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Locked Out
T’was a beautiful weekend, so flying got on everyone’s agenda, even if a few showers intervened. The long days of summer are about here, so there’s plenty of time after work to get in a flight. Daylight lasts until almost 9 p.m.
Among the week’s transient arrivals were a Robinson R44 helicopter, making a few laps around the traffic pattern for training. Rotary-wing traffic is required by law to avoid the flow of fixed-wing traffic, so helicopters generally fly a 400-foot high traffic pattern on the opposite side of the standard 800-foot pattern for fixed-wing. Also in were a Cessna Skyhawk, and Ryan Ferguson was back from Fort Collins, Colorado in his Cessna Skylane.
Local flyers were Roy Conley in his experimental gyroplane, as well as a Beech Bonanza N35, Jeremie Platt in his Grumman Tiger, Layne Anderson in his Darter Commander, and Jay McClintock in his Piper Tomahawk.
Don’t forget that it’s time for the breakfast flyout of the Fliar’s Club, so we should assemble at 0730 next Saturday morning on the Butler airport ramp, to evaluate our chances. At least the sun comes up early so we don’t have to take off in the dark.
Way back in the 1930s, I’m told, Ben Gregory landed his big Ford TriMotor barnstorming airplane in the pasture that’s now Dirk’s Construction, west of the present-day hospital. And I recall Chuck LeMaster from Ottawa, KS bringing his TriMotor to hop rides at an airshow at the Butler airport in 1975. This weekend, you can buy a ride in the EAA’s old Ford airliner at Springfield Downtown airport, May 23 to the 26th. It’s a real time-warp experience.
We’ve been asked why the City locked up access to the south drive at the airport. It’s an inconvenience to tenants on that side, and for UPS deliveries, all now having to go through the north fenced-in drive. The move was warned off for months, necessitated to stay in compliance with FAA rules regarding keeping taxiing aircraft separated from vehicles. Logic does not prevail, and it would seem other arrangements could have been made. The next airport commission meeting is scheduled for June 13, at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall.
Last time we asked about the origin of Cape Air airlines, which flies little Cessna 402 and Tecnam P2012 twins on routes up and down the east coast and in Montana. It’s because they started on Cape Cod, out of Boston and Providence. Our brain-teaser for next week is, what’s a “blast fence”, usually seen at airports with jet airliner traffic? You can send your answer to kochhaus1@gmail.com.
