The Last Gathering of Mustangs

[[email protected]]

Is anyone heading over to the Columbus OH area for this event?
Rickenbacker Airport (KLCK) is closed to GA (per the FBO) so you have
to fly to KCMH or KLHQ.

Bob

[Jay Honeck]

> Is anyone heading over to the Columbus OH area for this event?
> Rickenbacker Airport (KLCK) is closed to GA (per the FBO) so you have
> to fly to KCMH or KLHQ.

Man, I'd give anything to be there. But it's Homecoming weekend here
at the University of Iowa, and we're packed full of revelers...

Strangely, I've heard very little about this event. For something
that's pulling in over 100 Mustangs, it's sure been beneath the
radar.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[RST Engineering]

And the revelers are packed full of beer???

Jim

>
> Man, I'd give anything to be there. But it's Homecoming weekend here
> at the University of Iowa, and we're packed full of revelers...

> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

[Jay Honeck]

> And the revelers are packed full of beer???

There's a wee bit of that going on, for sure...

;-)

I'm always surprised to see grown men drinking beer at 6:30 AM, as
we're delivering breakfast. It's really funny when the guys our age
fall asleep before game time!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[[email protected][_1_]]

On Sep 29, 8:32 am, Jay Honeck > wrote:
> > Is anyone heading over to the Columbus OH area for this event?
> > Rickenbacker Airport (KLCK) is closed to GA (per the FBO) so you have
> > to fly to KCMH or KLHQ.
>
> Man, I'd give anything to be there. But it's Homecoming weekend here
> at the University of Iowa, and we're packed full of revelers...
>
> Strangely, I've heard very little about this event. For something
> that's pulling in over 100 Mustangs, it's sure been beneath the
> radar.
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

If it makes you feel any better, I attended yesterday with my family
and while it was an ok airshow, I was unimpressed overall. There were
a lot of Mustangs there, and there were a fair amount of USAF aircraft
on display. However, there were maybe 10 vintage warbirds other than
the Mustangs. Also, I had hoped for much larger formations of Mustangs
than we saw. There was one good formation of maybe 20 of them flying
in the shape of the numbers "51", but that was it. Logistics of the
show were not good, it took more than an hour both arriving and
leaving to get the 4-5 miles from the airport to the Interstate.
Highlights were the F-22 demo, the Thunderbirds, and the one large
formation of P-51s.

I guess Oshkosh makes you jaded, but there was nothing like the large
formations of warbirds you see every year at OSH, there wasn't a large
variety of aircraft, and the ground logistics were bad. Also, I was
disappointed that they didn't have any way for general aviation to fly
in & out.

The annual USAF show in Dayton is a better show in my view.

Obviously any day that you can see 100 Mustangs is a good one, but
there was a lot of untapped potential at this show.

Eric Bartsch
1959 Pilatus P-3 A-848
http://www.hometown.aol.com/bartscher/index.html

[Jay Honeck]

> Obviously any day that you can see 100 Mustangs is a good one, but
> there was a lot of untapped potential at this show.

An F-22 demo and 100 Mustangs? I'd be happy with that!

True, OSH jades us to everything that follows, but I've never seen
more than 20 Mustangs anywhere. To see (and, hopefully, hear) 100
Merlins singing in unison? Man, that must've been cool...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[tjd]

I'd have to disagree and say it was a fantastic show. "Only" having
20 Mustangs in formation instead of 51 was a bit of a disappointment
but they explained on the PA that was due to bad weather on Thursday
delaying many arrivals and impacting practice time for getting the big
formation together, so I completely understand why they decided not to
do it. It was amazing to see so many of them in one place and I was
very happy with the selection of other planes which included B-17,
B-25, P-38, P-40, P-47, P-63 and a Lanc - at least one of each type
flew in the show. The F-22 put on quite a show, I'd never seen one of
those before. Of course I've never been to OSH but I think you'd have
to be very jaded indeed not to have enjoyed that show.

todd.

[Allen[_1_]]

Greg Smith has posted some pictures of this gathering on pbase at
http://www.pbase.com/saint01/gathering_of_mustangs

--

*H. Allen Smith*
WACO - We are all here, because we are not all there.


"tjd" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I'd have to disagree and say it was a fantastic show. "Only" having
> 20 Mustangs in formation instead of 51 was a bit of a disappointment
> but they explained on the PA that was due to bad weather on Thursday
> delaying many arrivals and impacting practice time for getting the big
> formation together, so I completely understand why they decided not to
> do it. It was amazing to see so many of them in one place and I was
> very happy with the selection of other planes which included B-17,
> B-25, P-38, P-40, P-47, P-63 and a Lanc - at least one of each type
> flew in the show. The F-22 put on quite a show, I'd never seen one of
> those before. Of course I've never been to OSH but I think you'd have
> to be very jaded indeed not to have enjoyed that show.
>
> todd.
>

[[email protected][_1_]]

On Sep 30, 8:21 pm, john smith > wrote:
> In article . com>,
>
> " > wrote:
> > I guess Oshkosh makes you jaded, but there was nothing like the large
> > formations of warbirds you see every year at OSH, there wasn't a large
> > variety of aircraft, and the ground logistics were bad. Also, I was
> > disappointed that they didn't have any way for general aviation to fly
> > in & out.
>
> Eric did you find a NOTAM for KLCK relating to flying in during the
> event?
> I was going to fly over from KOSU just to avoid the ground traffic, but
> could not find a NOTAM. Looking at the daily schedule, I didn't see how
> they would accommodate arrivals or departures.
> I elected not to go for many of the same reasons you mentioned.
> I would have liked to have seen the Mustangs, but the cost of admission
> was not worth it.

I didn't see a NOTAM but I did check the airshow's website and they
directed all GA traffic to other Columbus area airports and stated
there was no provision for handling traffic at Rickenbacker.

There were definitely highlights of the show, and it was fun, but it
could have been so much better. They didn't do anything that compared
to the large formations of warbirds at OSH all at different altitudes,
converging over the field.

That F-22 is a really impressive plane though. They did give it more
time and airspace to work with than I remember seeing at OSH for the
last couple of years.

Eric Bartsch
1959 Pilatus P-3 A-848
http://www.hometown.aol.com/bartscher/index.html

[[email protected]]

I was at the show on Sunday. I thought that they ran a great show.
To get this many of these planes in one place is quite an
acomplishment.

Things ran smoothly and something was always in the air. The large
video screens were a good addition. The show ran safely and on time.
We had no problems getting out, but we departed opposite the main
stream (as directed by officials).

Bob

[[email protected]]

I too was dissapointed that I could not fly in. There was traffic
after the TFR expired. I could have timed my arrival and departures
but the FBO said that no traffic was being allowed in. I should have
called the FAA.

Bob

[tjd]

On Oct 2, 8:56 am, wrote:
> I too was dissapointed that I could not fly in.

Yeah, I wished I could have flown too, seems like they could have done
something to accomodate GA traffic at Rickenbacker. But, it's a minor
gripe, at least for me, since it was only a 3 hour drive. I was
thinking of going into TZR but didn't plan far enough in advance and
then saw they were completely full.

FWIW, I didn't have any problems with ground traffic, etc. They had
plenty of cops on the scene directing traffic and made some 2-way
roads both lanes in one direction. Spent 30 minutes or so looking
around after the flying part was done and got right out no problems.

[vlado]

The count of Mustangs in attendance is a number between 79 and 83.
The final count is not out yet. (Where is the last airshow where you
saw 70+ Mustangs all in one place? That's all that mattered to me!)
Yes, there were a lot of Mustangs, but not all pilots were formation
qualified OR current. These very independent and type-A owners are
hard to get in one spot to practice formation flying. The next time
you see a Mustang pilot, don't ask: 'Does it have an
Allison?'.......rather ask: 'Are you formation qualified AND current?'
Thx,
VL