April Mid-West Fly-In - Locations Poll

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sba55

sba55

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sba55
April West-Central Fly-In - Locations Poll

We're trying to organize a fly-in for April (so that we don't have to wait for Gaston's to talk about airplanes). There's a few possible locations...vote away!

1V6 = Canon City, CO
Lots of stuff to do nearby: The Royal Gorge, a historic railroad, bridge, and a nice town. Not in the mountains, so elevation isn't a problem. See http://www.royalgorgeroute.com/fremontcountyairport.htm.

CNM = Carlsbad, NM
There's the taverns nearby and a nice little town.

SKX = Taos, NM
Elevation might be a problem, but it's a nice community. Lots of nice galleries and restaurants, according to Mari.

PGS = Pagosa Springs, CO
Also in the mountains. Nice outdoor location with beautiful scenery.

Our main goal is to find an airport that is close enough for folks and not too far in the mountains. We don't want to have a bunch of people canceling because of ice, which could happen even in April. Also, all the locations above have services nearby, and there's lots of stuff to do nearby. Lastly, we're looking for airports that aren't too busy so that we can set up there without disturbing anyone. The airports above are uncontrolled.
 
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Felix, I'm lazy. Could you please provide a brief description of each and why it would be a good location? And I don't think Jay's aviation-themed hotel is represented there, either! And Mid-West? Not as I usually think about it!

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1V6[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+1]Fremont County Airport
Canon City, Colorado, USA

[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]KCNM[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+1]Cavern City Air Terminal
Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA

[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]KSKX[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+1]Taos Regional Airport
Taos, New Mexico, USA

KPGS ????
[/SIZE][/FONT]
 
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tonycondon said:
uh, what airports are those?
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1V6 = Canon City, CO
CNM = Carlsbad, NM
SKX = Taos, NM
PGS = Pagosa Springs, CO (actually should be PSO or otherwise known as POS in chat ;) )
 
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geography is not felix's strong point. he flew to chicago for a fly in in Ames.
 
Wow, that's the most responses I've ever gotten on a thread in just 3 minutes!
 
Felix, regardless of whether they're West or Mid-West, how do these compare in terms of facilities, amenities, ability to host a fly-in, etc? What led you to choose these locations?
 
gprellwitz said:
Felix, regardless of whether they're West or Mid-West, how do these compare in terms of facilities, amenities, ability to host a fly-in, etc? What led you to choose these locations?
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Grant:

You missed out in the chat. We've been discussing these and lots of others for hours now. The ones above are all fairly quiet, there's lots of stuff to do nearby and all have decent facilities....
 
sba55 said:
Grant:

You missed out in the chat. We've been discussing these and lots of others for hours now. The ones above are all fairly quiet, there's lots of stuff to do nearby and all have decent facilities....
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Well, with over 3000 members eligible to vote, and probably never more than 50 in chat at once, I suspect a lot of us missed out on that chat! Is there a reason that Jay Honeck's place in Iowa wasn't included? Maybe because he's on the East coast? :rofl:
 
gprellwitz said:
Well, with over 3000 members eligible to vote, and probably never more than 50 in chat at once, I suspect a lot of us missed out on that chat! Is there a reason that Jay Honeck's place in Iowa wasn't included? Maybe because he's on the East coast? :rofl:
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LOL!

I think Iowa may be a bit too far. There's a lot of fly ins way out that way, not too many westernish.

The midwestern states like New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and California are underrepresented :D

BTW - the vote counter is wrong. Shows 3-2 current vote, but it should be 3-3....
 

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You know if you are looking just a little east KHUT, Hutchinson, KS might be a good spot. That is where the Kansas Cosmosphere is located.

Just a thought. As it is actually the Midwest there too ;)
 
yea it would be nice to have a fly in west of the missouri river.

Hutch would be OK scott, thats real close to Wichita :)
 
gprellwitz said:
Felix, regardless of whether they're West or Mid-West, how do these compare in terms of facilities, amenities, ability to host a fly-in, etc? What led you to choose these locations?
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The requirements were; uncontrolled; no airlines; something to do nearby; not too mountainous (although KPSO is pretty mountainous); and I think we were looking in the southwest (CO, NM, west TX), not the midwest, contrary to the thread title.

Canon City has the Royal Gorge nearby (where the guy did his jet pack flying), Carlsbad has the caverns, Pagosa Springs is a beautiful location with outdoor activities, and Taos is a cool town with galleries and restaurants.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
hey, Carlsbad's biggest draw would likely be the world famous and rather amazing Caverns.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlsbad_Cavern
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sba55 said:
i agree, dave, carlsbad might be nice, too...
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I have been to the caverns and they are really cool! Not much to do in the rest of the town but you are not all that far form Roswell.
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SkyHog said:
LOL!

I think Iowa may be a bit too far. There's a lot of fly ins way out that way, not too many westernish.
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Fair enough, but let's not call it a Midwest fly-in, then!
SkyHog said:
The midwestern states like New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and California are underrepresented :D
.
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Well, of those precisely ZERO are midwestern states!
Wikipedia said:
The Midwestern United States (also called the Midwest, the Middle West, and The Heartland) is one of the four geographic regions within the United States of America that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau. The region consists of twelve states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
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I see Mari's note about SOUTHwest as opposed to MIDwest, and it starts to make sense!
 
Now, Mari, you know as well as I do the choices were purely arbitrary and the thread title was to see who really read the posting.

:smilewinkgrin:

Everskyward said:
The requirements were; uncontrolled; no airlines; something to do nearby; not too mountainous (although KPSO is pretty mountainous); and I think we were looking in the southwest (CO, NM, west TX), not the midwest, contrary to the thread title.

Canon City has the Royal Gorge nearby (where the guy did his jet pack flying), Carlsbad has the caverns, Pagosa Springs is a beautiful location with outdoor activities, and Taos is a cool town with galleries and restaurants.
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I think it would be cool for you West-MidWesterners ;) to have some flyins. Lots of stuff in the true Midwest happening throughout the year and some east coast stuff too. Y'all should start sharing the social load!! :)
 
Y'all missed my joke about "midwestern." I was following the thread title, nothing more :D

And the vote is still 3-2, with 3 people voting for 1V6, and 3 voting for KCNM. I suck at math.
 
i dont care where you have it, but ill try to make it
 
Average April Hi/Low Temps:
Carlsbad: 79/46
Canon City: 65/35
Taos: 61/30
Pagoda Springs: 59/30

I vote Carlsbad! :)
 
Canon City has glider ops. it gets my vote.
 
And I thought Americans were supposed to have the world's worst education in geography! ;)

So far, the three major PoA fly-ins are all on the eastern half of the country (6Y9, Gaston's, Wings). Additionally, all three of them are effectively during the summer months (May, June, and August/September). Those of us in chat were talking and agreed that we didn't want to wait that long to get together and have more "What happens in [place] stays in [place]" stories, and talk about planes, so that's where April came from (expect to have another vote on which weekend works best for people after this one has run its course). It makes sense to diversify some geographically and get together on the western half. First off it gives us all an excuse to go somewhere else, and second off it makes for a fly-in that's easier for our friends out west to get to, and those of us in the east will have to travel a little further (this might be good incentive for plane-pooling).

I'll state that regardless of where it is, I will do my best to attend. Although having won the award for furthest to travel by GA for the past two fly-ins I attended (6Y9 and Tony's party), I will likely fly commercial out somewhere west of the Mississippi and hitch a ride via GA with someone else. Unless I have something with two engines, 6 seats, and can fill all 6 seats with people who will help me pay for gas. ;)

I'd love to see Carlsbad, but my vote goes to 1V6. It looks like there's more to do there, and I'd love to fly/land at altitude.
 
Heck I'm up for flying out to CO....I haven't gotten weathered in west of the Missouri river yet anyway :)
 
vontresc said:
Heck I'm up for flying out to CO....I haven't gotten weathered in west of the Missouri river yet anyway :)
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It's strange for me to think in terms of "west of the Missouri River." I grew up south of it in St. Louis.

But, for all you extreme north yankees... it's a different story. :)
 
I would try to make Canon City. I've never rafted as early as April but think it would be worth exploring.
 
Now THAT is the most unintentionally funny post I've seen here yet! Imagine -- a "Mid-West Fly In" held...OUTSIDE THE MIDWEST!

Only on the internet, man.

:goofy:

Seriously -- If any of you guys want to organize a Midwest fly-in to Iowa City next spring, now's the time to book it! We've got the best GA airport in the Midwest, and all sorts of fun aviation-themed suites in our hotel right next door. Lots of things to see and do around here, too!

I'd suggest late April, early May...
 
I think Felix needs to rename this the Eastern West Coast Fly In :)
 
Canon City is the best option for me too as I can fly my Subaru there pretty easily. I don't know about rafting in April. Remember, the water is snow melt and the snow isn't even done falling in April in the high country. The flow is likely to be very strong and COLD.
 
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vontresc said:
Heck I'm up for flying out to CO....I haven't gotten weathered in west of the Missouri river yet anyway :)
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Good point! I haven't either. Want to ride share? :D
 
Everskyward said:
Canon City is the best option for me too as I can fly my Subaru there pretty easily.
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:rofl:

You wouldn't want to get picked up by one of us? Just because our planes cruise at under FL400, they'll still get you there. ;)
 
Everskyward said:
Yeah, but my Subaru can fly in icing conditions. :rofl:
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Yeah, if only I could put the FIKI characteristics from my Ford on the Mooney. ;)

Interesting story: once I was driving the Dodge Ram turbo diesel I used to own in some positively awful weather. Not that it was cold (although it was cold, and I was happy to have a functioning heater) so much as it was 6" of snow down the highway, and lots of ugly, wet snow. My radio antenna was covered in about 1/4" of ice. At one point, I noticed the truck running warm. Not overheating, but it was running above the middle mark, and considering how cold it was, that was definitely wrong.

I pulled over, and found that the entire grille was covered in slush. Well no wonder it was running warm - there was no airflow through the radiator! I had to punch it out and I was fine for the remainder of the trip (this was about half way through an 800 mile drive, as I recall).
 
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