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The Majors Field Flyout to the Mid America Flight Museum at the Mt. Pleasant airfield (KOSA) was a well attended and very enjoyable event. Scott Glover is the owner and ringleader of the museum and he and his staff of volunteers could not be more welcoming and accommodating. We have been working with Scott for several months trying to arrange this visit. They are now open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. which made it much easier to schedule a trip.

For several mornings prior to Saturday, the skies had been overcast. Friday morning was clear so we were hopeful but of course there was some cloud cover on Saturday morning. The ceiling was high enough to launch at 0900 from KGVT although the cloud cover at about 10 NM west of KOSA required descending through a clearing to a lower altitude for the last segment of the trip. The flight home was uneventful but not exactly cool at the lower altitudes caused by cloud cover. Word is the Cessna found clear skies and cooler temperatures at 4,500 ft.

The morning started with fourteen (14) folks and five (5) airplanes signed up to make the trip. Actually it was only four (4) airplanes. On Friday evening it was decided that a lack of parts was going to prevent the Harvest Aviation Cherokee 140 from being airworthy. Some scrambling ensued Saturday morning trying to figure out how to get everyone in a plane. Bob Thomas was asked to stop by Majors from Caddo Mills in his C-170 in case we needed his two spare seats and ten (10) gallons of fuel was pulled off the Archer to give us a bit more useful load. By the way, be very nervous if you see Tom Hubert walking around with an Arkansas credit card. As it turns out several personal issues and some changes of heart occurred before 0900 and with a total of ten (10) folks flying and four (4) airplanes (the two club planes, the Price's Cherokee 180, and Bob's C-170 from Caddo Mills), we were able to get everyone on a plane and no one had to drive.

It was a great tour. So many beautiful vintage and WWII airplanes and such an enthusiastic group of volunteers giving the tours makes it a great way to spend a couple of hours. Many thanks to Scott Glover and company.

The KOSA staff deserves a shout out as well. We talked with the manager, Paul Henderson, several times before the trip and he was more than welcoming. He offered courtesy cars, use of the conference room, ground transportation, and anything else he thought we might need. Paul was not there that morning but the gentlemen on duty (sorry, I forgot his name) was equally friendly and welcoming. Hopefully he has fully recovered from his carpal tunnel surgery.

Thanks to Bob and Benjamin Thomas, Derek and Beverly Price, Dennis Guinn, Ned Howard, Tom Hubert, Dennis Mathis, and Robert McEnaney for participating in this fly out.

Here is what we sent to Scott and the folks at the museum in an email:
Scott,

Thank you for setting up our tour on Saturday, June 17th. We ended up with a few less people and one less airplane than originally planned but the ten (10) of us in our four (4) airplanes from Majors Field (KGVT), Majors Flying Club, and Caddo Mills (7F3) really enjoyed the tour and the hospitality. Wayne gave us a great tour and John, Buddy, and Linda showed us some excellent hospitality.

Little things that contributed to the overall experience, over and above the magnificent airplanes, stand out like Buddy and John meeting us at the planes with ground transportation, and John taking the time to start all three of the courtesy cars and turn on the air conditioning to cool down the cars for us for our burger run to Herschel’s!

You have a beautiful venue staffed by great folks. Our hats are off to you for the tribute the WWII side of the museum gives to our veterans.

Take care and thanks again.
Majors Flying Club
Majors Field (KGVT)

Our fearless leader, Mr. Dennis Mathis, had this to say about the fly out in an email to the members:
For those of you who made the trip Saturday, I don't think you were disappointed ! We saw some magnificent aircraft in almost pristine condition. The most notable point is that all the aircraft are flyable. The big disappointment is that the Corsair was not there but was at Breckenridge. Seeing those old airplanes with the round engines was eye-watering. The assortment of aircraft ranged from a tiny RV-3 to the B-25, "God and Country", a Douglas A-26B "Invader", a Ford Tri-Motor, an Albatross, a C-41 (DC-3) and a host of other bi-wing aircraft, some of which I was not familiar with.

A little side note about the C-41 and another version called the C-41A. Both were based on the DC-3 and were probably the first DC-3s purchased for the military. These were one-of-a-kind aircraft and were used by the Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen Hap Arnold

After the museum tour, we went to Herschel's Family restaurant and had a good time with the food and chatter. One thing for sure, if we go back to Herschel's we are NOT MOVING TABLES !!!!

The 2nd quarter General Membership meeting was held on Thursday, May 25th and started around 1730 in the club hangar. Master Chef and club member Joe Rector had the grill going around 1700 and filled the place up with the delicious aroma of burgers and brats. Well done once again Chief Rector.

About twenty-five (25) people showed up to listen to our guest speaker and local aviation hero Mr. Harry Andonian. A small bit of club business preceded Harry's talk but it was a small price to pay for a burger and the chance to listen to Harry. The President, Mr. Dennis Mathis opened up the meeting with a few introductions. Treasurer Mr. B.J. Finney presented the Financial report (the club is in fair shape financially), Secretary Mr. Dennis Harwell may have said a few words, Mr. Mathis, in the absence of the Maintenance Officer Dennis Guinn, presented the status of the aircraft (both up and flying), and Vice President Denis Rottler presented a list of upcoming club events (see the Event Listings page on this website).

Club member and flight instructor Mr. Don Reeder gave a nice safety presentation regarding the preparation and planning required for a cross country trip. Many small items are overlooked (drinking water, signalling devices, emergency blankets, first aid provisions, etc.) when planning a cross country trip. A lot of very useful and practical information was presented. Thanks Don.

Two club members, Ned Howard and Tom Hubert, were recognized for obtaining their Private Pilot Certificate. Dennis Mathis presented his student, Ned Howard with his framed Private Pilot certificate from the MFC and Don Reeder presented his student, Tom Hubert with his framed Private Pilot certificate from the MFC. Well done to both the new pilots and their instructors!

Our guest speaker, Harry Andonian took the floor and ran through a presentation documenting his aviation career including multiple slides of all his military assignments, the hundreds of planes he has flown, and the thousands of hours in his logbook. The list of accomplishments on those slides is beyond impressive even without Harry saying a word. Harry entertained us with his F4 exploits and stories and graciously answered all of our questions. It is always a thrill to listen to Harry speak. For this presentation the MFC gave him a black glass engraved memento. Thank you Harry.

The meeting was adjourned around 1900. Thanks for the folks who stayed around and helped clean up and put the hangar back in order. It is much appreciated. While the meeting and presentation are enjoyable, this part of the evening is really fun. With all the work completed, we almost always end up hangar flying for a while after the meetings. You can hear some really interesting stories, like stealing Navy P3 engines for example, at these after meeting sessions.

All that was left was to close the hangar doors, turn out the lights, and divide up what remained of Mr. Gordon Hay's custom crafted Ghirardelli brownies. Those bad boys are dangerous! Thanks Gordon.

The students of the 2017 Majors Flying Club (MFC) Private Pilot Ground School class have successfully completed the course and proclaimed in unison, "...let them eat cake!" As is the tradition the conclusion of the ground school is celebrated with a guest speaker, the grading of the End Of Course exam, the handing out their completion certificates, and the cutting of the special cake.

The class this started year started on February 8th with twenty-one (21) registered students and as usual went for fourteen (14) weeks and was completed on May 10th with thirteen (13) students completing the course. The attrition is not unusual as work, family, and other life events typically impacts a small percentage of the students. Quite often however those affected students are able to complete the class the following year. This year, for the first time in the history of conducting these classes, we were not able to hold the classes on the same night of the week every week which added a level of scheduling difficulty for both the students and the instructors. Thankfully our President, Mr. Dennis Mathis, has resolved this issue for 2018. The resolution will allow all fourteen (14) sessions to once again occur on the same day of the week.

This class was similar to other classes in that there was a wide variety of reasons for taking the class, a wide range of aviation experience, and that they were all subjected to a wide range of bad jokes. Some students take the course to learn a bit about airplanes to help them in their job, some take the course for the knowledge, some take the course with the intention of learning to fly, some are already working on their private pilot certificate, some of them already have an airplane, but none of them took the class for the jokes.

In addition to being taught by several very experienced instructors over the course of the fourteen weeks, the MFC offers a short orientation flight to all interested members of the class as part of the package price. One member of the 2017 class has already been out for a pseudo flying lesson and at least one member has already passed the written FAA Ground School exam in preparation for starting flying lessons. Additionally in the last week of June 2017, two former ground school students (2015 & 2016) who are taking flying lessons through the MFC completed their first solo flights! It is never too late to get started learning how to fly.

The classes for 2018 will start in February. Stay tuned to the website for details regarding the 2018 Private Pilot Ground School class.

As you can tell from the pictures below Saturday, April 22, 2017 started out as a fairly blustery morning. The scouts enjoyed a thunderstorm on their Friday evening camp out (which turned into an inside event) and were greeted with some brisk north winds and cool temperatures on Saturday morning. You can also tell from the pictures of scouts in shorts and the adults in jackets and long pants which group received the weather memo. The Spring Scout Aviation Workshop for 2017 was another well attended and well run event.

Around fifty-five (55) scouts attended as well as their Scout Leaders and some of their parents. The Scouts started their morning with an introduction to Harry Andonian, our local aviation hero, and were held spellbound in the FBO while Harry told them about his aviation career and shared several of his many flying stories. Following Harry's talk, the Scouts were assigned to a variety of airplanes in order to learn how to conduct a pre-flight inspection which was followed by demonstrating their newly learned knowledge by conducting their own pre-flight inspection. At the conclusion of the pre-flight event the folks in dispatch began assigning the scouts to the five (5) flying airplanes and after several sorties all of the scouts who were eligible to fly and who wanted to fly got a ride! The girl scouts who attended also participated in the pre-flight event and a map reading event although their rules do not allow them to go flying. As the scouts finished their flight they attended and built model airplanes to satisfy the requirements of the badge. With the flights concluded, everyone including the pilots, the aircraft marshallers, the volunteers, the scouts, their leaders, and the parents enjoyed a Subway lunch compliments of the Scout troops.

It takes quite a few volunteers to successfully orchestrate and conduct this event and the Majors Flying Club is very thankful to the folks who donated their time and airplanes to help make this event successful and safe for the scouts and to the skilled photographers who documented the event.

View a slideshow of ALL of the pictures taken at the Spring SAW: Spring 2017SAW

Our Maintenance Officer, Dennis Guinn, saw something in a hangar at the Gainesville airport (KGLE) that he thought would benefit our students receiving their primary flight training. Check out the traffic pattern he installed on the hangar floor on the left side of the Cessna. As you can see from the pictures the traffic pattern includes a 45 degrees entry to the downwind leg for both 17 & 35 as well as the downwind, base, and final legs for 17 & 35. The idea is for the students receiving their primary training to practice radio calls while "flying" the pattern in the hangar. There is a lot going on in those first couple of flying lessons and then the instructor wants you to talk on the radio all at the same time! The instructor, or another pilot, can act as a controller or another aircraft in the pattern when the tower is closed, to simulate radio calls as the student walks the pattern and makes the appropriate calls and adjustments to the aircraft at the appropriate places in the pattern. We temporarily disabled the video and audio monitoring in the hangar so don't be shy about practicing. It might save you a few dollars if you can get comfortable practicing on the ground versus in the airplane.

Wow!

On the morning of Saturday, March 4th just a little before 10 a.m. the faithful started streaming into the Majors Flying Club hangars. It was a cool, breezy, and cloudy morning and not the best weather to wash and wax airplanes. Nonetheless ALL sixteen (16) folks who volunteered to help over the last couple of weeks showed up and got after it.

Our Maintenance Officer, Dennis Guinn, had all the towels, soap, buckets, hoses, washing pads, belly degreasing stuff, and cleaning materials laid out, organized, and ready to go. Around 10:10 a.m. we started on the interior and the belly degreasing effort with the airplanes in the hangar. Alysia Hall took on the interior of the Cessna and worked hard to get the windows and upholstery cleaned and the carpet vacuumed. Mike Smith, our newest member, tackled the interior of the Archer and worked equally hard to get it all clean and shiny. In a parallel effort, two swarms of folks attacked the belly of both the Archer and the Cessna for the degreasing effort. Last year Mr. Guinn experimented with mineral spirits and one of those gas station window washing squeegee/foam pad things with a handle that are normally sitting in brown water at the gas stations as a way to degrease the belly. It works so well and it so much easier than towels that it is now our standard method of degreasing our airplanes. In any case, two folks per airplane were using the tool to apply the mineral spirits while several other folks with towels were wiping off the excess and making the bellies shine. Around 10:40 a.m. the planes were pulled out of the hangar and the washing began. It was very cool to see both airplanes on the ramp at the same time, with six (6) to eight (8) people per airplane working on the planes. The airplanes were dried off and back in the hangar by around 11:10 a.m. Fresh towels, applicator pads, and bottles of wax were broken out and the wax job commenced. Again, it was very cool to see that many folks working on both airplanes at the same time.

Somewhere between the washing and waxing effort, Joe Rector, our Assistant Treasurer and head Chef, showed up with the goodies for a scrumptious burger, brat, and hot dog lunch. Chips, potato salad, sausage queso, a full tray of lettuce, onions, and cheese, relishes, and condiments were all available to dress out a nice plate of food. Cookies AND a tray of the inimitable Gordon Hay brownies anchored the dessert end of the food table. It must have been the wonderful aroma of burgers, brats, and hot dogs on the grill that helped us get across the finish line because we were essentially finished with the Wash & Wax effort for both airplanes by noon! Chef Rector lead us in a blessing and the chow line was open for business.

As you can see from the pictures, no one liked the lunch. We set up some tables under the Cessna wing and commenced with some of that hangar camaraderie stuff and the devouring of Joe's offerings. The President, Dennis Mathis, said a few words and thanked the folks for showing up in force. But really, it was the Chance at $5000 that everyone was waiting for. The 5X Cash Scratch Off tickets were passed out and it seems like there were three winners of $1 each. It turns out it was not much of a chance at $5000.

A couple of follow on notes of interest:
During lunch, we heard air "escape" from the Cessna. Upon further review, it was discovered that the nose wheel tire had gone flat. Check out the pictures of the clean and shiny Cessna with its nose wheel off the ground. Mike Smith and Dennis Guinn took care of the repair. It was particularly fortuitous timing as the Cessna was scheduled for a 1300 flight. It looked like the valve stem had gotten misaligned over time with the opening in the wheel rim which ultimately sheared off the valve stem at the inner tube. Better for it to fail in the hangar than on landing.

Check out the shine on the red paint of the Cessna! Gordon Hay brought his "stuff" which included a polishing compound and an electric buffer. In a relatively short period of time, Gordon had the red paint popping on the Cessna. It has not shined like that in more than a couple of years. Excellent job Gordon. Have a brownie on us!

As you know, the club has an arrangement with Harvest Aviation and their Cherokee. Regular club members have access to that airplane just as if it was one of the club airplanes. The owner offered the club a generous donation to wash the Cherokee so since we had everything set up and some extra people power, we asked Tom Hubert to taxi that bad boy over to the wash station so we could wash and dry it. By this time it had gotten a bit cooler and even though the volunteers had already satisfied their commitment, several of them pitched in to help get the Cherokee washed.

Many, many thanks to everyone who showed up. The primary goal was to get the airplanes cleaned up and that was accomplished very efficiently and with excellent results. You can't argue with around two hours start to finish to get two airplanes all cleaned up and back in the barn. The best part though is the chance to get to know the other members of the club, a chance for folks to get more involved in the club, and the buzz of the camaraderie from hangar flying. Clean airplanes are nice, but hanging out is what everyone would rather do. While not a goal, it is a nice benefit to this kind of an event and it seems like that square was covered as well.

Speaking of camaraderie, keep an eye out for details for the Second Majors Field Fly Out of 2017. We are currently working on a fly out event for Saturday, April 15th. Details to follow when we firm up some of the specifics. For the months of May and June we are working on a trip to Mt. Pleasant (KOSA) to tour the Mid America Flight Museum and a Happy Hour, Potluck Dinner, Hangar Movie night. Stay tuned!

Check out the flyer for the Spring Wash & Wax Party

The first Majors Field Fly Out of 2017 was a very successful and fun event. We picked Butterfields Buffet in the Choctaw Casino as our breakfast destination for several reasons. Since this was our first attempt at organizing this type of an event, we picked something fairly close and fairly easy to get in and out of to test the waters. The Durant-Eaker Airport (KDUA) is served by the shuttles from the Choctaw Casino so transportation was not an issue and breakfast was only $7.99. KDUA is only 54 NM from KGVT, just across the Red River, has a good runway, and a nice terminal. Besides, who doesn't want a shot at being a millionaire right after breakfast?

On Saturday morning around 0730 CST, people and airplanes started showing up at Majors Field. The initial plan was to fly the Archer, the Cessna, and the Cherokee but due to the windy conditions and expected headwinds on the return trip, we decided to leave the Cessna in the barn. Clarke Erwin flew his 182T over from Aero Country and we ended up in a three plane gaggle carrying a total of nine (9) people. It was fairly windy and gusty at Majors but it was pretty much down the runway. The clouds were at about 2100' AGL with clear skies reported around the Bonham area. Clarke led the charge with Ned Howard, Manning Mann, and Joe Rector as passengers. The Archer followed with Dennis Guinn in the left seat, Jason Anthraper in the right seat, and Denis Rottler in the back. Mark Armstrong had our backs in the Cherokee with Bill Schatz in the right seat. We blasted off around 0750 CST and stayed below the clouds for a while and got bumped around a bit. We used 123.45 MHz as our interplane frequency and received reports of clear skies ahead from Clarke. The skies cleared around Bonham, we got a little altitude, and the ride smoothed out. Pretty uneventful flight after that. Clarke had some issues with planes in the pattern at KDUA not being on the radio but it all worked out.

Getting a ride on the shuttle couldn't be easier. The direct number is posted in the terminal and just a few minutes later the shuttle picked us up for a 3 minute ride to the casino. The breakfast buffet was a breakfast buffet. Trays of eggs, sausage patties and links, bacon, tater tots, some fruit, and some pastries. It was okay for $7.99 but probably not a destination breakfast location. The siren call of the casino eventually made its way to our breakfast table and the hopefuls made a break for it. A meeting time of 1100 CST was selected and at 1100 CST it seems like there was one $15 winner in the group. The shuttle took us back to the terminal, we loaded up, and headed south. The wind was still up but again it was mostly down the runway. The skies were clear and the headwinds at 3500' and 5500' were negligible. On the return trip the Archer was the first to land followed by the Cherokee and then by Clarke and company. All three planes were on the ground by around 1230 CST.

The idea behind these events is primarily an excuse to fly somewhere with secondary goals of encouraging ride sharing in order to share the fun of flying and to stimulate some camaraderie around Majors Field. It seems like the event touched on all of those goals with the passengers enjoying the trip as much as the pilots.

We are already planning the next event. Stay tuned!

On Wednesday, February 8th a group of Harry Andonian's friends gathered at the Snuffer's restaurant in Greenville, TX to celebrate Harry's 93rd birthday.

Dennis Mathis and Karen Smith organized a very nice celebration for Harry complete with a custom made birthday card, a cake large enough to hold 93 candles (just kidding), and some special guests. The custom made birthday day included a picture of Harry's beautiful Debonair and the words "The Man, The Myth, The Legend" on the front cover. The birthday cake might have been able to hold 93 candles but we had to be out of the restaurant before the sun went down so a #9 candle and a #3 candle were used instead.

Mr. Mathis made a few introductory remarks (as if anyone could stop him) and presented Harry with his birthday card. Mr. Mathis then introduced Mayor Dreiling who had a few words to say before he read the City Proclamation to commemorate and recognize Harry's birthday. It was a very nice touch - The Proclamation. The Mayor was followed by the City Manager, Massoud Ebrahim. Massoud had a few words to say before he gave Harry quite a few gifts from his bag of City of Greenville stuff. Massoud followed up with a short, personal story about his friendship with Harry. Clarke Erwin and Joe Rector stood up and also had some kind words to say about Harry.

Lunch was served, iced tea was spilled, a few lies were likely told, and a mini-reunion occurred (Clint Logwood and Ty Helton). The candles were lit, a rousing but off key rendition of Happy Birthday was sung, the candles were blown out, the birthday cake was cut, and the sugar rush was enjoyed by all.

It was a nice celebration for a man we all admire and respect. And as a closing note that so completely defines Harry as we think of him, it should be noted that Harry's actual birthday was Saturday, February 11th. Why didn't we celebrate his birthday on Saturday you might ask? Because Harry was flying to Georgia that day in his beautiful Debonair to celebrate his birthday with his family. Way to go Harry!

Many thanks to Dennis Harwell and Theo Hughes for the pictures.

The Majors Flying Club (MFC) held a Membership meeting on Thursday, January 26, 2017 in the hangar clubhouse. The get together featured tasty pizza, board member elections, the presentation of a couple of certificates, delicious Gordon Hay brownies, and a presentation by Harry Andonian.

Six boxes of hot and tasty pizza were delivered to our door around 5 p.m. It didn't take long for the majority of the pizza to disappear in the first fifteen minutes. If you got there much later than 5:30 p.m., you probably would been out of luck (sorry about that Manning). In between gasps of air whilst chowing down on the pizza, several folks were spotted attacking the "stack o' brownies". Gordon's brownies were as spectacular as ever.

MFC President Dennis Mathis called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. and promptly banished the non-members to the hangar so that the board member elections could be held. Mr.'s Dennis Harwell and Joe Rector conducted the election with parliamentary precision and a strict adherence to the club by-laws. After a furious round of nominations and with the threat of a filibuster finally put to bed, the following list of nominees was presented: Mark Armstrong, Dennis Guinn, Dennis Harwell, Dennis Mathis, and Denis Rottler. The pattern should be obvious - three of the nominees spell their first name incorrectly and we aren't sure how the fourth nominee made it through the first name filter criteria for the board. Be that as it may, with unanimous approval of the MFC members present, the list of nominees was voted in to serve as members of the board for 2017.

Dennis Mathis presented Mr. Young Lee with his solo certificate (picture on the left above). Young soloed in the might Cessna on November 30, 2016 and is under the tutelage of Mr. Mathis. Mike Zimmerman was also presented with a very nice, etched, black glass plaque to commemorate Mike's 10 years of service as the primary A&P mechanic of the club airplanes (picture on the right above). We have Mike to thank for the reliability of the club airplanes due to regular maintenance, periodic inspections, and the annuals. Thanks Mike!

With the business part of the meeting concluded, the audience was treated to a presentation by Harry Andonian on his favorite of his favorite airplanes, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom. As Harry said, "all of the planes I flew were my favorites, but the F-4 was my favorite of my favorites". As you know, Harry has had quite a storied career in aviation, is our local hero, has a road in Greenville named after him, and has too many accolades to mention. It seems like the logbook is now up to 27,300 hours!!! As usual, Harry entertained us with his stories about his time in a variety of F-4 models in the Vietnam era. Well done Harry.

View a slideshow of ALL of the pictures (210) taken at the Breakfast Fly-In: Breakfast Fly-In Slideshow

As you can see from the pictures, the Majors Field Breakfast Fly-In that was held on Saturday, November 5, 2016 was a success by any measure. The weather was not ideal but that did not discourage over two-hundred (200) people from attending the event. The event was well attended by local Greenville residents who chose to drive to the event as well as general aviation pilots from fourteen (14) local airports and one from the Mojave desert. We had three WWII aircraft including the Vultee BT-15, the PT-17 Stearman, and the Stinson L-5 on the ramp as static displays thanks to the Lancaster wing of the Commemorative Air Force, the one of a kind Model 81 Catbird from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California flown in by Zach Reeder, Chuck Weese's O-1 Bird Dog, Innovation First's Bombardier Challenger 600, and Mark's beautiful and hard to miss, bright green ultralight. As you can see from the pictures, those planes generated quite a bit of foot traffic.

A breakfast of pancakes, sausage patties, bacon, fruit, mini-muffins, doughnuts, kolaches, coffee, orange juice, and water was provided. The breakfast must have been okay as we did not throw away a single bit of food. More than 400 pancakes, 300 sausage patties, 288 strips of bacon, a bucket of grapes, strawberries, and pineapple, three dozen doughnuts, two dozen kolaches, 240 cups of coffee, 8 gallons of orange juice, and 40 bottles of water was consumed. It was a pleasure not to have to deal with leftovers.

There were several highlights of the day including the beautiful aircraft on display and the transient airplanes that were flown in by pilots from local airports. It looked a bit like a Van's RV club decided to have a meeting at Majors Field. The airplanes were the big draw but take a look at the photographs to see how many families with young children attended. Now that was special. They provided quite a bit of energy to the event. It was good to see friends from the WWII era at the event as well. But wait, there's more.

The Majors Field General Aviation Manager, Ty Helton, did an amazing job working with the City of Greenville and the local merchants to make this event a success. As you can see from the donor and sponsor boards, the event was enthusiastically supported by local business. Thanks to the support from our generous donors and sponsors, Mr. Helton worked the microphone for a couple of hours raffling off car rentals, hotel rooms, rounds of golf, tee shirts, coffee cups, restaurant gift cards, and other items donated by these generous sponsors. He even had a couple of rides in the Majors Flying Club Cessna to raffle off as well as a ride in the PT-17 Stearman!

Thanks to the City of Greenville for recognizing the value an event like this can bring to the city. Fly-in's are successful if they have food, old airplanes, and cheap gas. We supplied the first item but the City of Greenville came through with discounted 100LL fuel (and you can be sure that had a positive effect on the number of folks who flew into Majors Field on Saturday, November 5th especially considering the weather) as well as the funding for the Lancaster CAF appearance fees. The hope is that through events like this people will fly back to Majors Field, grab the airport courtesy car, and use the prizes they won to play that round of golf, have a meal at one of the local restaurants, or catch a show at the theater.

It was a fun event and very satisfying for the folks who worked to put the event together to see the enthusiasm for the event, the response from the local community, the support of the local merchants, the response from so many local airports, and the support from the City of Greenville.