Flew to Sporty's Today

[Jon Kraus]

Finally cleared up over the weekend... I decided to take a quick trip to
Batavia Ohio and check out Sporty's Pilot Shop... My neighbor and I got
to the airport a little before 11:00 am and started the pre-flight...

It is freakn' cold here today.... 10 degrees when I was pre-flighting...
Everything checks out OK so I help my Neighbor Bob (he's 77) into the
Sports car like Mooney... Even though we were plugged in the prop was
turning SLOW... I had visions of not getting her to start and having to
pay the fifty bucks for a jump... But, the third time was the charm and
the 200 HP Lycoming jumped to life... Thank you God!! Taxied out and
departed with a 13 knot X-wind... Turned to the southeast and were soon
at 6500 thanks to the 1500 fpm climb...

Thanks to the wind out of the northwest we were making 220 mph over the
ground!! I know we'd pay for that on the way back but I was going to
enjoy the speed in the meantime... After 30 minutes or so we were
descending looking for the airport... I have a heck of a time finding
airports in the winter and this was no different.. Finally found the
airport and made nice landing on 22...

Sporty's is a very nice, modern complex with a museum, snackbar and of
course store... Got a bite to eat and looked around at the store... I
decided to purchase a couple of sweatshirts for Kellie and myself...
They embroidered the Triple43Hotel's number while I waited...

Departed after a couple of hours and like I said paid for the tailwind
on the way out with a pretty decent headwind on the way back... We we
doing 180 mph on the way back... Got back to Indy Exec and I was high
and fast.. Just where I don't want to be... I came over the fence 20 mph
too fast and experienced my first bounced landing in the Mooney.. I was
able to straighten everything out after the third bounce and made it
back to the hanger... All in all a good time was had by all... I love
flying!!

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
'79 Mooney 201 Triple43Hotel

[Peter R.]

Jon Kraus ) wrote:

> Finally cleared up over the weekend... I decided to take a quick trip to
> Batavia Ohio and check out Sporty's Pilot Shop..

The Mecca of sorts for us US-based pilots. :) Enjoyed your pirep.

I have been there twice now. Once on the way back east from a trip to
the midwest and once to talk to the folks at AirMod about an interior
replacement.

The first time I was there it was around 95 degrees F and pretty humid.
Watching from the upstairs pseudo-cafe, we witnessed a couple of
alarmingly long takeoff runs that day.

The second time I was there my tired starter could not start the engine
before the battery died and I had to have the AirMod owner come out and
use his pickup truck to jump-start my aircraft (with auto-to-aircraft
jumper cables). Duh!

BTW, I have to say that I was disappointed in the cafeteria at Sporty's.
I was expected a restaurant, not a bank of vending machines.

--
Peter

[Jay Honeck]

> BTW, I have to say that I was disappointed in the cafeteria at Sporty's.
> I was expected a restaurant, not a bank of vending machines.

Thanks for the PIREP, Jon.

Sporty's was a "as-long-as-we're-this-far-East-anyway" stop for us, and I
was glad that I had not made the flight solely for them. Their store was
surprisingly small -- about the size of a convenience store -- and the
all-vending-machine cafeteria was a bad joke. If an airport with a
Sporty's on the field can't support a restaurant, you wouldn't expect ANY
airport restaurants to survive -- yet they do in many places.

In their defense, you could buy ANYTHING listed in the catalog instantly,
since their distribution warehouse is right there. But I was somehow
expecting this "Mecca of Aviation" to have a much grander store, and to be
serving real food that my family could enjoy.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Peter MacPherson]

On the theme of pilot shops and restaurants on the field, the nicest
combo I've seen is at LNS(Lancaster, PA). Great(and big) pilot
shop and a nice restaurant.

Pete


"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:_HuHd.14726$IV5.8015@attbi_s54...
>> BTW, I have to say that I was disappointed in the cafeteria at Sporty's.
>> I was expected a restaurant, not a bank of vending machines.
>
> Thanks for the PIREP, Jon.
>
> Sporty's was a "as-long-as-we're-this-far-East-anyway" stop for us, and I
> was glad that I had not made the flight solely for them. Their store was
> surprisingly small -- about the size of a convenience store -- and the
> all-vending-machine cafeteria was a bad joke. If an airport with a
> Sporty's on the field can't support a restaurant, you wouldn't expect ANY
> airport restaurants to survive -- yet they do in many places.
>
> In their defense, you could buy ANYTHING listed in the catalog instantly,
> since their distribution warehouse is right there. But I was somehow
> expecting this "Mecca of Aviation" to have a much grander store, and to be
> serving real food that my family could enjoy.
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

[[email protected]]

I had the same experience. I was "off to see the wizard" and when I
got there...what a huge disappointment. Not only was it small, but
what they did have on display was locked behind glass. I guess I had
pictured the store being similar to the gift shop at the Smithsonian
only with pilot gear. I wanted to "play" with various headsets,
trinkets from the wright Bros. catalog, handhelds, etc. Instead it was
more like a 7-11 only with all the goods locked up where you couldn't
touch them. They would get the headsets out if you asked, but it just
wasn't much fun with someone standing over you watching you try on one
headset and then have to ask for the next. The girl helping me was
anxious to get back on the phone with her boyfriend so I took my cash
home with me. Probably a good thing because I was worried I was going
to drop a grand on "toys" I really didn't need.

[dave]

As Peter M. mentioned, LNS is a really nice stop. There's a nice
restaurant and a pilot shop. You can demo headsets at their demo panel
to your hearts content. Lots of stock is on display. They also carry
many toys, gliders and models. Luckily, I'm just a short hop away at
Wings, LOM.
Dave
68 7ECA

wrote:
> I had the same experience. I was "off to see the wizard" and when I
> got there...what a huge disappointment. Not only was it small, but
> what they did have on display was locked behind glass. I guess I had
> pictured the store being similar to the gift shop at the Smithsonian
> only with pilot gear. I wanted to "play" with various headsets,
> trinkets from the wright Bros. catalog, handhelds, etc. Instead it was
> more like a 7-11 only with all the goods locked up where you couldn't
> touch them. They would get the headsets out if you asked, but it just
> wasn't much fun with someone standing over you watching you try on one
> headset and then have to ask for the next. The girl helping me was
> anxious to get back on the phone with her boyfriend so I took my cash
> home with me. Probably a good thing because I was worried I was going
> to drop a grand on "toys" I really didn't need.
>