our parking plan.

So what’s the solution to this problem that every fly-in has?  That would be to have volunteers guide planes into each a row as they arrive with nothing more than pointing or waving a flag.   This is then followed by another volunteer moving down each row who points to each plane and then points to the spot where they should park.  The pilots are then in charge of their own parking.   When they are done, if the plane is extremely out of whack with the others in the row, a few people pitch in to adjust its position.   That’s it and it works like a charm.   There are no groups within a group, there is no master plan that requires taking some planes here and some planes there that would exponentially complicate things, and there are no marshallers so to speak.   This system is so simple it makes everything easy and yet that is not the only benefit.  

Another commonly heard comment was how everything seemed to operate very safely.   This is a direct result of the parking plan.   It's extremely safe because it leaves the pilot in control of the aircrafts operation and does wonders for removing distractions and confusion.  It's simple; "go here, park there".   But again, that's not the final benefit to this plan.

The concept of one big family where everyone is an important piece of the puzzle is really driven home with this parking strategy.  As each row builds with random arrivals, every row is given a few surprises and a wonderful "aviation as a whole" kind of feel.  It also allows those who haven’t taken the plunge into taildraggerdom (yeah I made it up) to be part of the family.   Along the way, new friends are made and a few people are convinced to buy that taildragger they’ve always wanted.

Fly-In Regrets

You would think setting out to have a large fly-in in your back yard and being successful at it would leave you on top of the world but with each passing year, one aggravating regret keeps rearing its head.   What do you think it is? 

Putting on this event has taught us many things about large gatherings and quite honestly we’ve learned on our own what we now realize many other organizations have known all along.   Often we have observed other events and wondered “why do they do that” and without fail, if we wait long enough, we discover the reason and it usually directly translates to ours.  

The one we learned about this year is the event within the event.   Known at other places under names such as “The Lifetime Member Dinner”, “The President’s Dinner”, “The Warbird Fly-Out” or even the _____ (insert aircraft make here) Club Dinner, these events are excuses for smaller groups to get together and get away from everyone else so that more direct and personal conversations can be had.   Unfortunately, these events often never seem to end and those involved never seem to mingle with anyone other than their own.  But that really doesn’t tell you what our recurring regret is does it?

Each year as the fly-in grows, a larger and larger number of  friends make their way back to Lee Bottom for the event.   More and more often, we are also treated to the sight of people we haven’t seen for months or even years.  Laying eyes on these people is one of the true pleasures of putting on the fly-in.   Yet, it also leaves us with our one recurring regret.  Imagine seeing that person who moved far away that at one time would fly in to your back yard at least once a month.  Then imagine seeing and realizing that same person flew that once familiar 180 all the way from Arizona to the event and you don’t have time to stop and talk.  It is people like this who flew their dogs in to play with Ace, we knew in other chapters of our lives, who dropped in for picnics, or are simply friends we never get to see that leave us regretting a shortage of time during what is an otherwise exciting flurry of activity.  

This year was the worst ever as I saw so many old friends among the crowd that I simply could not find enough time to say hello to them all.  Did I mention the number of friends who were here, as witnessed by the registration list, that we didn’t even see?  

The other day I was on a three hour sit in LaGuardia when I ran into just such a person who had been at the fly-in.   We both, before long, had been talking about all the planes and people who had been at the fly-in when I said, “We even had 121 planes that camped on Friday and 400 people for dinner.”  That’s when he said, “Yeah I know, I was there.”   This hit me much harder than I let on at the time.  In fact, I am still stewing over it today.  How could a friend of mine have dinner at our house, within 50 feet of our front door, and I not know about it? 

Arguably, you could explain this away with the amount of things Ginger and I have to do during the event but it’s still a hard thing to swallow.  How do you, or is it even possible to, spend time with all your friends during such an event?  This is the question that I continue to ask myself.   As it turns out, we’ve already tried the “Dinner Gathering” and although it is a great success it hasn’t solved the problem of spending time with friends and we can’t imagine a fund raiser fixing it either.  Perhaps we could hold a Friends of Lee Bottom Party at Oshkosh?  Wouldn’t that be ironic? 

So what do we do?  What would you do?  

Challenges Ahead

Cram a record crowd onto a small airport and you are sure to find weak points quickly.  That’s what we did with this year’s fly-in and fortunately we found far fewer problems than expected.   Our goal is to fix those for next year so please let us know if they aren’t all mentioned here.

First, we realized we are going to need more food lines to handle the growing number of people on the field.  During past fly-ins, the lines were at their limits but this year they exceeded the limit early and never seemed to get shorter.  We’ve already looked into solutions for this and although some ideas have surfaced, we believe a club house built with this in mind could solve most of the problems.   Fortunately for us, our food vendors do a great job and were able to keep a handle on things despite all the people we sent their way.  We just need to provide them with a better means of getting the food to the masses.

Second, with the growing size of the fly-in we can no longer allow people to cross the runway anywhere but at the North end.  This has led many more people to make use of our tram and we now believe three are needed to handle demand.  Our goal has always been to find some old tractors to pull them with and some old wagons to modify for this role.  If anyone might want to help in this area, let us know.   The solution is simple but requires a little leg work.

Next, since we have fuel trucked in we have found a need for a better fueling system.  This year, everything was thought about except for a way for the fuelers to find the planes needing fuel.  People signed up with their N#’s and it just wasn’t enough information to allow the fuelers to find everyone quickly.  We have several solutions for this each of which would work.   Prop tags would be one idea and row numbers would be another.  Whatever we do, this problem will be solved by the next fly-in.

Another issue we want to solve is that of shower availability.  This year Ginger thought to have some showers brought in for one night and thank God she did.  The showers were a big hit but were also a big expense.  In fact, three years worth of shower rentals would build a shower building with ten showers.   This is another thing we hope to build either into or next to a club house. 

Many of you also mentioned that we need to accept credit cards.  We agree and will be working on this issue.  Again, if you can think of anything else, please let us know.

Smooth Operations

Thanks to all of you who read and followed our arrival and approach suggestions.  

Nearly everyone we talked to commented on how well arrivals went despite the large number of planes landing or in the pattern.   Several people commented on the suggestion of keeping radio calls to an absolute minimum and that seems to have made a big difference.  

I suggest you use the same method at every event you visit.  You will find it makes everything go smoother.   The camera ship pilot was the only person in the air most of the day and he too commented on how well everyone did and how smoothly everyone handled it all.    It was a very safe and fun event and that’s what we want to see from here on out.   Thanks again for your efforts.

So Many Things Requiring Sign Up

Many people mentioned the numerous things for the fly-in on our website that required you to sign up.   We understand that this may be new to most of you and it may also be unlike any other event you attend but we can assure you, this is the primary reason the overall event went as smooth as it did.  

Originally this event was a one day event  with lunch being served and it was easier to manage the risk involved. But it has grown on its own to 2 1/2 days with 7 meals. We are only able to do most of the work by ourselves to within a few weeks of the fly-in at which point volunteers start to kick in.  We also do not have a large budget and in order to plan effectively, having everyone sign up for everything they intend to do makes it all work.  

We understand that some people showed up for the Friday night hog roast having not signed up and were a little disappointed that the pork was claimed.  This is perhaps the best example of why we have the sign ups.  Our hog roast dude can only handle a certain number and we cannot afford to pay up front for 300 people if weather or something else may leave us with 100 people on Friday night.   Signing up allows us to have a quality estimate for everything from food to port-o-lets; both of which get really expensive.  If you bear with us, we think you will really grow to like all the things available to you through our website by making sure you sign up. 

Keep reading NORDO News throughout the year to find out when 2008 sign-up forms have been posted to the website for the 2008 Wood, Fabric, & Tailwheel Fly-In.

St. Louis Helicopter

This was the best laugh of the day.  Early on Saturday, many people pointed out a large Sikorsky flying overhead toward Cincinnati.  The helicopter was on its way to lift some Air Conditioning units onto buildings in that very city.  When they were done there, they were originally supposed to go on to Columbus and do the same but when the time came, the job cancelled so they headed back to base in Jeffersonville; a base that would take them back over their original route.  

Back at Lee Bottom later in the day, during the busiest point of the event, I was startled by something very large making a low pass down the runway.   The Sikorsky was back and it was landing.   This big machine was a real hit and it came with a funny story.   We went over to say hello to the pilot and loadmaster when they shared the timeline of their day.   Apparently, they had planned to eat at Columbus but when they headed home instead, they began to get very hungry.   Flying along the river valley, they talked about what they were going to do for food when the loadmaster looking down on the fly-in jokingly said, “I bet they have food” and as it turns out, we did.   Soon, they were on the field and sharing in the fun.  I only wish we had had something that needed moved.  Maybe we can talk them to coming back to move our beacon tower.

So many photos so little time . . .

The photos here and on the website were provided to us by many people,  some professionals and some hobbyist.  We want to thank everyone for sharing their photos with us because we were so busy we didn't have time to take any ourselves.  If you have some you'd like to share, we'd love to see them.   We also want you to know all of them are appreciated even if you don't see them here or on the website.   Often times many months down the road we find a use for a specific photo that was taken by someone and sent to us.  We wish there was a way to share them all with you as we have an incredible collection.  Maybe we could have them scrolling on a screen in the clubhouse?  That would be a nice way of putting them to use.

Something we would love to do, that has been suggested to us is a web camera.  Unfortunately, we live in the boonies where cell phones don't even work and our internet connection is via a satellite dish with very slow upload speeds.  We tried this year, but just couldn't make it work.  Do you have any ideas to make it work?

See links to more photos of this year's fly-in at www.LeeBottom.com/fly in photos.htm

ANOTHER THANKS

Thanks to all the local people and businesses that chipped in to make this year successful. . .

Jendy's Pizza
Calvary Baptist Church
Fox Septic Tank Service
Comfort Inn
Yamaha of Madison
Anderson's Sales & Service, Inc

West Street Bakery

Clifty Inn
Haps Aerial Enterprises, Inc.
Red Pepper Deli
Maverick's

Stat Care
Catch A Ride
Thomas Family Winery
Fillin Station Liquors

Paula & Mike Holloway

Don Krish

Tom Moorehead

Hanover Volunteer Fire Department

Hanover College Catering Department

Boy Scout Troup 708

ONE MORE THANKS

We had the greatest group of volunteers this year.  We actually had more volunteers this year than attendees at the first fly-in event.  A lot of people showed up and then pitched in and therefore we don't have a comprehensive list.   If your name is not on the list, it isn't because we didn't want to recognize you.  We only had 2 people sign-up as volunteers and these are the ones that we can remember.  Please let us know if we missed you so that we can recognize you as appropriate.

Bob Allen, Berry Bannon, STEVE BICKEL, John Bohman,  John Casper, 

John & Arna Davidson,  Karen Davidson,  Betty Davidson, DAVE DERRICK, 

Bruce Edsten, Glenn, Kristin & Piper Frith, Wil Goering, Wayne & Donna Gordon,

Gary Graham, Errol Hand, Wallace Hardin, LeeAnn Hemko, Tom Hubbuch,

Jason Johnson, Steve Koch, Mike Korff, Billy Ladd, Stacie Linn, Dennis Madden,

Jon Mand, Tommy Mason, Bob Matlock, Robbie Murphy, JIM NOLEN,

Philip Pecoulas, Will Pevahouse, Curt Rausch, BILL RENDA,

Dennis & Elizabeth Schell, Jack & Donna Smith, JOHN STUART, Joe Tapp,

MaggieThomas, Cory Thomas & Samuel

PLEASE HELP US ???

If  you had a good time at this year's fly-in event and enjoyed the local area, we encourage you to send your positive comments about Lee Bottom to some of our local officials. 

Because of Lee Bottom's location in a far corner of our county, the fly-in's positive economic impact to the community often goes overlooked.  Despite striving very hard to incorporate many local businesses, motels, restaurants, and others into our event,  we were recently told by one local official that we were not part of the community.

Your support in getting out the word on our contributions to the Madison area community would be appreciated.  Many of you have found the historic aspects of the town and what the area has to offer very appealing on your own.  So let them know that if they did more to support events like ours, perhaps they would have the growth in population they so desire.  

Fly-In Comments:

Thanks Ginger for a great time,the experince took me back to the early 70's of  OshKosh. Your hard work was appreciated. TJ
                                      
On behalf of the Boone county airport association, (Knight's of the Air) we would like to Thank you for your hospitality during this years Wood Fabric and Tail wheel fly in. Our club arrived Friday afternoon with five aircraft to camp for the night, and another five aircraft the next mourning. everyone from the Boone county airport (6I4) enjoyed the good food, fun and friends. your fly in is truly the best that general aviation has to offer........Thank you and looking forward to next year!

C and P L

                                      
Rich & Ginger,

Absolutely AWESOME event you had today. Congratulations !! Thank you both for all you do for our kind of flying !! We had a wonderful day at Lee Bottom.

R J
                                      
Hi There!

Just wanted to thank you all for the fantastic day on Saturday. I drove down and brought a couple friends from England. We all had a wonderful time. I am looking forward to next year.

Thanks Again,

K S
                                      

Hi, Rich and Ginger....
Here it is Sunday morning, and your weekend is not over yet! I'll bet you're tired. I'm sitting here at my darn machine here WISHING that I was still down there....but it was not possible. Yesterday was just a wonderful, bright, sunny day of enjoying at a closeness that many will probably never experience....the joys of sight and sounds of machines reaching for the heavens!.....

I wish that I had been able to get on the shuttle to see the planes closer. but gettin up on was not in the cards! Maybe a "stepping box" (at the start/finish line..or at a couple "well-flagged" "bus stops"?!) next year for us gimp artists?!! :-)

BUT...it was ALL wonderful!...including the opportunity and privilege of answering unending questions all day from a young man who has never flown and who _had_ no idea of how airplanes fly; one who had been to a couple airshows in the past but never experienced anything like this day. He will forever remember this day and, as a college freshman at Hanover with a desire to write..may someday install this experience in a novel...or maybe write an aviation story and incorporate what he has seen and learned about what it is to _love_ flying, not just as a method of "getting somewhere". Maybe others will grow to know and love it because of him. This, as much as anything, made my day.

Your volunteers are..(and there's no better word)..._wonderful_! It was a pleasure to meet Jack and Donna. (I'm so glad you mentioned them in your newsletter because I never would have known.) He and I are going to communicate by E and it was nice to meet Sam Lyons.

..and of course, the aircraft this year..."WOW! and OMIGOD!!"

You know what I really like about you two? You _both_ look those you're talking with directly in the eye, making those people feel like they're the most important people in the world! I watched you both do it with others!!...so I'm telling the truth! Your are People people!

CYA next year..maybe "in between"? It was an EXCITING day!

Your friend,
D L
                                      
Hi Rich

What a great fly-in this year. My friend Suzy from San Diego had a blast. Kevin McGreevy took her flying Sat, & Mark took her flying Sun in the Stearman. She said that she would be back next year.

My Model T club will try have more T's there next year also.

J
                                      
Rich,

I arrived on Saturday at 11:30 am local time and put my request in  for fuel within an hour of my arrival. I was told it would be 1-2 hours before I was topped off, and that estimate proved accurate. The bottom line is I had no problems at all and really appreciate the effort you folks must make to have the fly-in as successful as it was. Great job! I hope to come back next year and maybe stay overnight.

S J. S
                                      

Rich & Ginger

Just wanted to drop you a note and say thanks for the great fly in. It was our first camping experience in our Maule and I can't think of a better place to do it. We enjoyed everything, relaxed atmosphere, new friends, sights & sounds. It was well organized and very laid back. Thanks for everthing you both did to make it happen. It was our first trip but I've been planning it since the article came out in AOPA. We will see you again next year.

D & M W
                                      
RICH & GINGER,
THE FLY-IN YESTERDAY WAS THE MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE ATTENDED IN A VERY LONG TIME AND WILL RIVAL SUN-N-FUN IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFULL... CONGRATULATIONS ON A WONDERFULL EVENT... I KNOW IT WAS VERY COMPLICATED TO PULL OFF... AND YOU DID IT...
THANKS R
                                      
Hi Rich and Ginger
Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed my weekend at Lee Bottom. It was great, the wx was great, and so were you and your volunteers. For such a big crowd, everything seemed smooth.

Thanks again for a perfect weekend, it was my first, but definitely not my last. I'm usually working weekends(bottom reserve),but had vacation this time. See you next summer or sooner.
R R

                                      

Ginger & Rich,

Thank you, thank you, thank you! - The fly-in was a blast. Beautiful location, great people and a fabulous selection of old airplanes. It was simply wonderful. I can’t wait for next year.

Next time though, I think you need a special lunch line for people who arrive in fabric covered, all wood, tail-wheel airplanes :-)

Wasn’t that Monocoupe Clipwing special fabulous?

S
                                      
Ginger and Rich and all!

What a wonderful airfield you have at Lee Bottom! We can’t complement you enough on how well everything was run and managed and all with such a personal touch. We were made to feel so welcome as “”first-timers” we felt like “royalty”! It was great to see everyone that is kind enough to make an effort to stop and see us at other times of the year up at C77. We had a ball and can’t wait for next year. Your place is breathtaking and the people factor make it a very special event for the aviation community. Keep up the good work, take your shoes off, put your feet up and give yourself a pat on the back as you pour a drink tonight and relax!

Thanks so much for all you do….
S and T T
                                      

Hi Rich,

Made it home fine, even though a little on the late side... about 1 am. Went to work the same morning, a little bit zombified.
I had fun: Lee Bottom is my type of stuff, grassroots and no pretention. Nobody is gonna try to sell you a very light jet at a couple mil apiece.
Anywho, it was nice to meet everybody there and I hope my schedule will allow me to come back soon.
Will send you some pictures when I will find the time to settle a little bit. The season is not over yet.
G A
                                      
I would like to take time to express my sincere appreciation for all the work that went into preparing for this year's annual fly-in. I flew in with my brother who is not a pilot and has had little exposure to aviation. He was TOTALLY impressed with the event! Again you have outdone yourselves this year. I hope the energy continues, as well as the donations, for further expansion for years to come.

J. C P
                                      
Just wanted to say thank you for a great weekend.
B B
                                      
I know you probably get a tiring amount of these emails after a fly-in, but it was really nice. We missed it last year as we were between planes.

Good Job.....keep it up, it is really getting to be one of the better fly in experiences available in the country. We've been coming since about '98.

S M
                                      

Dear Madam/Sir,
Last weekend I was over from the UK to attend both the Mustang airshow as well as the Lee Bottom fly-in. Without a doubt, I enjoyed the last one much more! It was my first visit to the USA and the atmosphere of Lee Bottom flying field just blew me away. It's a fantastic place you have there.
As a long-time airshow photographer I took my camera with me and shot many photos of the event. Would you be interested in these in one way or another? I would somehow like to make them available to the people who attended the event.....

Kind regards,

R O
                                      
Norma and I flew the c140 to lee bottom flying field on the Ohio River between Indiana and Kentucky Saturday and a hundreds of other assorted flyers did the same. I thought I was in Paradise. Surely this is what Heaven is like for me. "Norma, aren't you excited?" I asked and she smiled, not nearly so excited. We walked up and down every aisle of planes and steady streams of still more planes kept landing. Walking in front of the front rows was best as one could be within 100 feet of the planes landing or rolling out.

As we walked to the food tents and looked toward final, eight planes were stacked up some fishtailing to slow down during decent, four more on base, and four downwind. Amazing! The pictures, only fifty yet on-line don't really do it justice. I had left home without my camera. When we landed shortly before 10:00 already hundreds had landed and departed. They were coming and going continuously. I don't know if anybody really kept count.  I asked every pilot I saw if they could see anything wrong. None could. It was perfect.

Afterward as we walked back to our plane after lunch I asked her what planes she saw and what all she could tell me about them. She said "well I saw red ones, white ones, yellow ones, green ones, red and white ones ..... They had wings and wheels, engines and a propeller..., when you've seen one, you've seen them all." and so on. So clearly we all don't see everything in the same light and with the same appreciation.

A dozen c140's similar to ours were there. That makes me think it must be among the safest tailwheel planes and the one produced in the largest numbers perhaps. A dozen Stearman, several others with radial engines were there. Wood, fabric and tailwheels was the theme. I saw several types I'd never seen before, one that comes to mind was high wing, fabric, and twin engines mounted on the high wing, two place, tandem and its paint scheme made it look modern. The engines looked to be 150hp I'd guess. I cannot remember the manufacturer. It was in perfect condition. Another was a Meyers from 1946, low wing two place, retrac' faster than the Swift and it looked brand new. The couple camped out there with a tent he'd brought, (she drove in). Only 15 Meyers, low wing two place are left flying anywhere in the world. A dozen Swift were there, various colors, the best being the polished silver, reminding me of the Old Navigator's stories. A few WACO biplanes were there. I'd guess fifty planes were from the 1930s, with three
hundred and more from the 1940s era when every returning pilot from the war, my dad included, thought every American pilot returning would own an Airplane as would his children and his children's children.

We bought lunch, a few shirts and some expensive avgas at $4.90 per gallon. That seems high, higher of course than the car gas we prefer, but we are happy that the generous young married couple who put on this event can make a little money to repay in part all their efforts. It must be amazingly stressful self-induced pressure for one couple, not even retired, to own, operate and keep up this little grass stip, and to organize this annual event. They own a piece of Heaven. In that one picture I attached you'll see they own a view of the mighty Ohio River on the right side, over which one flies the downwind leg for either runway and they own a view of their own mountain beside their grass strip. If you ever drive from Arizona to Indiana and are on I65 North of Louisville, you should detour and see this historic airfield.

This is the way one Saturday every month should be for any old flyer. Words cannot convey the grandeur of this aviation event in anything short of an entire book with pictures and with the stories of the flyers who love those old planes. Even then reading it and seeing its pictures cannot possibly
bring the same excitement as being there.
 
                                      
Rich: Here's what I cooked up from this weekend's activities. As Ed Sullivan used to say, "It's a really big show!" What was the final count of airplanes?  Awesome job! Tailwinds, R
                                      
 GINGER, RICH, & ACE

MANY TX FOR ANOTHER GREAT EVENT! I AM GLAD TO HAVE ATTENDED & CONTRIBUTED.

LATER J
                                      

Rich,

Your fly in and hog roast was a real treat. My son had a fine time too.

It really was a surreal scene with all those gorgeous planes flying in and lining up neatly. The DC3 arrival was spectacular.

I hated to have to leave early Saturday. Next year, I'm staying for the whole thing.

Thanks to both you and Ginger for all of your hard work, vision and the talent to pull it off. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you for future events.

Bill O
                                      
Ginger and Rich,

I go to Brodhead every year and I used to think it was big.

Thanks for all your hard work putting on this GREAT event.
                                      


Dear Ginger:
It was a pleasure meeting you at the conclusion of the dinner last Saturday. I was one of individuals staying at the Comfort Inn and was a passenger in Lynn Ford's 1958 Bellanca Cruisemaster. You may recall that we flew in from Butler, PA
Although I don't currently own a wood, fabric or tailwheel airplane (I do have a Mooney Ovation), I just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed the opportunity to attend your fly in. In 30+ years of flying, it was unquestionably the nicest aviation event that I have attended. I think it is wonderful that you and your husband have taken on the challenge of operating the Lee Bottom Flying Field.
I have just made a donation of  through your website, via PayPal. I'm sure you will be able to put it to good use.
Thanks again for all that you are doing. Maybe by next September, I will do something crazy like selling the Ovation and buying a 50 or 60 year old classic.
Sincerely,
J S
                                      

Thanks for all of the hospitality……This was our first time to LeeBottom. We had been planning it for 6 months and could not wait till the fly-in arrived. We almost didn’t make it due to a flat tail wheel tire on a fuel stop in Bardstown KY. (Thank you Tractor supply) I bet you didn’t know Tractor Supply sold airplane parts J My Wife, kids and myself can’t wait till next year for the fly-in. I attached a couple of pictures we took…….

Thanks again
                                      
Hi there Lee Bottom Airport, just want to tell you again how much we enjoyed the fly-in this year. It was absolutely great. We are your neighbors across the road, The Cranes, we have told several of our friends and they want to come next year to see what we keep talking about. We are sure alot of hard work is put into this event, but look at the results!!! Once again thanks so much. It was a great day. D and M.
                                      
I MUST SAY THAT FRITZ WOULD BE LOOKING DOWN FROM HIS CLOUD NINE I JUST FINISHED VIEWING THE PHOTOS OF THIS YEARS FLY-IN(2007) AND REALLY MISSED A GOOD SHOW!! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE MISSED SINCE IT STARTED AS YOU KNOW. THAT WAS WHEN FLYING CONTESTS WERE HELD, AND I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE WON THE FIRST FLOWER BOMBING EVENT. SOME THINGS ARE NEVER FORGOTTEN IN OUR LIVES.

POSITION NOW WITH PRIDE ON WHAT YOU AND GINGER HAVE DONE. I DO REALIZE THAT WITHOUT THE EFFORTS OF SO MANY VOLUNTEERS, THIS COULD NOT HAVE GROWN INTO THE WELL ATTENDED FLY-IN IT HAS BECOME. AGAIN, I WOULD LIKE TO COMMEND YOU AND GINGER AND ALL WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE PLANNING TO BRING THIS WONDERFUL EVENT TO THIS LOCAL AREA…………

…….AND THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES I AM ACCUSTOM TO IN FRANKFORT.

WELL, AGAIN I SORRY TO HAVE MISSED THIS YEARS FLY-IN AND I WILL HAVE MISSED ART FRANCIS FALL FLY-IN ON THE 14th. HE HAS GIVEN ME HIS BLESSING TO BE AWAY THIS ONCE TO GET MARRIED. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO HAVING PHYL WITH ME AS WE ATTEND FLY-INS IN THE FUTURE.

HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL SOON AND WISH ALL BLUE-SAFE SKIES... K
                                      
Good afternoon,

My name is Brian S, and I flew into your fly-in for the first time this fall. I brought a Davis DA-2A, a homebuilt that is neither wood, nor fabric, nor tailwheel.

But I love old airplanes and small grass strips, and I just wanted to say “thank you” for a great event. My dad drove down from Muncie and we spent the middle of the day together wandering through airplanes. The environment was just perfect.

We’ll be back.

Thanks!

B K S

                                      
Dear Rich and Ginger- I want to tell you how much I enjoyed the fly-in. The weather was perfect and camping was very enjoyable. I am glad I came up early on Friday. It was a lot of fun watching all of the arrivals. I bought a cap and glad I did for I guess they were sold out on Saturday. I would love to have a jacket with your logo on the front. I believe you could sell a bunch of those if you had them for sale next year.
Thanks so much for a great weekend and hopefully will see you next year.Best wishes and have a wonderful holiday season. C
                                      

 

We are guessing that each of you know at least one other pilot that would like to see aviation continue for future generations to enjoy.  If you do, NORDO News asks would like you to forward this newsletter to a friend and ask them to Sign-Up.  Let's grow our group that is focused on

"Holding Aviation to a Higher Standard".

Sign up for our FREE e-Pub, click here

to make contributions in support of

Lee Bottom Flying Field

www.LeeBottom.com

www.LeeBottom.com