Finally on the Move

Valentine's Day, languishing at the airport in Laredo waiting for the fog to burn off. Yawn. Yawn. One by one the planes that did not leave yesterday, leave today. Finally at 1PM, they decide that maybe IFR is not so bad after all and about 30 minutes later we launch. We are above the clouds in the sunlight in 5 minutes. Blessedly it is not cold. In fact, we are shedding jackets. There are just four of us so we are all in the cockpit for most of the flight.
At San Antonio, the clouds go away and we can see the ground and landmarks from then on.We phoned Cal Moreland as we passed Grandview but got voice mail. We have a hefty tail wind and so the trip is shortened. We are happy to see the hangers of Alliance ahead of us. No on is happier than the Flagship. Though a winter in Florida is great, she is glad to be home. Jeff has arrived at Alliance about 20 minutes ahead of us and meets us with a cart to transport us and our luggage. He whisks us out to the front where Lynn Buffington awaits and soon we are off to a Mexican restaurant and margaritas. A mission that is both rewarding and frustrating. Nothing else on the books until April except some fine tuning and maintenance.
Last photo is of the red carpet donated by Stuart Jet Center so the Flagship can truly be a first class operation. This should cut down on debris tracked in to the plane. Alas, although Dennis washed the floor cloths while in Florida, they are pretty dirty from our soppy trip across the country.
Footnote: Learned with shock tonight that Dennis Pugsley, who was perhaps the least prepared for the cold in Laredo, is in the hospital with double pneumonia. Get well quick, Dennis!

And Wait Some More

Monday morning there is much study of weather patterns on laptops, ipads and smart phones to see if we can get to Fort Worth today. The forecast looks promising for later in the day. Buff takes Peggy and Jim to the commercial terminal and when he returns, the remaining troopers pile in the cars and head to the airport. The headquarter for the air show was a very large and very empty part of the building. Barren except for chairs and tables in a break room. Unknown to me there is a large and luxuriously appointed FBO on the left end of the building. It has two large rooms, the first with a group of leather recliners sofas and chairs surrounding a huge TV. It also has several computer stations and a dining table. The second room has a large circle of comfy couches and the business end of the operation. This morning it is full of fly boys and girls looking to get back home. We get our airplane fueled and oil and do some more study as one by one the other planes fire up and launch.
A group enters the room and suddenly a small dog wearing a hoodie leaps into my lap and cuddles up. I had seem him with his owner in the break room the day before. His owner approaches and berates him, urging him to come with her, but he just snuggles down closer. In disgust, she walks out of the room. Somewhat later she returns and again calls the dog, who sits at attention, ears up, but does not move. She comes over and whacks his bottom and says "Come on!" and he does. Never in all of this does the woman look at or address me. I found all this to be highly amusing!
In early afternoon, the skies clear and the weather finally begins to warm. It is looking great here but not at Alliance in Ft. Worth where we need to go. Alas, we turn in the rental cars, make reservations and are picked up by a Fairfield Inn shuttle to stay another night. View from our room is illustrated on the right. The hotel is across from a mall and we spot a Logan's Roadhouse that we can walk to. There the beer and tequila flows and the nachos and queso along with them. After awhile Sheryl leaves to do mundane chores like laundry. She and Gene have been on the road twelve days. Dennis leaves with her and bids fond farewell to his new "mates" as he is catching the shuttle back to the airport and flying back to DFW and then Palm Beach this afternoon.
Meanwhile, the "boys" move the party back to the hotel and continue swapping lies until late into the evening.
Tuesday morning, things are looking promising for Ft. Worth, ground fog along the way that should burn off. At breakfast we notice the waffles are in the shape of the state of Texas. That is one of the things I love about Texas...ever seen a waffle shaped like Alabama or Georgia?
Back in the room we notice that the fog has worsened. Gene reports that Jeff's flight to DFW has been canceled due to the weather. He now has the dilemma of taking the 1PM flight and being late to work for sure or gambling on going with us and perhaps being on time to work, but having a car at DFW.
We pack up and head to the FBO. As we travel, the fog gets worse. By the time we reach the airport it is like pea soup and we can barely make out the shape of our airplane even though it is really close by.
We load luggage, clean up the cabin and do all the things to prepare for take off. Then we go back to the FBO to amuse ourselves with TV and computers while we wait for the fog to lift. There are increasing numbers of people in the same boat. It is not almost noon and while it is somewhat brighter, there is still a ways to go....stay tuned.

Rained out

The rest of the week is forecast to be warm and balmy, but it is 42 degrees, windy and threatening rain when we leave the hotel. Two hours later the only thing that has changed is that now it is raining. It is surprising that people are lining up to see the plane in this weather. Reminds us of Dulles last September. Those of us who came from Florida are not prepared for the cold as up to two days ago the forecast was for 69.
Since we have a large group and are not selling merchandise, there are plenty of us and we can keep cycling people through the FBO to warm up.
There is a rather constant stream of people through the plane from the moment the gates open. Very polite people with very well behaved children. We are all astonished when Dennis begins conversing with them in flawless Spanish. Seems he was born in Spain and moved to England as an infant but Spanish was spoken in the house his whole life.
Most of our men are standing out in the rain and they vote that Gene, who is essential to flying the plane and recovering from illness should return to the hotel to preserve his health. Sheryl, who is coming down with his illness, left also. The weather got even worse and the ceiling dropped and the air show was canceled. Some displays remained, but the freezing Flagship crew closed up shop and came home. In spite of the weather, we took in about $600 in admissions. This show is part of the Washington's Birthday Celebration which is a really big deal in these parts and is well supported by the community. Photo shows George and Martha costumes on display in the hotel lobby.
With the weather still drippy and cold, we stayed in the hotel for dinner and found that the incredibly slow service from breakfast was not a fluke. While drinks and appetizers seemed to come out fairly quickly, we still didn't have our meals an hour after ordering. And the dining room was only half full.
The next challenge is to get back to Fort Worth. During dinner people started getting calls that it is snowing in Dallas/Ft. Worth. If this system has not moved out and warmed by morning, we will either stay here or fly to a location closer. Zane flew out after the show. Peggy and Jim will leave from Laredo via commercial carrier in the morning. Dennis and Jeff are waiting to see what will happen. Jake, Buff, Gene and Sheryl will be with the plane regardless.
The final photo is of the military section of a cemetery we kept passing on the way to and from the airport. We were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the plastic flowers.

Hurry up and wait.

Saturday morning dawned sunny, windy and COLD!! We arrived at the airport a little after 9AM and again were greeted by the enthusiastic employees of Top Gun Aviation. The plane was oiled and fueled and toured and photographed. Dennis sold about $70 in merchandise to various people. We handed out literature and luggage tags.
We braved the cold to pose for photos in our Top Gun tee shirts. We were not in a hurry as we found out that we cannot land in Laredo until after 4 PM due to air show practice. We finally take off about noon and head across Texas. We paused at Galveston for some practice take offs and landings. Jim Skelly did some excellent ones for a first timer, heck, for an any timer.
We disembarked for a few minutes to use the facilities and scarf down junk food from the machines and then were on our way.
This last leg seemed very cold, especially as the sun, which had been warming the left side, went behind clouds. It seemed like a very long trip by the time we landed in Laredo. But, looking out the window, I spot Jeff Selby from Dallas, who remarks at how dirty his airplane is. Also awaiting our arrival are Zane Lemon and Dave Buffington with rental cars. They whisk us off to what has been touted as the best Mexican restaurant in the area.
Zane told us of a bit of miscommunication. Seems Jake had texted him that we were holding over in Hammond, LA, but the message read "Hammond OK" as in Hammond. OK? The guys in TX were trying to figure out where the heck Hammond Oklahoma was and why in the world we would go there. There has been much frivolity over Hammond, Oklahoma.
The service here is unbelievable. They even bring out wrought iron stands to hold Peggy and Sheryl's purses. The chip and dip routine is different with about five things to dip in, we indulged way too much before the real food came. A nice evening and good to be warm.
Then it was off to our hotel, La Posada which is on a quaint square backing up to the Rio Grande. The hotel is Spanish Colonial style, newly renovated, and quite beautiful with a lot of attention to detail. Our room is across a lovely courtyard and turns out to be a suite with a bedroom, living room and a hath and a half. Standing at just the right angle you can see the Rio Grande out of the window.

Change of Plans

The plan for Friday was to go to Hammond, LA, about 30 miles north to buy fuel as Top Gun Aviation there had a really good price. We were impressed when they offered us sandwiches from a very good place at no cost.
After breakfast, Gene checked the weather and, to his surprise, found a large area of rain and thunder storms just to our west. After a conference, the men decided that discretion being the better part of valor, we would sit it out. We had, after all, left Florida a day early as a precaution against bad weather. As Peggy and Sheryl anticipated a day of touring New Orleans, the men made arrangements. Alas, it was the weekend and there was not a room to be found for less than the price of a King's ransom.( A Madi Gras King) Therefore, we went to Plan B, which was to fly on up to Hammond and spend the night there. A van appeared to take us to the airport driven by a young man from Bosnia. He told us how as a young child he was sitting in his bedroom when a mortar round hit the house next door and his arm was mangled by the blast. We take our safe lives for granted sometimes.
The short flight was a gloomy one. There was thick haze making everything we saw from the windows appear largely to be the same color. Much of the flight was over Lake Pontchartrain, again adding to the grayness of the landscape. Just before our arrival in Hammond, we ran into a wall of water and Jim came back from the cockpit for paper towels to stem the flow through the emergency hatch which was dripping on the pilots. In spite of challenging conditions, Capt. Jacobson made a nice instrument landing and taxied to Top Gun.
Four young men immediately approached the plane in the driving rain and helped secure it, depositing four golf umbrellas into our open doorway. They then backed a van up and loaded our luggage, then escorted the women to the FBO under the umbrellas. As we approached the door, it flew open and a lovely blonde woman greeted us with a broad smile. This proved to be Ava, who had made all the arrangements for our visit. There were several other members of the ground crew, the airport manager and other folks inside. Soon a reporter arrived and began to interview us.
Now I have traveled fairly extensively with the plane and never received a reception like this one. We felt like rock stars, or at least the crew accompanying one. To a man (and woman) everyone was wild about our airplane and interested in hearing about her. In spite of the pouring rain a few people toured the plane, including the reporter and Jake and Peggy retrieved literature to share with our new friends. Ava appeared with a huge platter of mufalettas and we repaired to the break room for lunch. Then we were presented a Top Gun tee shirt, which we all plan to wear when we launch for Laredo the next day.
We then headed to our hotel, passing through the downtown area of Hammond which looked quite charming. We were armed with the recommendation of a restaurant there called Tope La which everyone said was the place to go. The staff at the hotel could not have been nicer and put themselves at our disposal. After long naps, we gathered in the lobby for what Bubba Jake called vespers, but turned out to be margaritas. The quest for a good one is what keeps the crew going day in and day out.
Tope La lived up to our expectations. There was a short wait for a table during which cheerful young staff members informed us of the progress. We were then led to a large booth where we met our charming server, Shane. Peggy observed that everyone here in Hammond is so pleasant and helpful. The same folks who ordered half dozen oysters the night before, got a dozen each tonight and again pronounced them wonderful. Again, all the dishes were great, but tonight it was Gene who got the prize with Chicken Maurepas. This was a chicken breast stuffed with crawfish, and crusted with Japanese bread crumbs. It was crispy on the outside, tender and flavorful on the inside. Oh, did I mention that Friday is $3 margarita night??

Westward, Ho!

The Flagship is scheduled to leave Florida on Thursday, February 9 for Laredo with an overnight stop in the New Orleans area. Judy and Tony DeSantis organized a "Fly Away" party on Wednesday evening at a Mexican restaurant and invited our local members, new and old. There were about 30 members there, including Bob Gross and his son, Riley. Jake Jacobson also attended. The Chadwicks brought a laptop and showed a video they had put together. They made copies of it for a number of people. George Dennis was to attend, as he was working in Miami, but he was under the weather. Jim Skelly and his wife, Evelyn were there in preparation for him joining us on the trip to Laredo. Dennis Pugsley will also go with us.
On Thursday, the weather had improved some and we had sun with broken clouds. We had a little send off group consisting of Peggy's houseguests, the Brooks and the DeSantis. One new member, Kathy Wright, had decided to fly with us as far as New Orleans and so we were seven. Peggy and Jake had attended to catering and there was a nice lunch and snacks on board. It was a pleasant flight. After we got across Florida we flew just off the coast with a great view of the beaches. We could follow our progress on the GPS on Jake's ipad. We flew fairly low and it did not get too cold on board.
At Lakeside Airport we were met by two taxis which whisked us to our hotels. Kathy had made her own reservations and was staying two blocks from the rest of us. We stayed at the Drury Inn which was right downtown. The lobby was decorated in dark wood with stunning crystal chandeliers. For dinner, we walked into the French Quarter to a seafood place called Deenies. Although Madi Gras has not officially started, there were already costumes, masks, beads and revelry in the streets.
At the restaurant, they started us with a platter of steaming hot red potatoes which had been cooked in a spicy boil and came with copious amounts of butter. Some folks ordered charbroiled oysters for appetizers and pronounced them to be wonderful. For dinner people had either crawfish etoufee or a large seafood salad. However, I got what the waiter said I should get and I think he hit a homerun. My dish was shrimp stuffed with(more like buried in) crabmeat dressing, topped with crawfish and drizzled with a light cheese sauce. It was beyond description.

More photos from fly in

Sheryl helping Judy with hat adjustment.




Pre flight briefing. Rapt attention.





























Peggy begging for gas money. At left is Suzie Deuser and Greg Jones. Greg's parrot Claude is out of sight on his right shoulder.
Sorry, that when I publish, the captions disassociate from the photos, but I trust you can figure them out.

Another Florida Happening

The Flagship made a lot of new friends at a recent Ferrari event in south Florida and by virtue of a very well written article by Tony DeSantis that appeared in the Stuart newspaper last week. As a result, she took off from Stuart on Saturday morning with a full load of new members (20) headed for a fly in breakfast in Sebastian, about 40 miles to the north. In photo at left note Gene flying with window open and elbow out just like in '57 Chevy. Cockpit crew were Gene Christian and Tony DeSantis, wearing his brand new reproduction uniform. Peggy Fairchild occupied Mrs. Roosevelt's seat as cabin crew and received many compliments for her performance.
One special guest was Claude, a parrot, who entertained the pre-flight briefing by doing a dead on imitation of a cat that had everyone looking around for a feline they could not spot. He also took on duties of a pre-flight walk around to inspect flight surfaces. Then Capt. DeSantis requested his help in traffic observations, taking notes, as well as occasionally hopping down and making sure the throttle adjustments were correct.

Dr. Shawn Engebretsen, along with wife, Becky, piloted his Piper Lance with a load of tee shirts plus Judy DeSantis, in full regalia as the Hollywood starlet and Sheryl Christian, as herself. Another plane brought more set up equipment and Dennis Pugsley. Dennis has been a wonderful benefactor to the Foundation, donating a great banner to sit next to the door of the plane, full color business cards with photos on both sides, and luggage tags that we can give with memberships and sell. He also donated a great lucite donation box complete with sign attachment and printed new signs to tout our merchandise. We are looking quite professional at the moment, thanks to Dennis. And, last but by no means least, Bill and Michelle Brooks drove up with the table and yet more equipment.
It was a unique experience to be flying in a small plane and observing the Flagship. Judy, Sheryl and Becky took about a bizillion photos. Alas, the weather was overcast, but some of the shots are quite good.
This fly in happens monthly and is unlike any I have seen. They had some acrobatics by a member of the Aeroshell team (who did the awesome show at the Stuart air show in November), sky divers and several interesting presentations in the hanger including a raffle which two of our passengers won. They also had a wide array of breakfast foods available, just about anything one could imagine.
We made a lot of friends, including a new member, a life time member and an offer to do tee shirts for us for free. We sold as much merchandise as we generally do at a full air show. Some of our passengers got in the spirit by arriving in vintage dress.
After a few hours in Sebastian, the caravan of airplanes and the car headed south again to Stuart. The airplanes went on south a little further to do fly overs of Celine Dion and Tiger Wood's homes. Both were eye catching, but there were quite a few others of equal note. We delivered 20 very happy new members and the bird safely back to Stuart.

Why 75 Year Olds Like to Winter in South Florida

What more could a 75 year old glamour girl from Detroit ask than a winter vacation in warm and sunny south Florida? The Flagship Detroit has been enjoying just that, beginning with the Stuart Air Show in November. She did venture north to Georgia to qualify three new Captains and then had a brief respite in Opa Locka to have a little work done (Got to be all spiffed up for the upcoming season, you know). Since early December, she has been the star of the ramp at Witham Field in Stuart, FL, wowing many admirers and new members. The highlight of her visit so far was an appearance on January 19 at "La Bella Machina," held at the Jet Aviation facility at Palm Beach International Airport. According to Jet Aviation's website, the event is "an elegant evening of Ferrari autos and business aircraft in conjunction with the week-long Cavallino Classic," which is the 11th annual celebration of classic and new Ferrari automobiles to be held in the Palm Beach area.
It was, as advertised, a most elegant evening with the floodlit Flagship in the center of the ramp, surrounded by spectacular new jets, gorgeous cars and beautiful people. In all that illustrious company, she really stood out as the "Queen Mother" that she is. Many of the attendees had an appreciation of historic aircraft, and many compliments were received, including, "Wow, this is the coolest airplane here."
Many thanks to Bob Gross, who arranged for the Detroit to be at the event, and who, along with Tony DeSantis, piloted the plane to Palm Beach and back. Foundation members Dennis Pugsley and Bill Brooks were invaluable. Dennis created a beautiful banner displayed at the door and was hard at work promoting the FSD all evening. Bill provided ground transportation from Stuart and is always so positive and willing to share his many talents. Riley Gross, Bob's son, was there looking very handsome and being very helpful. Judy and Tony DeSantis, along with Peggy Fairchild, were there in "full costume," and all received many accolades for their vintage look.
It was a wonderful evening and the Flagship made many new friends. Her next appearance will be a charity fly-in breakfast on February 4 in Sebastian, FL. Don't miss this opportunity to visit with the Flagship and her dedicated crew at this worthy event.
(Many thanks to guest columnist Peggy Fairchild for most of these words)

An Airplane Takes a Vacation

The Flagship Detroit has always been a docile and obedient sort of airplane. She has had a long and sometimes distinguished career. After all, she is celebrating her 75th birthday right about now and she has long years of experience in doing what is asked of her without complaint. And what a grand old-er lady she is!
But it seems that she took a liking to south Florida on our recent visit there. Gosh, what was there not to like, blue skies, warm sun and cool breezes. After all, Ft. Worth weather is rather extreme, sitting out there on the edge of the prairie. A brutal summer with over two months of over 100 degrees and those blue northers that whip across Texas were not making her anxious to get home.
She willingly went back to Georgia and cooperated wonderfully as Tony DeSantis and Dave Buffington successfully passed their check rides. But, when it came time to go back home with Gene Christian and Dave Buffington, she balked. She just stamped her left tire and said, "Hey, I always do what you guys want. Can't a girl have a little fun when she turns 75!" So she dug her heels in and stayed in Georgia.
Finally, Bob Gross and Tony DeSantis figured it out. They came up and took her back to Florida for a fun time. She went to a spa outside of Miami and what fun she had. She got a manicure and pedicure, a new hair style and a few massages. Ate some seafood and took some nice walks. Then she said, "OK, guys, thanks for the respite. But I still want to have fun." And so she did.
Now all rejuvenated and resting in Stuart, Florida, she is keeping an eye on those good looking local pilots while looking forward to her next year of service. The big 75th birthday celebration year. Capt. Zane is hard at work on a schedule for the next season. So stay tuned for another year of fun with the Flagship. Oh, and if you are near Stuart, stop by and say hello. I understand Peggy, Jake, Tony and Judy are stopping by for tea tomorrow.