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Last week-end, the South Florida
Fun Flyer's (LAFA's sister club & EAA UL Chapter 71), put together a
first-rate two-day flying event at Opa Locka West airport.
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Opa
Locka West Campsite from 3,000 Feet |
...and from across the runway |
It turned out to be a perfect
flying week-end. The weather gods provided perfect weather, and the
organizers from Chapter 71 showed us all how hard work, good planning and
lots of cooperation ensure a successful event.
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Arial shots of
some of the areas surrounding Opa Locka West |
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Opa Locka West (X46) is normally
closed to the public, and aside from the occasional student doing a
touch-and-go, is very quiet. (Too
quiet). But on
Saturday, pilots from no less than Five EAA clubs converged on Opa
Locka West to break the silence.
A BBQ lunch on
Saturday was followed by pilot proficiency competitions (bean bag
bomb-drops) in the afternoon and... LOTS of flying.
Fly-bys were continuous
throughout the day and almost every type of flying machine was represented
in the air and on the ground.
   
Officer Dooley who was in
the area tracking a stolen farm vehicle landed to say hello and show off his
"toy".
   
   
As the sun went down in the
evening, we were treated to multiple gourmet Italian dishes...
 
Digestion was aided by a
video presentation courtesy of Steve Bensinger, (a member of the US
Microlight Team) who described his experiences at the World Competitions in
England last year.
The house was packed for
Steve's presentation
LAFA Members Cap'n Bob
Musgrove and Peter Volum took first and second place in the Bean Bag Drop.
Chapter 71's Tim Fallon took third place.
After Steve's presentation
something really horrible happened! A bunch of people
attempted to sing with the aid of Jerry Wilson's Karaoke equipment.
The worst part about this was that Jerry's microphones were working,
plugged-in and turned on! Whatever wildlife that used to inhabit that
quiet airport is probably still progressing northwards at an accelerated
gait and nearing Alaska! (...actually, it wasn't really THAT bad.
Some of the singers were actually quite good, and the entertainment value
was as the commercial says, "priceless").
The night-time
sounds were... um...interesting!
Sunday's morning silence was
broken by the sound of David Cole and his powered parachute flying friends'
engines preparing for an early morning flight in the perfectly calm air.
They were followed by every other shape and size of flying machine on the
ground, as still other newcomers continued to arrive.
This noteworthy event made
it into the very first issue of EAA's "Sport Pilot" Magazine
(previously "Experimenter").
Events like this one don't
happen by chance. They take a hell of a lot of work and those
responsible deserve to be mentioned:
Thank you Fun Flyers...
...John Hovan - President
of Chapter 71 for having devoted so many hours to plan this event.
Thanks also to John's wife Patricia for arranging for the food from
Santino's restaurant and for making sure everything ran smoothly.
...Carlos Marrero for
cooking the Lunch and Breakfast.
...Dick Woodruff for
bringing all the tables and the food on Saturday.
...Rolando Ortega for
bringing that huge grill and for donating prizes for the raffle.
...Santiago Rodriguez for
your excellent work as safety officer and traffic controller.
...Tim Fallon for
bringing all those tables and chairs.
Flared a bit late
Tim?
...Donna Hanner for
handling the cash.
...Jerry Wilson for
bringing and setting up the Karaoke machine.
...Steve Bensinger and
Chapter 149 for an excellent presentation.
...Chapter 133 for
bringing lots of chairs.
...Chapter 37 for
donating raffle prizes.
...Jim Scroggins and Andy
Corsetti for giving 30 Young Eagles flights between them.
...The guy in the blue
helicopter... for also giving rides to our kids (you should have landed
once in a while so we could have met you!)
...Everybody else who helped
to make the week-end a success.
You may not realize this
Chapter 71, but there are already a lot of people out here counting the days
until next year's "2nd annual Opa Locka West Chapter 71 camp-out".
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