The day could not have been nicer and so was the airport. No one actually saw Kobelt further than three miles out in spite of all the GPs gizmos and Approach’s announcements. It is a beautiful 2,800′ narrow runway airport in the rolling New York hills just west of the Hudson River. Airboss of New York Scott Brunner picked the spot and he could not have done better. The restaurant was great and even the fuel price at the self-serve pump made us line up and fill up before we left for home.
We BACers are used to basic Purina Pilot Chow but the local CAVU restaurant treated us to very enjoyable food and linen tablecloth and napkins. It’s right on the field at N45 and they have a bar which we only observed. They were nice enough to set up coffee for all of us while we waited for the various planes to grease and bounce in.
Scott was first to arrive so none of the others could rate his landing or airmanship. Consider the skilled navigation needed to fly the entire route of six miles from his home base. Airboss of New Jersey Bob Palamara was last of the planes to arrive but he was only second at the lunch table as Airboss of Connecticut Ken Cook is almost always first to sit down.
Tom Corcoran, Director of the Northeast Region, remembered to bring the banner. Due to the wind (15kts but right down runway 21) the banner was only unfurled for the obligatory group photo. Steve Cote, Past Vice President has a habit of messing up the weather at each BAC event which he attends. The sun was shining before, during and after the event so Steve may have lost his demonic powers.
As usual, Glenn Castner brought out his museum quality Sierra for all to see. The interesting thing though, is he actually flys this beauty and has been at most of our Northeast fly-ins.
A mystery member arrived at the end of lunch. His name is Steve and he had a Sierra hiding in a Kobelt hangar a few feet from the restaurant. He admitted to being an “occasional” member and has vowed to get to the website more frequently. Time did not allow us to investigate the veracity of his claims. We will do the research and hope that he joins us at the next fly-in or event.
Four aviation guests joined as flying friends and companions. The most appreciated guest was Jackie, Scott’s girlfriend. She adds a lot of class to the group and her presence keeps the language on a higher plain.
And the sheriff from Kansas. Yes he was there with a fellow sitting in the back seat playing an accordian. He kept going up and down the runway in a nice old four door Thunderbird sedan. We happened to have picked a day when a crew was filming a music video to be distirbuted in January. The band’s name is (insert best guess here). Maybe the Blue Sparrows or the Black Nighties or something.
The Northeast Region continues to be very active. Sometimes fly-ins are posted on a moment’s notice so keep looking for announcements in the calendar and the bulletin board on the BAC home page.
Look for a Northeast announcement soon to be made by Connecticut Airboss Ken Cook for a “100LL Party” at Danielson KLZR.
Harvey Haag, Airboss of Pennsylvania has plans a fly-in just being completed for western PA. Watch the calendar for that and the February midwinter Ice Runway fly-in by Ron Cribbie, Airboss of New Hampshire.