EdFred
Taxi to Parking
http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/region/2008/081217mo.html
AOPA must only write about stuff that goes on in Missouri.
AOPA must only write about stuff that goes on in Missouri.
Oh like this has never been done before.
- Thread starter EdFred
- Start date
EdFred
Taxi to Parking
Good luck. Adam talked with someone about it quite in depth, gave them information on how to contact us and everything. Never heard from them. If Phil couldn't land there with the Citation the airport doesn't matter.
wsuffa
Touchdown! Greaser!
Festus on Festivus. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
K
KennyFlys
Guest
Wow! That's a shocker. I grew up just down the road from Festus while going to school at Hillsboro. My first discovery flight was there about 1975. It cost all of ten bucks. In spite of lessons being so cheap at the time, I had no means living in the country and no transportation so nothing happen until I was in the Navy five years later.
One thing I did do is start attending the CAP meetings there. I never joined but I got to make several flights with area pilots, including a couple trips across the state to CAP activities.
I'm surprised it has never been lengthened. It's still 2200 feet. Back then, they had two Beech 18's based there (Down Felix!). I recall one being lost in an accident but no details about it. There were no injuries that I can recall. It seems like I recall the Beech's had to takeoff and land only from the south due to the hill at the north end.
A couple things I can recall from those days... There was "Stew" who had a fairly new Mooney at the time. He was an insurance rep. Another was a fella who had a brand new, bright shiny red Citabria. Looking back, no one ever flew with him... maybe because he was pretty much at MTOW with just himself. Utility category was probably out of the question.
The guy I first met surrounding the CAP was an engineer with AT&T. He had an older Cherokee but I can't recall what model. I originally knew him through ham radio and had learned he was building a BD-5 in his garage. I recall him once making the statement he'd "sell the wife and kids before he got rid of the plane."
I lost track of those guys after I went off to the Navy. A few years later, I stopped in at the airport just to peek around. It was while my dad was terminal with cancer and I was located at the recruiting station on humanitarian orders. I picked just about any reason I could not to go to the hospital as I couldn't stand seeing him there. So, I went to the airport in the late afternoon but still light.
I had asked about the guys I had known years earlier but the guy there couldn't tell me much. I did ask about the Cherokee owner and related the story of how he'd give up his wife before the plane. I was told he was divorced and he no longer owned the Cherokee.
One thing I'll never forget, the airport manager at the time who gave me the discovery flight... his name was Charlie Linberg (No "d"). Nope, no relation. But, he was well-known to the flying community because of a similar name. During that return visit, I can't recall if Charlie Linberg was still around at that time or not.
That visit back to Festus airport would have been right around Christmas 1980. My dad died a couple weeks later. A month after that, thanks to an appreciative CO, I was given my choice of almost any duty station I wanted. I wanted P-3s at Navy Jax. That wasn't possible so I ended up working on S-3's at Cecil Field, just down the road from Navy Jax. A week after my arrival, I was at the Navy Jax Flying Club taking my first lesson with a retired Navy chief and then flight instructor, John Masterson.
I hope this airport does survive and does well. After the closure of Weiss a few years ago for the sake of a hotel, folks in south St. Louis County or northern Jefferson County either have to cross over to Cohokia, IL or go west to St. Claire or Spirit for parking a plane. Festus has a lot of potential if they would lengthen the field. That extra 2000 would make a huge difference. I'm surprised it hasn't happen before.
It was that last visit to Festus Memorial that pushed me to take lessons. So, more than anything I want to see that seemingly small part of my childhood survive long after I'm gone.
Edit: I dug back into old NTSB records for Beech 18 incidents. The closest I could find linked in the appropriate line above. Looking at over a dozen incidents over a ten-year period, just about every one involved issues of misjudging speed, altitude and distance. That sounds about right for such a short runway. Having it lengthened a few decades ago might have helped escape more than a few headaches.
One thing I did do is start attending the CAP meetings there. I never joined but I got to make several flights with area pilots, including a couple trips across the state to CAP activities.
I'm surprised it has never been lengthened. It's still 2200 feet. Back then, they had two Beech 18's based there (Down Felix!). I recall one being lost in an accident but no details about it. There were no injuries that I can recall. It seems like I recall the Beech's had to takeoff and land only from the south due to the hill at the north end.
A couple things I can recall from those days... There was "Stew" who had a fairly new Mooney at the time. He was an insurance rep. Another was a fella who had a brand new, bright shiny red Citabria. Looking back, no one ever flew with him... maybe because he was pretty much at MTOW with just himself. Utility category was probably out of the question.
The guy I first met surrounding the CAP was an engineer with AT&T. He had an older Cherokee but I can't recall what model. I originally knew him through ham radio and had learned he was building a BD-5 in his garage. I recall him once making the statement he'd "sell the wife and kids before he got rid of the plane."
I lost track of those guys after I went off to the Navy. A few years later, I stopped in at the airport just to peek around. It was while my dad was terminal with cancer and I was located at the recruiting station on humanitarian orders. I picked just about any reason I could not to go to the hospital as I couldn't stand seeing him there. So, I went to the airport in the late afternoon but still light.
I had asked about the guys I had known years earlier but the guy there couldn't tell me much. I did ask about the Cherokee owner and related the story of how he'd give up his wife before the plane. I was told he was divorced and he no longer owned the Cherokee.
One thing I'll never forget, the airport manager at the time who gave me the discovery flight... his name was Charlie Linberg (No "d"). Nope, no relation. But, he was well-known to the flying community because of a similar name. During that return visit, I can't recall if Charlie Linberg was still around at that time or not.
That visit back to Festus airport would have been right around Christmas 1980. My dad died a couple weeks later. A month after that, thanks to an appreciative CO, I was given my choice of almost any duty station I wanted. I wanted P-3s at Navy Jax. That wasn't possible so I ended up working on S-3's at Cecil Field, just down the road from Navy Jax. A week after my arrival, I was at the Navy Jax Flying Club taking my first lesson with a retired Navy chief and then flight instructor, John Masterson.
I hope this airport does survive and does well. After the closure of Weiss a few years ago for the sake of a hotel, folks in south St. Louis County or northern Jefferson County either have to cross over to Cohokia, IL or go west to St. Claire or Spirit for parking a plane. Festus has a lot of potential if they would lengthen the field. That extra 2000 would make a huge difference. I'm surprised it hasn't happen before.
It was that last visit to Festus Memorial that pushed me to take lessons. So, more than anything I want to see that seemingly small part of my childhood survive long after I'm gone.
Edit: I dug back into old NTSB records for Beech 18 incidents. The closest I could find linked in the appropriate line above. Looking at over a dozen incidents over a ten-year period, just about every one involved issues of misjudging speed, altitude and distance. That sounds about right for such a short runway. Having it lengthened a few decades ago might have helped escape more than a few headaches.
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AdamZ
Touchdown! Greaser!
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Adam Zucker
Yeah Lord knows I tried Ed. Called them went to meetings wrote them.
Great retrospective, Kenny.
Nearly all the airports of my youth are gone, but the one that my dad and I visited most often, is the one where my airplane sleeps at night, Addison.
I am amazed at how many little airports used to be around here.
Nearly all the airports of my youth are gone, but the one that my dad and I visited most often, is the one where my airplane sleeps at night, Addison.
I am amazed at how many little airports used to be around here.