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President's Message Sam Evans
October always brings great flying weather. Those first little fronts make for clear skies and cool, smooth air. It also brings a time to take a "breather" from all the hard work of putting our third Airfest together; at least for a hand full of people that seem to make the Airfest "happen" each year. A name that comes up regularly in Airfest conversations is that of Charlotte Rhodes. Charlotte has worked very hard this year in helping to get Airfest organized. Gray Bridwell was also busy working all aspects of the event. And a special atta-boy goes to Wes Hays for his part in rounding-up over 120 Young Eagle flyers for the event. Please take the time to personally thank these 471 members for their service. **** Being an active chapter member is important to making our chapter "solid". EAA Chapter 471 is an important part of the foundation of general aviation in Abilene, Texas. We can't afford to lose that footing. It will always take members to do their fair share in chapter support in order to keep the chapter strong. Yes, it takes time and effort. But, being a part of the on-going heritage of Chapter 471 can be rewarding. ~ Sam ~
ROTAN YOUNG EAGLES FLIGHT SET FOR THE 15TH
Wes Hays has set up another Young Eagles flight in Rotan, Texas for Saturday, October 15th. Scotty, over in Rotan, says there'll be a free breakfast for the pilots and free gas as long as there are kids to fly. Rotan (56F) is on a 304o true and only 45nm from ABI. YE pilot briefing is at 0830 and YE flights start at 0900. Now folks, you just can't beat a deal like this and we need all the help we can get. So get those props a-spinnin' and buzz on over to Rotan on the 15th!
Chapter 471 Breakfast On for the 8th Are you missing that great 471 monthly breakfast? Me too. So, come on over to the Pride Hangar on Saturday, October 8th by 9:am for some great food and lots of lies... I mean conversation about flying. Set-up will be at 5:15pm on Friday. Volunteers are always needed and welcome.
Leather Flight Jacket Raffle Nears Deadline
A couple of months ago, I received a letter from EAA headquarters stating that they had a limited number of leather flight jackets available free to EAA chapters. The only condition for getting a jacket was to use it as a means of fund-raising for the chapter. So, I filled out the request form, mailed it off to Oshkosh and crossed my fingers. Well, to my surprise, the jacket arrived at the house the day before the start of Airfest. What luck! The jacket will be at this month's breakfast so you can check it out and have an opportunity to purchase raffle tickets. Who knows….if we get enough tickets sold, we just might have the drawing during the breakfast. Be there! ~ Sam ~
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2005 By Steve Krazer
Airfest weekend began with cancellations...the Formation Flight Clinic...the military assets... and a couple other Airshow participants...then came the additions... "Alliance has been cancelled, can we come to BCAF". For Sure! After all the dire warnings of high winds and heavy rains... the only "Rita" that showed up at this year's AirFest flew in with an air racer from Arizona.
It was a fun, successful event! Many thanks to all the volunteers, sponsors, Young Eagles Pilots, participants and planners that made the 3rd Annual Big Country AirFest a success.
When the gates opened at 8:00, parents began streaming through to get their children a chance at a FREE airplane ride. And ride they did. Chapter #471 members buckled up over 120 eager Young Eagles for an adventure flight over Abilene. The first 100 young fliers also received a free "I Can Fly" T-shirt courtesy of our Young Eagles sponsor, the Star Family of Dealerships.
In the vendor area... visitors could have genuine "dog tags" made by genuine U.S. Marines... purchase a photo of their "Young Eagle" or check out numerous displays of aircraft parts, military memorabilia, and TSTC programs. The Abilene Southwest Rotary Club organized a food court filled with delicious menu offerings so AirFest participants could quench their thirst, and satisfy their appetites.
Dozens of aircraft flew in to Abilene and were on display. Among them were two of the first enthusiast completed RV-10's in the world. Both were from Burlington, Colorado. Both were completed in the same garage. Falcon Flight came with six RV's. A tiger Moth was on display in the Trade show area.. a Stinson, a Fairchild... the list goes on and on.
This year the Big Country AirFest hosted its first ever Air Race... where pilots flew against the clock on a course from Abilene to Albany to Stamford and back to Abilene Regional. With a little arm-twisting, our own Dave Bradshaw took part in the race and had a blast.
By changing runways, this year's crowd could enjoy the heart pounding airshow without having to look into the sun. From Jerry Mercer in his sleek Italian designed FS260 Marchetti to J.D. Daniel in his Stearman bi-plane and Ron Cain in his "Chipmunk", the Abilene crowd marveled at all the twists, turns and smoke trails. "Falcon Flight" and the "Texas Twisters" T-34 group performed amazing formation flying maneuvers. On the wheels side, we had several dozen unique cars, trucks and motorcycles on display. They came from all over the Big Country. The AirFest crowd was able to review anything from street rods to Rolls-Royces, vintage Corvettes to muscle cars. Trophies were awarded to the top two vehicles in each class following the airshow. In addition to the display cars, the military brought out a giant "Oshkosh Wrecker". The knobs on the tires were as big as your fist!
As dusk settled in over the 2005 AirFest, the aroma of sizzling steaks and bison burgers called everyone to the T-hangar area for "Steakfest". Here a large gathering of folks enjoyed great food and the sounds of the Tim Bosley Band.
Thanks again to everyone that helped with this year's event. Plans are already underway for the 2006 AirFest. Volunteers are always needed. Ideas are always welcome. ~ Steve ~ ********************
"No one can realize how substantial the air is, until he feels its supporting power beneath him. It inspires confidence at once." - Otto Lilienthal J **************************************************************
AirFest in Review
"The Spirit of Being a Volunteer" by Charlotte Rhodes
I believe we had a successful event considering Rita, Balloon Fest and everything else going on around town. We have had our wrap up meeting and discussed the things we need to work on for next year. The current AirFest Committee is top notch, working extremely well with one another and I hope it remains the same for next year. As everyone knows, you cannot pull off this event without volunteers. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to help us out in every venue. For my projects alone, a great thanks goes out to Randy my manager, his father-in-law "Doc" for helping me Friday with setup and registration, Arlis for picking up my slack on Friday and Saturday, Brian, Creighton and Robert, three Dyess Controllers who worked tirelessly on any project I gave them and Cindy, Donna and Judy. These three ladies flew down from Colorado with their husbands for AirFest. Friday afternoon they saw I needed more help and asked what they could do. I took them up on it and let them run the registration. Saturday they came back and did the same. I couldn't have done it without them. Gray and Steve, thanks for the endless hours and energy you devoted to this event. A big thanks goes out to David Stark for letting us display his Tiger Moth, to Tim for helping get the Tiger Moth in the hangar and for the use of his tent, to Dan for coming out early Saturday morning and opening up the TSTC hangar, you are a trooper. Hobby and Tom did an outstanding job on judging and I hope they will do it again next year, thanks guys. John Schmitz, you did an awesome job and we hope you continue to be a part of AirFest, many good things have been said about you. For the trade vendors that did show up, we all thank you and hope you will return next year.To wrap this up, we sold $280 worth in shirts and hats, $134 in raffle tickets for the jacket (so far) and had 38 fly-in pilots register. We gave away a lot of free stuff and for anyone who wants an Aircraft Spruce catalog, see me, we do have some left over. Hope to see everyone at breakfast. ~ Charlotte ~ *****************************************************************
By Sam Evans
It's amazing what goes on in people's shops behind their house. At his house on 22nd street in south Abilene, Jack Duncan is restoring an Aeronca 7AC "Champ". From what was once a pile of parts, he is well on his way to assembling a beauty of a plane. Jack started on the project in the summer of 2003. He said that he acquired the parts, "mostly junk", from an individual in Dennison, Texas. The 1946 classic plane was Aeronca's answer to the J3 Cub. Jack says he hopes to complete the plane in about another year. The "Champ" has a 65hp Continental engine with an auto gas STC. Its low gross weight and engine size make the plane Light-Sport-Aircraft eligible. The fuselage is mostly complete with a little cowling work left to do. Jack says that he'll then start on the wings for the craft. Building a kit plan is a "piece of cake" compared to restoring an airplane from the ground up, says Jack. He should know since he has already built a Kit Fox and a Quicksilver ultralight. Keep up the good work, Jack. We look forward to seeing it fly! ~ Sam ~ ******************************************************************************************************
More pics from Airfest
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