| NORDO News | 
| Do You Have Your Oshkosh Shirt?
 | Are you tired of everyone from chemical companies to rat poison manufacturers labeling themselves as green? I know I am.
If you look at most products today, the only thing green about them is the box the product comes in and that's because they think, or maybe know, people are so stupid that they'll buy into it. But what's even worse is how those things that have always been green are forgotten in favor of the flashy green marketing campaigns. One great example of this is grass runways. They've always been green. And if you want to know what it's like to be a grass runway, ask Kermit. "It's not easy being green" is what he'd say and if a runway could talk, so would it.
Now about the title of this piece, I have always found it interesting that pilots always buy themselves a shirt or cap they specifically plan to wear to places like Oshkosh. The complexities of this subject are too long for NORDO but the foundation can be covered. The pilot community is a small enough, broad enough, and childish enough (usually in a good way)community to know that the right shirt or cap will tell everyone who you are and who amongst the crowd might be interested in talking to you. It's a great way to find new like minded friends, ward off those you don't care for, and spark conversation over dinner without any effort on your part, other than laboring to find just the right shirt or cap. In a way, it's almost like aviation's version of speed dating, but in this case for friends. Interesting, huh?
 Well the folks at Lee Bottom have a solution for those of you who find yourselves looking far and wide for your shirt or cap. What we suggest is our "Grass Runways – The Green Alternative" shirt. This item is military green with off-white military style stenciling. On the front is "Lee Bottom Flying Field" and on the back "Grass Runways: The Green Alternative." As for the caps, we just received a new order of Lee Bottom Caps that have the high quality high stitch count logo on the front.
The purchase of either of these is guaranteed to attract new friends that are laid back no-nonsense pilot types. Amongst your new buddies you'll also likely end up with a few warbird guys who are actually in it for the planes, several ultralight guys that aren't "a little different", and one or two EAA people who might actually say, "I love that place."
Get your shirt or cap now and wear it to Oshkosh. It'll be your way of saying "Real aviation still exists – you gotta problem with that?"
CLICK HERE TO BUY YOUR GRASS RUNWAYS: THE GREEN ALTERNATIVE SHIRT | Sinful Sunday & Local Loot
| How can it already be time for the first Sinful Sunday of the year?
It seems only yesterday we were dealing with a snow and ice storm that knocked the power out for a week. Now though, we are playing catch up in our attempt to get ready for June 14th.
Those of you who have been to one of these events know how relaxed and how much fun they are. The rest of you should be warned that in the past, those who came once had so much fun they continued to do so. This explains how the first one a few years ago had five planes in attendance and the last one of 2008 over 100.
Each Sinful Sunday we try to do something seasonal. June therefore will feature what has become a world famous strawberry treat. When we first served these special sundaes, created by Ginger, people loved them so much they became a common subject of conversation amongst our airport family. So, if you've never had one, here's your chance to get a World Famous Strawberry Twinkie Shortcake Sundae.
This Sinful Sunday also has something new that we are calling "Local Loot". It will be our rendition of a Farmer's Market. It is the first one and we hope you bring a few extra dollars along in case you see something you want. We have chosen a few vendors that have products that we use ourselves and love. We're hopeing to have homemade granola that is out of this world, goat milk's soap that smells so good that you might would purchase it for the fragrance alone if it didn't make your skin feel good too, wonderful mugs for your morning coffee, the best pickles this side of the Mississippi, Maple Syrup from trees at Lee Bottom Flying Field, and others.
It usually takes a while for new things to catch on so we hope our "farmers and artisans" will see enough potential in it to keep coming back.
Sinful Sundays, are naturally weather sensitive so if you have any doubts about it, check out the website after 10pm Saturday to see if it's still on.
Here's what you need to know. We serve a plate lunch special from 12:00 to 2:00 and ice cream from 1:00 to 3:00 or until it runs out. Come see us and have fun. And you might bring a lawn chair with you.
WATCH A VIDEO FROM ONE OF LAST YEAR'S SINFUL SUNDAY'S
Remember to put the rest of the 2009 Sinful Sunday and Local Loot Events on your calendar:
July 12
August 9 | Seaplane Operations
| Last year the Lee Bottom Airport Board of Directors filed an application for the addition of a seaplane landing area to the airport. There are very few friendly, ground based, public use airports in the world that could have a seaplane base directly adjacent and since we are one of them, long ago we decided it would be criminal to not pursue the addition.
Seaplanes are not new to us though. We've actually had them visiting us for years as our part of the Ohio River is a favorite for float owners in the area.
The stretch of water next to Lee Bottom flows South in a North/South part of the river. Due to the way air flows like a liquid, this means the wind almost always flows with the channel, or simply put, right down the runway. It's exactly what a seaplane pilot would look for in a large river.
Therefore, if you ever need a stopping point, call us and perhaps we can help you out. That's what Gary Baglien recently did and with us both being home we were able to find a place for him to beach, put him up in the camping cabin, get him some avgas, and send him safely on his way to Knoxville on the final leg of his trip from New Richmond, Wisconsin. | EAA And AOPA Make Nice
| EAA and AOPA recently decided it would be prudent to send out a press release stating how they plan to work together for the benefit of aviation. This is a great idea. Unfortunately everyone involved in it, with the exception of Craig Fuller, were part of these organizations when they did not work together. This really is funny. It's like the NRA saying, we've decided to work with gun owners to support the right to own a gun. So why did they not work together then but now they are? Maybe they're scared silly by the new administration and they've decided it's time to actually do something instead of playing child's games. Who knows?
Yet, in the interest of the positive, I would like to offer my ideas on how these two groups could make a difference by working together. If these organizations really want to start pushing and promoting aviation, they should start acting like men (or strong women), stop licking boots, and go on the offensive instead of continuing the pathetic defensive strategy they've both embraced for so long. Then they should cut out all the closed doors meetings with the feds and politicians. Record every meeting with every fed and offer them for viewing or listening to the members of both organizations and then advise both groups as to which members of "The Feds" refused to allow any recordings and for what reason.
Let's all get real here. There is nothing critical to national security that could be shared with the Presidents of our organizations that could not be shared with the rest of us. Otherwise, it can't be that critical or serious. So, cut out the under the table BS and make EVERY communication with the government transparent and your members will be much more likely to participate and stand up. Otherwise, you, EAA and AOPA, might get your own tea party.
We've been saying for years that this fight isn't about flying but about freedom and I get the feeling those that didn't listen are starting to see it for themselves. | Bearhawk To Alaska
| We had a great time taking the Avipro company demonstrator to the Alaska Airman's Association Aviation Trade Show. Along the way we landed by chance at Nelson Ezell's warbird restoration shop and were given a nice personal tour, met up with Mark Beam outside of Denver flying the L-5 he and his wife Cindy bought from Rich's brother, were offered boarding in Montana by a great Bearhawk owner, spent several nights in Grand Prairie and were treated to a tour of Red Deer thanks to another Bearhawk builder. Then after flying for a hundred miles over snow covered mountains and before making the flight into Alaska, Rich accomplished one of his smaller dreams; to see the DC-3 wind tee at Whitehorse.
Crossing the boarder was obvious as the trees are cut along it and a bare strip of land clearly marks the line in each direction to the horizon. Along the way, we had been trying to catch up with John Sample in his Bearhawk (seen here in the foreground) but the weather never cooperated leaving us to meet him for the first time at Birchwood Airport where we spent the week. John and his wife Pam put us up and they are now part of the family. The other folks we met while in Alaska were also all great and although I would love to tell you more, I am currently attempting to assemble it all into something much bigger and better while also surfing for land in Alaska.
Oh, one last thing; by our calculations, we were .01 lb under gross and the plane didn't even notice. If you are thinking of building an all around fun plane, check out the Bearhawk booth at Oshkosh. | The Wood, Fabric, & Tailwheels Fly-In
| Have you made your plans for the 13th Annual Wood, Fabric, and Tailwheels Fly-In on September 26, 2009 at Lee Bottom Flying Field (64I)?
If not, now's the time to do so. Fuel is cheaper and flying is still fun.
While making your plans, why not go ahead and ask your friends to come along?
Some important links to help get you started with planning:
Frequently Asked Questions
Lodging
Rental Cars
Volunteer
RSVP Fri & Sat Dinners or Shuttle Bus
Advance tickets for Admission, Camping, Dinners, etc.
Notes:
1) Drive-In admissission is limited to first 750 purchased tickets and
2) Drive-In camping is limited to first 30 purchased spots | H.G. Responds
| After our last newsletter, H.G. Frautschy, of EAA, emailed to tell us he disagreed with our take on their proposal to make it easier for vintage owners to communicate with the FAA. HG says that the only mistake made by EAA was a poorly worded explanation of the program in the EAA Vintage Magazine. I certainly hope that's so. Also during the conversation, I told him that I would include his comments and that I would be willing to run some of these things past them first to see what they had to say. HG said he'd be open to it and to keep up my end of the deal, here are his last comments on the subject to me and a NORDO response from us:
"Yes, I'm open to responding or making a clarification to your comments, and thanks for asking. To be blunt, Rich, it's often not what you say, but how you say it, that tends to put some folks off when you make a comment – and I'll freely admit to being one of them. But I do believe in your heart you do really want EAA to improve, or you wouldn't be so passionate about your comments.
Regarding your last paragraph, we're not looking to "handle" the FAA's work, we just wanted to open up another avenue for folks to reach them. But if the only explanation they (EAA members) hear is what you wrote in the newsletter, then I can understand their distorted view."
From Rich: The first part is great as I love honest people. H.G. tells me how he feels and apparently he does not like how I word things. I love that. I always like a person who'll speak their mind. And although I know most people who don't like what's being said attempt to turn it around by calling it "mean spirited", what I personally find hillarious is how easily some people get their panties in a wad over words while the actions of the Feds, real physical and legislative actions that damage aviation, only cause concern. I swear there are some folks in this country that are hurt more by words than a punch to the face. Can anyone explain this to me?
Then that last part was so funny I had to ask H.G. about the logic of it and how it could be that EAA members would only get my opinion when EAA members get their magazine and thus the in house EAA explanation of each new program and also that I was curious if he really felt members were so stupid they couldn't come to good decisions on their own without my input and of course he didn't answer that one to a point. Now don't hold that against him though. It was admittedly a loaded question but it is a valid one for EAA as a whole. Perhaps you should call and ask the EAA Staff why they make is so hard for you to vote for Board Members? But let me also make this clear, H.G. does do a lot of the work at EAA and he always responds to any questions I have. So for standing by his actions, I give him great praise.
With that out of the way, here are H.G.'s responses.
Question: H.G, why does there need to be another avenue?
Answer: We believe that facilitating meetings between type clubs and the FAA is one way we can help the type clubs who don't have regular communication with the agency. We're not trying to get in the middle of the conversation; on the contrary, we can't get out of the way fast enough! It's really quite simple:
FAA comes to the annual EAA Fly-in.
Type Clubs come to the annual EAA Fly-In.
In many cases, that's the only time these folks are in the same place at the same time. Why not give them both the opportunity to meet face to face to discuss any issues the club may have?
Question: If the FAA cannot do their job and can't handle direct communication, then how does adding a middle man help?
Answer: We, like you, are curious what issues may be on the table. (Is there a trend? Is the issue indicative of a wider issue the FAA should address? etc.). We don't add ourselves to the mix unless we're invited by the club and FAA. Again, we're not the middle man, we just set up a time and place for any type club who wishes to meet with the FAA Small Aircraft Directorate staff or other agency personnel who may be here and available. That's it. Just a willingness on our part to provide a time and place to meet. We don't filter the requests, and we don't decide which clubs will and won't meet with the agency. That's entirely up to the agency and the club. (Before you ask, no, they've never refused to meet with a club.) If a club were to call us at any other time of the year looking for the right name or office to contact related to their issue, we'd certainly do our best to get that information to them. This really isn't any different.
In many cases, such a meeting isn't necessary, as the type club is already in direct communication with the agency. The Beech 18 Society's work with the agency related to wing inspections is a great example of a type club and the FAA directly communicating without a need for us to inject ourselves into the process. A similar effort by the International Comanche Society related to inspections concerning stabilator horn assembly cracking is another example where the agency and the type club worked directly together.
For some clubs, particularly those just starting out or without the resources in staff or volunteers to regularly work with the FAA, we're willing to help them establish contact with the FAA so they can work on their issues together. The SuperCub.org and ShortWingPipers.org club, an online group that recently was added to the ranks of the type clubs, has requested a meeting during the week related to STCs and the difficulties involved in getting approvals. We, like many other members, will be curious to know what the outcome of that meeting will be.
I encourage all aviators to read and comment on aviation subjects from a variety of sources, whether it's from your newsletter or from EAA's various communications outlets, or a single aviation news source. Reading from a broad group of outlets allows one to reach a balanced decision, rather than relying on one perspective. Thanks for letting us comment on your perception of the Type Club/FAA meetings during EAA AirVenture.
Best Regards,
H.G. Frautschy
Executive Director, EAA's Vintage Aircraft Association
Editor, Vintage Airplane magazine
EAA-The Spirit of Aviation
Phone: 920.426.4825
Fax: 920.426.6579
www.eaa.org
www.vintageaircraft.org
See you at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh-July 27-August 2, 2009 | THANKS FOR MAKING THE GRASS GREENER
|
A special thanks goes out to the following individuals and organizations for their contributions to the 2009 airport operation fund. Our airport and event budget is well over $70,000 this year. With your contributions so far, we have been able to purchase the following items for the airport:
* weed eater
* gravel for picnic area
* 2 new picnic tables
* 2 new tables to use for events
* Large field sprayer
* Hand sprayer
* A set of new mowing deck blades and belts
* 500 gallons of fuel for the tractors (about half of what we use in a season)
* Set money aside for fall grass maintenance:
grass seed for over seeding
fertilizer & nutrients
weed killer
rental equipment for over-seeding
1 year of guilt free flying | 8 months of guilt free flying | 4 months of guilt free flying | in honor of "Ben Gorham"
William & Danna Middleton
Dan & Elli McElroy
| in honor of "C. Avon Kimery"
in honor of "Mary Kelly &
Joe Cunningham"
Berl Grant
Bill & Kathleen Oliver
Gary Baglien
Lloyd Mahoney
Ben Scott
Steve Bickel
David T Kaufman
Drew & Cathy Middleton
Todd Reed
Jed Keck
Bill Renda
Jeff Lumpkin | In honor of "Joe A Reke"
In honor of "Bill Cox"
of Baytown,TX
In honor of "Fritz"
In honor of "Bill Kershner"
In honor of "Curt DeBaun Jr."
In honor of
"Men & Women Service Members"
Don Krish
Bob Epting
Doug & Janet Cross
Chip Allen
Mike Foushee
Don Miller
Len J Buckel
Ed Escallon
Victor Meznarsic
Martha Lunken
Jim & Eileen Wilson
Univair Aircraft Corp
Bob Allen
Chuck Laird
Dan & Diane Sokolowski
Bob "The Cat" Korff
Danny Rexroad
John W Rothrock Jr.
Michael & Tracy Tindall
Len Buckel
Jerry Givens
Dennis Madden
Dave Roberts
Chip Allen
Thomas Buckles
Tom Payette
Ryan Bergman
John Audritsh | 2 months of guilt free flying | 1 month of guilt free flying | 1 month cont'd | in honor of "Ruth Gassert"
Ron Fulkerson
Larry Bothe, DPE
J. Carl Patterson
Bob & Pat Wagner
Dean & Cindy Courtney
Robert E. Schneider
Bill Duffy
James F Wright
Sam & Mindy Lyons
Barry Hurst
Graydon Carroll
Ray Hunter
Michael Robbins
Gary G Katz
Jim McDonald
Bob Matlock
Ken & Lorraine Morris
George Kalbfleisch
Bill Gossmann
Philip Pecoulas
Geff Galbari
Michael & Tracy Tindall
John C Walter
Jim Stribling
Russ & Susan Kaspar
David Jester
James Olson
James Haklin
Jerry Givens
Don & Marna Young
Robert Braaf
Corwin Day
Jeff Lumpkin | in honor of "Earl C Jones"
in honor of
"Lee Bottom Flying Field"
in honor of "Reese Flying Service"
in honor of "8th Air Force"
In honor of "Stu Faber"
In honor of "Douglas Corrigan"
In honr of "Ross McKay"
Richard M Brown
John & Phyllis Hufford
Lyndsey Weiland
Jerry Scheidler
Robert Wilden
Brian Karli
Dale R Dolby
Bill Shinn
Bobby Owens
Michael O Bolinger
Keith Hedrick
George Baumler
Michael Mossman
Christopher E McClure
Arthur Newton
Dave & Sue Athmann
Bill Conn
Ed Knisel
Steve Farringer
Keith L. McCutchan
Cherry Hill Airstrip
Tom O'Neil
Joseph M Oram
Dale E. Lenear
Ron & Nancy Word
Cal W Tax
John A Shuty
Scott Stine
| John Artz
Steven Roth
David Spurrier
Mark & Wendie Paszkiewicz
John Bizal
Dallas L. Benham
George M Gay
Sharon & Bill Tinkler
Ernie Musilek
Lynn Ford
The Flying Conchs
Nick & Jayne Herman
Wayne Poole
Karen & Wayne Forshey
Rick & Sharon Allen
William Varga
Gary L Stivason
Thomas W. Miller
Robin Lemen
Cal Young
Rene Shales
Cheryl Lynn & John Stuart
Bill Huff
Gregory Brown
Ken Boatright
Leonard Weiser
Greg Williams
Tom Buchanan
Reed Usrey
James Stanton |
If you would like to donate to the airport operation fund:
Buy your carbon credits for guilt free flying & Donate to the Lee Bottom Turf & Operation Fund | Memorial Day Weekend Campers
| The Memorial Day weekend brought to Lee Bottom many people who camped out under the wing of their airplanes and we'd just like to say how much fun we had spending time with all of them. This airport eats up all our time and seeing people enjoy it and putting it to use makes it all worthwhile.
For whatever reason, we didn't get any of the usual photos and for that we're sorry but we hope they'll all come back some time for another photo op. If you're ever looking for get-a-way the airport is always here and maybe a night in a tent, under the wings and stars is just what you need. | As The Grass Grows
| A few new video productions from The Fly-In Cruise In Video Magazine:
What's New At Lee Bottom and the Fly-In? Ray Johnson interviews Rich & Ginger?
Wood, Fabric, & Tailwheels Fly-In: Crank It Up
Fly/In Cruise/In Video: 1936 Lockheed Electra Jr. 12A Joe Shepard
Fly/In Cruise/In Video: Lee Bottom Volunteer John Stuart
We went for a flight in EAA's Ford Tri-Motor a few years back and loved it. It is one of the few planes that I would ride in as a passenger and I highly recommend it. I mention this because someone flew in here the other day asking about it as they heard it was to be in the area and after asking around, it turns out it will be in Louisville on from June 18 - 21st at Bowman Field.
Number 1 Most Frequently Asked Question:
Question: How long does it take to mow the place?
Answer: 10 - 12 hours
From Our Great Neighbors - An Actual Message Left On Our Answering Machine
"Hey, I saw a blue RV fly down the river and thought it was yours so I mooned it. Did you see me?"
Have you seen this video? Learning to fly in 1953. . . CLICK HERE
USEFUL LINKS
Online store
Fly In Information
Be a Lee Bottom Hero by volunteering for an event
Buy your carbon credits for guilt free flying & Donate to the Lee Bottom Turf & Operation Fund
Frequently asked questions about the airport
Sinful Sunday Information
Fun Games
Important Dates
July 12, 2009: Sinful Sunday & Local Loot
Aug 9, 2009: Sinful Sunday & Local Loot
Sept 26, 2009: Wood, Fabric, & Tailwheels Fly-In
Check out our Facebook Page
VISIT OUR WEBSITE |
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