June 22nd Meeting

    At our June 22nd meeting, we viewed a DVD presentation recorded at Carolina Aviation Museum of Charlotte, NC of an interview with Mr. Murray Price, B-24 Liberator pilot in WWII.  Mr. Price (who is now 87 and lives in Lexington) had planned to be with us, but was unable to attend at the last minute due to deteriorating health.  Nonetheless, his tales were fascinating and enjoyed by all. It gave us some inkling of what it was like to be a 22 year-old lieutenant in command of a huge 4-engine bomber and 10 crew members under very stressful conditions ... for example, watching the B-24 beside you go up in a "ball of flames". Mr. Price, and others like him, are truly American heroes. Afterwards, we also viewed an EAA introductory video of Air Venture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (which incidentally, is coming up July 28th - August 3rd).

Saturday Breakfast

    Our breakfast event on Saturday, June 14th, turned out well. Fourteen members and guests attended, and four planes flew in ... 2 Baby Aces, a Taylorcraft, and a Mooney. Later, a visitor from White Plains arrived in his Baby Ace. We had grits, ham, sausage, eggs, toast, coffee, orange juice and jelly. Everyone really enjoyed the meal and had plenty to eat. Afterwards, several of the group hung around and chatted until just before noon. Airport owner, Don Bledsoe, was unable to attend, but we thank him for allowing us to hold the event there. Left click on the photos below to enlarge them.

Cockfield Aerodrome Fly-in

    Seven chapter members made the trip down to Cockfield Aerodrome for their fly-in on June 7-8, 2008. Don Schmotzer, Ron Lindsey (and son, Kyle), Leon Strock, Jim Herpst, Luis Rodriguez, and Ray Ackerman (White Plains) flew down. Randy Berry took his travel trailer down, and the guys enjoyed some respite from the heat. Rodney Dowdy had an unpleasant experience, but managed to make it down later that day.  For further details, click on the photo below.   

Recent Chapter Aircraft

    Several chapter members have recently added or changed aircraft. Tony Gantt just purchased this Taylorcraft (left) in April. Larry Maner purchased this Cessna 150M (center) in May. Both Tony and Larry have now soloed their respective aircraft. Jim Herpst just started flying his newly renovated Corben Baby Ace in June (right). Each of these aircraft is beautiful and immaculate! Click on each member photo for more information and photos.

May 25th Meeting

    The May 25th, 2008 chapter meeting at Lexington County Airport at Gaston was well attended (see photos below). It was a nice day, and several members flew their aircraft in, including Don Schmotzer, Ron Lindsey, Rodney Dowdy, Norman Davis, Luis Rodriguez, and later, Leon Strock. After the meeting, several members flew down to Barnwell, SC. Larry Maner and Fred Addison, whose aircraft are based at the airport, flew their aircraft also.

MAFSAC 2008

    What is MAFSAC 2008? It's the "Mid-Atlantic Fly-In and Sport Aviation Convention" (a scaled down version of Sun-n-Fun and Oshkosh) which was held in Lumberton, NC just off I-95 on May 16 - 18. Several chapter members attended including: Ron Lindsey, Leon Strock, Rodney Dowdy, Tony Gantt, Don Schmotzer, and Randy Berry. Highlights of the event were a Marine V-22 Osprey, several airshow performances, a wing walker, the Shockwave jet truck, and a number of warbirds. Several photos of the event are shown below.

Incident at Pelion Airport

     Member, Ed Seibert, and CFII, Mark DiBlasi, were involved in an aircraft "incident" on Sunday, May 4th at Pelion Corporate Airport. The Rotax 582 engine reportedly failed in flight. They nearly made the airport. Unfortunately, some powerlines were in their flight path, so they had to go under them and into the fence just on the north side of Old Charleston Highway.  Mark suffered some minor injuries and went to the hospital. Ed had just bought the RANS S-12 plane and returned with it from Kansas. Fortunately, the plane appears to be repairable. The FAA investigated.

Sailplanes at Perry, SC

    The region 5 sailplane meet was held at Perry International Airport in Perry, SC on April 21-26, 2008.  In April of each year, the privately owned airstrip of Al and Rhonda Tyler near the small town of Perry, SC turns into a veritable sailplane and camper city for one week out of the year. This small town receives visitors from all across the country, as well as Canada and other countries. The above photo was taken there on April 25th, 2008. Click the photo above for more information. Also, to enlarge the photo, go to the HIGH FLIGHT page on this website.

April, 2008 Meeting

     We held a very informative and productive meeting on Sunday, April 20th. Rodney Dowdy gave us an impressive demonstration on repair of a propeller using a combination of superglue and baking soda. It's a very effective method of making reasonably minor repairs on composite (or wooden) props. The reaction between the two substances (one can actually see it smoking) makes an amazingly strong chemical bond and repair. The whitish areas in the right photo show the repaired areas. Flat black paint completed the repair. Then, Don Schmotzer spoke on formation flying and collision avoidance. An interesting discussion followed. Several photos are shown above of the event. We also selected an official club logo ... the one shown at the top of this section.

Sun-n-Fun 2008