LadiesLoveTaildraggers

I Love Summer Weekends! Even though it’s not officially here yet, best to grab what there is of it when you can get it. Last weekend in Oklahoma I met a host of interesting people who were all the more interesting because they all arrived in taildraggers.

Here's Donna Guerin & me picking up our first poker card at 1K8

Donna flew in from Alabama in her J5 and like us, had to circumnavigate the weather to get there. I loved her southern accent which, believe it or not, you don’t get too much of in Indiana! After the fly-in ended everyone started taking off heading every which way. So on the flight home we’re monitoring 122.75 (or one of the plane-to-plane frequencies) and I hear this sweet, southern voice chattering away with all the guys. We were well over 100 miles away from them and that southern accent came in loud and clear – too funny, it was Donna! Oh, and this was the 2nd weekend in a row I did a poker run and they just keep getting better. 1st weekend pair of 7s. Last weekend pair of Jacks. If I keep this up all summer maybe I’ll get a Full House yet! This one benefited the Wounded Warriors project so everyone was a winner.

Steve & Laura Johnson from Supercub.org

I also met the host of Supercub.org, Steve Johnson and his wife Laura who I hope to soon entice to join our fun group. If you’re looking to add an interesting forum to your “Favorites”, Supercub.org is a busy link where there’s never a dull moment and they seem to like all taildraggers.

Diana Votaw 'posing' on demand!

Diana ALWAYS cracks me up, always has a good time, always goes to the best flyins and can always be counted on to make you smile. You’ve seen her vidoes on Ladies Love Taildraggers so check back ’cause more are on the way. (Please tell me I really didn’t wiggle my rear in her OK18 video!!)

Wendy awarding the poker run winner

There was one special lady I was anxious to meet at Mike’s fly-in and not just because she’s a member of our group. I had to meet any gal that hops in her Super Cub, flies 2 days from Utah to eastern Oklahoma every year, solo, just because she loves this fly-in! Wendy was cool and so was her Super Cub with the big tundra tires.

Chuck Avon & Shannon Gallagher from TN

OMG, the steaks that Chuck and Shannon are holding onto very tightly in this picture were delicious! Chuck and Shannon were at the Lady Taildragger flyin in Dayton last year and love our group! Shannon is the artist who donated two painting to benefit the Wounded Warrior project including one surprise painting given to Ed Doyle, winner of the 2011 Valdez Fly-In STOL competition in Alaska. He won flying Mike Olson’s experimental Super Cub Cuzoom which Shannon recreated in acrylic.

My Rans S7 tied down in the perfect spot

There were so many cool people and so few that I actually got pictures of and I’m sorry for that now. The one picture I’m happy I did get is of my Rans S-7 tucked in for the night in the most scenic spot imaginable. Lucky taildragger!

It’s with a sad heart I post this beautiful tribute to Amanda Franklin. Amanda died last Friday night, May 27, in San Antonio, TX where she has been receiving treatment for burns &  infections since the March 12 aircraft accident she and her husband Kyle survived. Most everyone knows by now that Kyle was flying their Waco in an airshow at Air Fiesta 2011 in Brownsville and Amanda was performing her wing-walking routine when they experienced an engine failure. She was seriously injured and severely burned in the accident that ultimately took her young life.

Amanda was a truly beautiful woman who was loved by all, was a taildragger pilot and the daughter of airshow pilot Bobby Younkin.

I owe a huge ‘thank you’ to the Sisemore’s for hosting their great OK18 Taildragger fly-in! It was a WOW weekend and all I can say is, you missed out big time if you weren’t there!

The Ladies Love Taildraggers gang wearing their brand new t's!

We had a nice turnout of lady taildragger pilots and are even missing a few gals we couldn’t roundup for the picture. I had a great time meeting everyone and am pretty sure it was the same for all of us. How cool to arrive and find so many new ladies that love their birds as much as I do!

Some of the many.....

Without a wide angle lens it’s hard to get good pictures of rows of beautiful taildraggers but suffice it to say, there were plenty to be admired.

Super Chub

The one overwhelming, undeniable, totally cool and ya gotta know, really expensive modification to a lot of the Super Cubs (and more) were these huge bush tires & beefed up extended gear. They made my 850′s look pretty sad! We’re talking BIG mammas here and they love them. Wendy’s got ‘em, Bill’s got ‘em, they were everywhere. Just remember if you’re thinking about switching yours out, every landing on hard surface is going to cost you big bucks in lost tire tread. Best to stick with the grass!

-

-

-

-

Our very own lady taildragger, Wendy's "bad boys" on her PA-12 Big Engine Super Cruiser

-

-

Lots, lots more to follow later about what the taildragger fly-in world is all about. I’ve got more adventures from this weekend to tell you about so check back. In the meantime, you’re all invited and encouraged to spend your summer flying the heck out of your favorite bird to where ever you can get to! Just get in that airplane, set your GPS…. fly the highway… dead recon, whatever it is you do, and go! If it’s been a while since you’ve ventured out just remember, a cross country is just a series of several small flights all linked together. You’ll be happy you did it!

I”m way behind! I had this almost ready to go yesterday but ran out of time to post it so here goes – better late than never, right?!

Well, it weren’t easy but we made it to OK18 ! We were ready to go before 7:00 a.m. Friday but the low ceilings kept us on the ground longer than we hoped. We checked the weather, waited, rechecked the weather, went out to breakfast, checked it again and finally got off about 11:00 a.m. We had 484 n.m. to go and the first leg got us a mere 16 n.m. Low ceilings are a drag!

Ceilings much better in this picture - the fly through plane wash somewhere over Missouri

So 2.5 hours on the ground there – and lunch, hallelujah, the ceiling finally started to raise enough for us to try it again.  It wasn’t ideal but doable and wasn’t too long before visability started improving, the ceiling went up and things were looking pretty darn good.

Bill & Yvette leading the way through the Wx in their Super Cub

We did a lot of yakking on 123.45 all day about all the usual stuff; “What are you indicating?”, “Wow, look at all the flooding down there”, “Too much coffee, it’s time to land!” and all the important stuff.

Good thing I LOVE Super Cubs because I got to look at this one ALL day!

When I transmitted “Oh, there’s a Walmart!” on 123.45 and heard back “Get a cell phone” I think I must have crossed some unspoken line. Get over it, buddy!!

Yvette Tracy & me at a fuel stop

When the weather broke and we started having great visability and ceilings, we really started having a great time.

My amazing Rans S7

We plopped down at Flora, Illinois ’cause it looked like a beautiful spot and somebody…… drank too much coffee!

Boyd just added tie-down rings to the Rans the night before we left so he was happy to try them out!

-

Mississippi River

I don’t have a picture yet but I followed the Super Cub into 36 at OK18, the preferred runway because you come in over the water and have a clear approach. Arrived 8:15 p.m. and YES, we got there in time for the great BBQ rib dinner!!

I love to see taildraggers having fun with their buddies. Sometimes they’re lined up nice and tidy & shining in the sunlight and sometimes they’re a random scattering of whoever happened to show up.  Either way, when the right person snaps the perfect picture, I love seeing it. Hope you enjoy. (Some of these deserve close inspection – slow click twice to see full size images)

A line of Taylorcrafts at 2008 Taylorcraft Fly-in. Photo by Randy Wentzel

-

Photo by Carol Levine, Oshkosh

-

Photo by Garrett Smith, Oshkosh

-

Photo by Jim Tanis, Oshkosh

-

Photo by Julie Richardson, Oshkosh

-

Photo by Jim Tanis, Oshkosh

-

Wendy Lessigs Photo, Missouri Breaks

-

C-195s

-

Photo by Charles Johnson, 8-14-10 Moraine, Lady Taildraggers Flyin

-

Three 11AC Aeronca Chiefs by Ray Johnson

-

Photo by Charles Johnson, 8-14-10 Moraine, Lady Taildraggers Flyin

-

Photo by Charles Johnson, 8-14-10 Moraine, Lady Taildraggers Flyin

-

Lake Hood by John Graham

-

Lake Hood Strip by John Graham

-

by John Graham

-

Photo by John Graham

-

Photo by John Graham

-

Photo by John Graham

-

Waco Club Fly-in

-

Brent Clark Photo, Seaplane base on Lake Winnebago

-

Photo provided by Shannon Gallagher, Photo by C. L. Weldy

Great thing tonight – Bill & Yvette Tracy snuck in from the Cleveland area to Indy – between weather! We’re all heading to OK18 tomorrow so happy they made it this far.

Bill & Yvette taxiing in at MQJ

The weather Friday morning is questionable here but we’re all hoping for the best. Either way, we’re all hanging out having a great time and we’ll worry about tomorrow – tomorrow!

Tucking her in for the night!

Aviator Amelia Earhart talks about her flights and aviation in the 1930s. Dubbed “Ace woman flyer of the world” this is actual video of Amelia telling some of her experiences as a flyer and film clips from those events.

Location of Seminar: Scanlon Aviation Maintenance Hangar

451 Airport Road
Novato, CA 94945

Jeanne MacPherson
Master Flight Instructor
Mountain  Airdance llc Website: http://www.mountainairdancellc.com/

Lisa Martin sent these beautiful pictures of her back-country Super Cub flight to Mexican Mountain, Utah. Looks like a gorgeous flight and an adventurous weekend! (slow click twice to see full size images).

Rugged country north of Rock Springs, WY

“Delta’s” been “christened” for back-country camping! We lit at Mexican Mountain in Utah this weekend!!! I’m now thinking it is the perfect early season strip for a fly-in camping trip. Some local guys rode through on horses and said we hit the right weekend – last weekend it was blizzarding and by next it will not cool to under 100 until the middle of the night. So…mid May Mexican Mountain is our new tradition!

Sand dunes just outside of Rock Springs, WY

It was a 361 mile flight for us (each way) and the view was outstanding from our Super Cub, never getting very high off the ground.

Flaming Gorge on the WY-UT border

Well, the view was a little limited on the way home as we dodged showers and low (below the hill tops) ceilings. Got almost 10 hours of flying in and now I’m wondering which direction will hold the best weather next weekend

San Raphael Reef - 2 m out

-

See that strip of dirt in the middle of the trees?

-

On final for Mexican Mountain

-

Me and Delta at Mexican Mountain

-

Found - the elusive blooming cacti

-

Sun going down behind the San Raphael River

-

A morning hike on the Horsethief Trail

-

A happy camper