BACFest 2010 Happenings

Good stuff, Mark! Thanks for sharing. I guess Dan can add another rating to his certificate! Way to go, Dan-O!!!!
 
Mark,

I think that is accurate. I rode the thing down to Doug's hotel dodging sidewalk pedestrians and trying not to run off the curb into the bus lane at the same time.

Chris,

I think that thing should require a type rating. Much more difficult than a jet. I guess if you are going to wind up on U-tube it could be much worse. At least I did not take a header off of it. Missed you today.

Dan Jonas
 
We are trying to find where we stowed all our junk in the hotel room so we can leave.
I want to thank all our great friends of BAC for making this a wonderful event. I look forward to seeing you all and more in New York in 2011!
 
Update from Doug - lunch and gas at Mansfield, LA then gear wouldn't retract on takeoff and now stuck at Alexandria, LA trying to find an A&P late on a Sunday.
--
Mark
 
Chris and I are spending the night in Plainview, TX. PIREP: Couldn't climb above 2500' due to low ceilings for over a hundred miles out of SSF. After that - constant light turbulence rest of way. An early departure tomorrow morning should get us home to Denver by 11AM. Will post after that. Good luck, Doug. Good to see everyone in SA. Safe flights, all!
 
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Denise and I sure enjoyed meeting & getting to know everyone. Made it back to TRL about 2:30. 2500 feet for 30 miles then on top at 7500 rest of the way home....much smoother ride.

Many thanks to all BAC Directors for a superb BACFest 2010 and an absolute standing ovation to Bo and Sandra for their over and above efforts.....GREAT JOB !!!

Looking forward to NY.... Hope we get to come.

Rodney & Denise
6994Q
 
Left KSSF without issues and climbed to 9500 above the clouds for a nice smooth ride. The clouds disappeared as promised after College Station then on Eastward. Stopped for lunch at 3F3 and to get a little of the $3.19 gas. Gear was stuck down after take-off and decided to proceed to KAEX to a bigger airport for a check. Was going to try to make it home but that darn speed break of gear would get us above 110 mph. Found a great A&P and got Bob Lewis on the phone also. Just an FYI, if an A&P checks the brushes on the gear MAKE SURE they line up the notch when putting the cap back on. The cap was put on crooked causing the brushes to wear wrong. Got it cleaned up and put back on correctly and voila we have a great working motor now. Spending the night in Alexandria, LA then home in the morning.

Doug
 
Great news, Doug! So glad you were able to resolve the problem with some awesome help from great people. Fly safe in the morning.


Candy
 
I started off high last night about 6:30, realizing that the last planned event was now underway and nothing serious had gone wrong.
I got a considerable boost in altitude when the speaker was so well received.
I went completely over the top when Hunter said "going once..."
The flight home was beautiful. We stayed under the clouds, starting at ~4500 and slowly working up to 5500 as they lifted. It was just un-smooth enough that we had to keep a hand on the yoke.
I accomplished an above average landing at T31 with the winds at 180 @11G21.
My feet are just now beginning to skim the ground. So, herewith a few observations in no particular order.
We caught up with a lot of "old" friends and added a number of new ones.
We were heartened by the number of new faces, people that are just as fine (and now just as dear to us) as the ones we have known for years.
Contrary to what many would beleive, There was never a time when I was too busy to have fun. My compliments to the hotel staff, the airport staff and the Beans for doing everything I could, in my wildest dreams, expect from them.
There was one time, the first time I hugged Paula, that I almost came to tears.
I laughed so hard on the patio one time with the Hammerhead guys that I almost choked. I approached that level with them several other times. Overall, I think that they are fun-loving but supremely competent and through them Mike'as legacy will be well served.
There is so much more, but I will save it for BACTalk and my journal.
 
It was a great BACFest. Thanks again to Bo and Sandra for their work in putting it together. Adrianne and I had a great time meeting up with old friends and making new ones. It was particularly special to see Paula Rellihan and be able to spend some time with her. Adrianne brought Jack the dog and I think even he made a few friends.

A hearty thanks to all who attended and made it great event and to all those who keep the club running along so that we can all enjoy these great friendships. It is a great bunch of people and further exemplified by Doug's problems on the way home and the help that was only a phone call away.

Speaking of getting home, today has been difficult. We hitched a ride to the airport with Paul Werbin this morning for a 0930 flight and the flights all looked pretty bad for stand-by up to DFW. I can fly jumpseat but Adrianne needs a seat in back. I was not planning on leaving unless she got a seat. We did not get on flights 1, 2 or 3. When it got clear that she would also not get on flight 4 (about 2pm), I put her on a flight to Chicago which looked like it had a good shot at a connection to SFO and home for her. I got on flight 5 and am back in Dallas getting ready to work tomorrow.

Adrianne is stuck tonight in Chicago as ORD-SFO flights 1 and 2 both were too full to accomodate her. She will try again tomorrow, but it has been a particularly awful stand-by travel day. I am off in the morning to do a Milwaukee turn and will probably fly right over my wife trying to make the ORD-SFO connection. I might have to give Chicago a wide berth in case she throws something at me.

Dan Jonas
 
We are home. Easy flights letting a bunch of guys in Southwest livery have all the fun. Sorry to hear about Doug's problems. But heartened by the support shown.
And its too bad we went through Midway. Had we known. and been at O'Hare, we might have rescued Adrienne from the Chicago Blues.
More later when I am awake and can use a real keyboard!
 
OK! Got a couple cuppa's in me this AM and I can function now.;)

We had a great time at BACFest also. The Officers and Directors have been receiving kudos for putting it on. We thank you...but the heavy lifting this year was done this year by Bo and Sandra Boggs. Direct your comments to them. (OK, OK...gripes can can be directed to me.)

But, to be quite honest, the true credit should go to the members who came! They were the ones with the interest and excitement to turn otherwise merely competent planning into an EVENT!

Richard Bach once said that no airplane ever built was alive; just a collection of aluminum, steel, wood, rubber. But...when a pilot merges with that collection of parts...THEN it comes alive! The pilot/airplane combination is a living creature with a soul guiding it. Beech Aero Club is so very much like this. It is not the airplanes...beautiful as they are. It is not the events or the website or the magazine, magnificent though they are. It is the melding of all of these elements into a FAMILY of interest.

You have heard me say, often enough, that BACFest is my "Family Reunion". This is exactly what I mean. I love my biological family dearly. But, dammit, I get misty eyed watching our wonderful birds winging in to Stinson Field, or Beech Field, or Myrtle Beach or desperately beating upwind to land at Santa Maria...or even popping suddenly out of the cloud wall at Gatlinburg. :D It means another member of my FAMILY has arrived. And this is what makes it worth living the rest of the year to be there.

Thank you all who came. Thank you all who could not make it but followed the festivities on the website. And I, all of us, missed you.

We will see you all next year in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of New York. Start planning NOW to join us in Ithaca...and be one with BACFest!!!

PS: Watch out!! The backlash from my holding all the bad weather back from San Antonio can be nasty!!:p
 
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Bumpy flight back, 6+ hrs total with a stop at AEX for lunch and fuel. Somehow we missed Doug and his ordeal. Great time had renewing our love of San Antone, making new friends, et al. Hope everyone made it home ok. Rap and Charlotte
 
Sorry I left out so quick, Brad. I planned to be there Thurs. around noon and HAD to be back home Sat. evening. So, I wanted to be there. Left 4pm Friday arrived 11:00pm and had to leave after the lunch Sat.( 2:30pm) and arrived home around 8:30pm. Then wife wanted to go somewhere! ( She has only flown 2 times in the past year so I couldn't turn here down). It "PAID" off. Now she wants to go again! By the way, the trip I took her on was to go shopping. Now flying is REALLY going to cost me! Not complaining though. At close to 200 hrs this year I am looking forward to her flying with me more. There is only so much conversation my 3 1/2 yr old Co Pilot can contribute. 15 hrs in 2 days.
 
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Just an update. Adrianne had to spend the night in Chicago but got out on the first flight this morning. She is home. Hopefully the ordeal will not sour her on standby travel.

CalifDan
 
Finally home. 4 hours of light to moderate turbulence. Average TAS of ~115. Average groundspeed of about 78kts!!
Can't remember the last time I got beaten up so badly. Chris was a trooper through it all. Hopefully she will be willing to go again.
 
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