News & Pictures
Majors Field Flyout - 17June2017
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 !!!!
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General Membership Meeting - 25May2017
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.
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2017 Ground School Graduation - 10May2017
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.
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Spring Scout Aviation Workshop - 22Apr2017
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
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Hangar Traffic Pattern - 10March2017
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.
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