Gaston's Made it home safe thread.

EdFred

EdFred

Taxi to Parking
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White Chocolate
Wheels down in Michigan w/o incident. Had to dodge some buildups on the way back, but nothing major. Although, that haze layer was HORRIBLE...all the way abot 8,000'
 
Good to hear that, Ed. Great seeing you again! Hey,you won an award....stay tuned...to your snailmailbox. :)
 
Just made it back to the farm in Greg's C190. WHAT a ride. What a treat. Thank you, Greg, you made my day in a big way. :)
 
Wheels down at DPA at 2:45pm, home at 3:15pm.

Great time was had. Next year I'm in on Friday and I WILL land at Gaston's!!
 
Touched down at KPTS at about 1:30, pretty hazy the whole way home.(I think about 5 mi vis.)
I had a blast, the place was everything i expected and more. Hopefully next year i can maybe stay a night or two.
It was great to see everyone,
 
Toby said:
Good to hear that, Ed. Great seeing you again! Hey,you won an award....stay tuned...to your snailmailbox. :)
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Ooooooh....a prize? Woohoo!

Another small milestone. Passed 200 PIC on the way home.

Was nice to see some of you again, and nice to meet a bunch of new people.
 
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Home safe, but that was some of the most miserable flying weather ever. Hot, bumpy, hazy. Would probably have been great at, like, 15,000. As it was, we cruised for a while at 10,500, which is exectly where the tops of the haze layer were.

Could not have enjoyed it more. For those of you who did not go, these folks *really* know how to put on a show! More pics later.

A nicer bunch of people one could never meet.
 
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The Shekels and Lance are home in MSP. Good flight, a bit of rain (not much) and a couple of good bounces but for the most part smooth sailing at 10,000

Lance does appearently have a mechanical problem on the Baron, tho. It would not hold altitude or heading. ;)

Mighta been the pilot, though, but I seriously doubt it. I felt like a drunken sailor flying it! :)

Thanks to all - What a great time!

The Shekels
"Unexpected ballast"
 
I am back in Jeff City. Michael and Nick decided to go commercial from here. Weather was not going to cooperate and the HAZE up here. WOW.

Had just a great time. Will post some pics tomorrow.

Thanks everyone.

Mark B.
 
Sue and I are back safe and sound in Atlanta area. Had to make a pretty major deviation (~60nm) to find a gap between TSs, and had to shoot a GPS approach to get into my airport, but it all worked out ok. Ended up at 13,000' for cruising altitude.

We both loved the event and had a great time meeting everybody. I took a bunch of pictures too and will have to figure out the best way to post them.
 
I'm back at the crib chillin' with a fat spliff :)

In just under 3 hrs my favorite orange lady delivered me safely to Lafayette, LA even though she kept telling me she really wanted to head NE :)

Great meeting everyone & getting more faces to place with the names.

Thanks to everyone who worked to put it together, Especially Diana.
 
Well, I guess I will add my I got home safe message. Had fun. Flight home wasn't much fun. Bumpy and hazy. Wore me out. But over all, it was a fun trip.
 
Home here.

I came back at 16,000... clear and a million. Tops were about 13K, except for an area around the Quitman VOR, where I dodged two buildups. Got between 10 and 20 knots of tailwind headed south :)

I was a bit concerned about the SW Missouri contingent when I heard the convective sigment for a cell in the Harrison, Arkansas area.... Saw it on the XM/Nexrad.
 
Spike and Greg are right. It was a miserable flying down low. We did go on top at 15K and the sight was per the cloud picture below. Clear on top, cool, dodging towers. But coming out of STL we were kept low

Back at home. Thanks for a great weekend.
Thanks are due to Chuck Haberle, without whose labors this communication home for us would not exist.
To Diana and Tom, who made this thing happen.
To Greg Bockelman, whose 190(95) ride was really sweet. Sorry about the crummy 45 degree turns.
To Chip, who I think gave 20 rides.
To Diana, for giving Sue a GREAT time.
To Steve See, for his sense of humor.
To the "awards" committee....

Here are some pics....
 
Well i made it home too, Thank to everyone who was there and special Thanks to Ed G ,for taking me along or i wouldn't have made it, I had a great time and enjoyed meeting everyone "See you at the next One' Dave G
 
Ah, should have posted my home safe here.

"home safe"

Ugly ugly flying. I NEED that IR, time to step the training up some if I can.
 
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bbchien said:
To Diana, for giving Sue a GREAT time.
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I enjoyed flying with Sue. She seemed really comfortable flying the airplane, and she handled the Citabria well. Maybe she'll want to take lessons someday. :)
 
Tony and I really enjoyed the luncheon and meeting all of you
we made it home @ 7:15 half an hour sooner than expected (gotta like an unexpected tailwind from a storm
thanks again everyone
Brian & Tony:lightning:
 
bbchien said:
To Greg Bockelman, whose 190(95) ride was really sweet. Sorry about the crummy 45 degree turns.
Here are some pics....
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You were trying to do 45's? I got news for you. You were doing 60s. :yes: No appologies necessary. :D
 
Glad you all made it safe and had a good time! Maybe next year...

Terry
 
Made it home safely. Departed KMCI commercially for Albuquerque. That haze layer was just too much. Flying on Southwest, we were WAAAAY up there before we broke through the haze. Without an altimeter, but I'm guessing at least 12500, and this was at 1930 local!!!

I'll have pics soon.
 
Not home, but safely on the ground in Houston (EFD). I'll be heading back north on Thursday, then flying like mad for two more days in preparation for my IR checkride on Sunday (at 7:30 AM... Ugh!)

Thanks to Diana for being what Moxie would call the "Babe In Command!"...
Thanks to Bruce for giving me my first 0.3 hours of loggable multi time - What a sweet bird!
Thanks to Dave Taylor for helping me get my tie-down stakes into the hard ground...
Thanks to everyone for showing up! It was great seeing Lance, Bruce, Edx2, Barry, et al again; it was great meeting Chip, Steve, Ron, Bill S, Dave T, Rudy and Jim Belew, Carol, Diana, Nick, Lance #2, Bill J, everyone else, and all of their associated family members for the first time.

To everyone who missed it: You must go next year! No excuses! Worth every penny, every second, every drop of avgas to get there. A cool place (well, except for the OAT! LOL), cooler planes, and the coolest people you could ever hope to meet. Where are we getting together next month? ;-)
 
We made it back to BMI. ( Bloomington) We did a little end running around some thunder storms also. Thanks for the award. I Don't know where I got that it would be three tanks of fuel comming the farthest. A great group of folks. I only hope I can return again .
 
I'm sorry we missed the Sunday brunch but I'm glad we left early. Being non turbocharged I couldn't get above the cumulous layer (even at 10,000) which was lying between BPK and St. Louis. We were getting banged around pretty good so went down to 5,000 to get below it. Still bumped a little in the thermals but was much better turbulence wise but because of the haze not much better visibility wise. Clouds broke up around St. Louis. The haze was so bad I don't think I could have done it VFR. Was very thankful for the IFR when going around St. Louis, Approach advised of a VFR plane climbing in my direction (must have taken off from Spirit). Couldn't see him in the haze. Approach suddenly told me to institute an emergency climb and turn 30 degrees to the right. Full power, hard back on the yoke, saw the Cessna pass by below me probably about 700 ft below and still climbing - don't know how he was VFR in that stuff without even FF. Jackie was calm throughout!!

She says next year we're coming Friday because she wants to fish on Saturday!
 
Wow - I must have caught the only good route home. I flew VFR with flight following from Gastons to Fredricktown, MO ($2.52/gal) at 9500 barely above and sometimes in a very, very hazy sky. But it was smooth as could be with zero bumps whatsoever. From Fredricktown (H88) I filed IFR at 9000 to 9D9 via FAM-OXI, and was smooth the whole way. The cloude layer was only at 7000 so I was up above the lifting action. As the day wore on I avoided a couple of buildups that probably pushed upwards of 11,000 somewhere just east of St. Louis. But even with my wingtip just outside the clouds I could have held a glass of water with it filled to within 3/4" of the rim and wouldn't have spilled it.

Somewhere near Champaign ATC then dropped me to 7,000 which was still smooth but now I was right at the thin (500' or so) cumulus layer. Very smooth outside the clouds, but still popped through a couple with your typical little bumps. I think the theoretical water would have still stayed in the glass however. Crossing the Indiana/Michigan border there was a wall of clouds in front of me that probably topped 14000 and I didn't want to be in that, so I took 5000 which had me just under the bases. If I could turn and see the tail, it would have probably been scraping. It also put me back in the haze (about 4 vis) and was still really smooth. Couldn't make out Hastings airport from 3000 until 3 miles out, cancelled with GRR approach and that was that.

Maybe my early departure got me ahead of the afternoon turbulence because I had none of the bumps everyone else talked about, and I was only at 5/7/9000. Lucky me I suppose.
 
Late response due to internet probs at home but we bugged out just before brunch, (sorry). The hardest part of the flight was finding Mountain Home in the haze!
Left bpk a flying gas tank, got through most of the haze at 12, above the tops of the tcu's at 15.5 and cruised in smoooth cool air at 16,500. The temp there was just above freezing, got complaints from the pax - who would have thought we'd need blankets and sweaters <i>this</i> weekend!
A lot of fun, a great getaway. Many thanks to our organizers especially Diana.

Let's consider an early fall gathering there?
 
Here is a picture I took at 10,500, about 20 minutes south of Gaston's.

Is that gross, or what?

More pics later, but I have to (regretfully) work.

Ciao, y'all.

/s/ Spike
 
Well, Kelly and I made it home today around 9:30 AM. We started home from Branson on Sunday, with TS developing along the way with 3-5 mile visibility the briefer suggested the AM today. Today the haze was not much better, but we are here safe and sound. It was such a pleasure to met all of you and I can't wait for next years get together. I have some great pix and will post a few later on after I download them. I have one great shot of Chip going inverted and one of Diana and Carol getting ready for launch.
 
I guess I should have read the whole board before I posted my response over in the Moon Pie thread.

I'm on the ground in Jonesboro, Arkansas. No rush for me. I'll sit here in the hotel till I'm darned good and ready to leave. Considering the wx this time of year it could be a while.

Welcome to the south, y'all. This stuff just moves in and hangs around for days.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
To everyone who missed it: You must go next year! No excuses! Worth every penny, every second, every drop of avgas to get there. A cool place (well, except for the OAT! LOL), cooler planes, and the coolest people you could ever hope to meet. Where are we getting together next month? ;-)
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Maybe we should try for EARLY summer (or late spring) next time (mid May?). Not as hot yet...
 
Or somewhere more northerly (read cooler), as some of us had discussed? I'd be interested in seeing where everyone came from this time. Was Gaston's still central to everyone?
 
We were the last of the departures of those leaving yesterday. Toby left earlier with Greg in his Cessna 195 for her ride back to the farm. I finally took off. As I climbed over the north ridge, Tom called me on the radio and told me the Skyhawk wouldn't start. As I re-entered the pattern, Greg called me from miles away to see if everything was OK. Steve also called on the radio to see if we needed his help. (Isn't it great that we all watch out for each other; we're like one big family.) I landed and then jumped in the Skyhawk and held the brakes while watching Tom pull the prop through in that heat until it finally started. Poor fella. :( We then had an uneventful flight home.

This morning it was IMC at XNA, so Toby and I started driving at 5:00 to get her to the airport for her 8:00 flight.

Carol Hays just left the farm for Kansas City awhile ago. I think that spending time with you guys has made her interested in going back to her flight training again. She and Tom were going through her logbook last night.

I know she sure loved flying in and flying the Cessna 195. :yes: Thanks for taking her Greg.
 
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flyingcheesehead said:
Thanks to Bruce for giving me my first 0.3 hours of loggable multi time - What a sweet bird!
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Sorry it was only .3. You know, I had promised it, and with 20 minutes to go for brunch, there we were....That's probably the shortest OEI I've ever done....didn't even get to do the Vmc drill.

Oh well. Ace that IR ride....
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Late response due to internet probs at home but we bugged out just before brunch, (sorry).
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Dave! You left early! You left without saying good-by! Where's my hug? :( We didn't get to visit enough. :(

Well, I still have my memories of our flights together. It was great flying with you! What a great pilot you are. And so unflappable. Sorry we didn't get to do spins, and also had to cut our Citabria flight short. Thank you again for my first flight in a Viking; an impressive airplane. I want one now, even if it is a low wing airplane. How do you find one that hasn't had three (or twenty) people standing on the wings? ;)
 
Diana said:
Dave! You left early! You left without saying good-by! Where's my hug? :( We didn't get to visit enough.
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Sorry, I'm not good at 'goodbyes'; baggage from old family things I guess! :)
Let's say "See y'all next time", instead?

Diana said:
Well, I still have my memories of our flights together. It was great flying with you! What a great pilot you are. And so unflappable. Sorry we didn't get to do spins, and also had to cut our Citabria flight short.
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I have to tell everyone that Diana is one smooth stick, I must say. Good flying and thanks for sharing Diana, I really enjoyed the Citabria ride. The viking is not a great sight seeing plane Im afraid.
 
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