A great Fly-in - Lucedale

[Jim C]

Took me a while but I finally wrote down something on last weeks trip
to the Lucedale, Ms Fly-in (Oct 18-20), officially known as the Shane
Smith Memorial Oktoberfest Fly-in.

On Thursday afternoon (Oct 17), my flying partner and I met at the
Thomasville airport to begin our journey to the Lucedale Fly-in.
This was to be my partner's first "long" cross-country (over 600
miles round trip). Neither one of us had ever been to the Lucedale
Fly-in, but both of us had heard a great deal about how great a fly-
in the boys at Lucedale put on every year. We were both pretty
excited about going. We both got our planes ready. We both managed
to fit into each of our planes a tent, sleeping bag, folding chair,
tools, plane covers, maps, some eats & drinks, clothes and overnight
kit, various flying paraphernalia, and some other miscellaneous items
etc. We filled the birds up with gas and checked everything twice in
preparation for our flight. We then took a few minutes to go over
our route and to preflight our teenyweenieflyinmachinies. About this
time another friend of ours and my partner's wife showed up to help
whisk us both off into the wild blue yonder. We were on target and
on time. We were to be in the air no later than 4:00 pm and we were
on time. I climbed into my plane and my partner quickly gave his
wife a kiss, climbed into his plane and we began our starting
sequences. Not so fast my friend says - I just got to take some
pictures, so we fiddle faddled around a little bit longer while
several pictures were taken and then he lined and realigned us up for
some more. Time was passing us by but he finally got frustrated
enough with my camera to let us go. It was about 15 minutes after
now and so we hurried to get off. We were locked, loaded and primed
for takeoff, so off we went.

"Bulldog" (a beautiful Challenger II) led off, he being a little
slower than I (now, I'm talking airplane speed here – I have a Gull
2K) and it is much easier for me to catch him enroute than the other
way around. After he lifted off and gained some altitude he turned
toward the west and shortly after I followed. We were both in the
air by 4:20 pm. Our route today was to take us west just to the
south of Lake Seminole, then turning to the south to Sandy Creek
Airpark just to the East of Panama City where we would stay the night
with a friend at Sandy Creek, who graciously agreed to put us up for
the night and one of two flyers from the Southern Flyers UL Club that
would make the trip with us from there the following morning to
Lucedale.

The winds were up when we took off, but once in the air, although
slightly bumpy, it was pretty nice overall. We had a beautiful day
and good visibility overall with some slight haze in the distance.
We settled into a nice enjoyable flight and then off a touristing we
went. Over to Lake Seminole with the wind slightly forward of our
right wing, then we turned a little to the south and on to Sandy
Creek. Once we turned south the wind shifted to a quartering
tailwind and the air almost magically became smooth. This leg was a
total of 115 miles and we averaged @ 68 mph ground speed taking about
1.7 hours total time. Speed on this trip is predicated by the
slowest UL flying at the time. The "C-Gull" averaged 1.76 gph and
38.3 mpg. The "Bulldog" was a mite thirstier and more jealous of my
prudent gas usage. Both of us arrived safely and in great spirits.
We met our friend at Sandy Creek. We were to meet the other friend
flying with us the next day later for dinner. Along the way we
wanted to make sure my flying partner's wife was in good shape so we
gave her a ringy dingy. What we didn't know was that he was in the
doghouse. Now my partner had given the wife the obligatory quick guy
goodbye kiss back at Thomasville but forgot about "THE HUG". This
turned out to be a "BIG" Boo Boo. He was so concentrating on the
flying event he forgot to take care of the home front. Now, of
course I understand this, but I am also single – guess this explains
why. I am very glad that being the great lady my partner's wife is,
she managed to take all of this in stride, especially since this was
his first long XC. By the way, we did manage to get to the
restaurant and had a great meal with great company.

The next morning (Friday - Oct 18), we were all up early. Our friend
cooked us a breakfast which included eggs, ham, grits, biscuits,
juice and coffee. This got us all in the right mood to start the
days journey. So off we went to the airpark. We prepped our planes
and off we went. "Bluebird"and "Bulldog" (both Challenger II's) and
the "C-Gull" in trail. The first leg was a short 28 miles to Crystal
Lake where we would meet up with "Firehawk" (a Fergy IIB), top off in
fuel, and continue our journey onto Atmore, AL. "Firehawk" was ready
and waiting on us as we arrived. Shortly after our arrival at
Crystal airpark we took off with "Firehawk" leading the way, followed
by "Bluebird", the "Bulldog", and lastly the "C-Gull". We went north
a little, picked up the pipeline, and then followed it all the way to
Atmore. The air was smooth and we had a tailwind along with great
visibility. With the others being a bit slower, I got to play a
little since I could keep up with no problem, and it was fun. Not a
cloud in the sky starting out, and it didn't get too cloudy at all
during our trip. Once we got to Atmore we all crossed the airport
into a left downwind to 36. Going through 1100 feet we encountered
our first rough bumps of the day where it was a little rough from
there to the ground. We had a pretty good crosswind upon landing and
it was a bit "squirrelly" as "Firehawk" put it, however we all put
down safely and fueled up. The "C-Gull" didn't do as well fuel wise
this leg averaging only a miserly 1.98 gph, and 36.3 mpg, but still
not too bad, eh – say, them other birds were still much thirstier
than the Gull.

The last leg went off without a hitch. We flew out of Atmore, picked
up I-65, crossed the river(s) and veered just north of the Mobile
area and onward to Ronnie Smith's airfield where the Lucedale fly-in
was being held. Upon arriving, we crossed the field and entered into
a right hand pattern to land. Upon landing we looked around and
found ourselves a spot for our teenieweenieflyinmachinies and made
camp. We arrived about 11:30 am or thereabouts.

Another friend, also a part of the Southern Flyers UL Club who had
arrived with his camper and plane in tow (a Kolb firefly), made lunch
for all of us. Hotdogs and hamburgers were on the menu. What a
treat. We spent the rest of the day being lazy, talking to new and
old friends and watching as several more light planes and UL's came
into the field. Throughout both Friday afternoon and all day
Saturday we just enjoyed the Fly-in. Georgia was well represented on
this trip and 9 Titans showed up. For a while there it looked like
we came to a Titan Fly-in. But after a while several other types of
UL and light sport planes showed up. Also in attendance were a
couple of Firestar Kolb's, a Genesis, a Revelation, a couple of Rans
(I believe both an S-12 and an S18), a Fergy IIB, a Weedhopper, an MX
squared, a flying boat Trike, a Hummell (??), my Gull 2000 (which got
some attention), and a couple other UL types of which I forgot what
they were. There was also a PPC and the GA types were well
represented as well with a Stearman, some Cessna's, Beechcraft's,
Piper's, etc. and a beautiful Pitts which showed up on Saturday and
performed a little show. A gentleman from Louisiana (uh, is there
such a thing), flying a Titan with a 503 did several acrobatic
maneuvers along with a very interesting Weedhopper performing
acrobatics as well. Saturday also had some contests including bomb
drop, spot landing, and a new one for me where the planes took off as
close as possible to a designated spot and get over a 3 ft high
string of tape strung across the runway and across another 3 ft high
string of tape about 30 yards further down and then try to land as
close to the other tape as possible. On this contest the Weedhopper
proved to us how rugged it was when it took a licking and kept on
ticking. That poor kid of a passenger though. Not sure he knew what
he was in for on that one. All in all it was a fun time had by all.
Had a great sleep on Saturday night and woke up at 4:30 am with the
moon just shining away and a very beautiful morning. Went back to
bed but could only make it till 5:30 am and I was wide awake. Got up
and made coffee and was surprised that several others were up as
well. Spent the wee early morning gabbing some more. Breakfast was
later served and now it was time to break camp and start the journey
home.

A little fog had set in around us so we waited a short time and then
set off. This time I was in the lead being guided by "Firehawk" who
was in the rear and all this after I took off last. Go figure. The
route going back was a slight variation of what we came over with.
It started out just like Friday – very smooth and we had a tailwind
(both coming and going – not bad). We headed up to Citronelle, a
little NE of Lucedale, where we intercepted the pipeline and then
followed it to Brewton where we planned our first fuel stop. Atmore
was closed today; well nobody would be there to man the pumps. Upon
arriving Brewton we shared the airspace with a gyrocopter. Upon
refueling we left for Defuniak Springs. The weather looked a little
suspect but we headed a little south and then around it and it
cleared up just fine. When we got to Defuniak we discovered the gas
pump was broke and the pump further over at Chipley was rumored to be
suspect as well. We had lunch and then "Bulldog" and I decided not
to take any chances and to follow "Firehawk" and "Bluebird" back to
Crystal Lake where we would top off for our final leg of our very fun
and amazing journey. We siphoned a gallon or so of gas from "C-Gull"
to put into the "Bulldog". They keep accusing me of not burning any
gas – oh well, I now work as a tanker. Off we went to Crystal
airpark and the flying just seemed to get better. A smooth landing
into Crystal and we topped off. "Bluebird" headed on toward Sandy
Creek, and "Bulldog" and I headed back to Thomasville. We headed up
toward Mariana, then across the North side of Lake Seminole this time
around and then straight over to T'ville from there. We made contact
with "Redbird" (another friend – see I do have few friends, however I
am not sure they would admit to that fact) and his student and later
met them in the air about 2 miles this side of Thomasville (West
side) and we all flew in and landed together.

What a great weekend. The "Bulldog" successfully made his
first "long" cross country round trip with flying colors. I was able
to see some old friends and made some new ones while at it, and we
all got to fly with great company and friends. For those of you who
have not gone or been to the Lucedale fly-in, you need to put it on
your calendar for next year. It is a worthwhile and fun trip. And
of course that is just my own humble opinion.