I'm in the Buffalo area visiting family. My brother John, a local
here, flies as well, so we've been spending a fair bit of time with the
Rochester Area Flyers. http://Rochesterareaflyers.com.
Linda Salimone and Mark Frutiger have been instrumental in plugging us into the
local scene (thanks guys!)
This Saturday before last was pretty awesome. We'd decided to join the
budding new aerotowing operation out at Geneseo airport. Geneseo is home of the
1941 Historical Aircraft Group Museum. http://www.1941hag.org.
The crown jewel of the 1941HAG is one of the two B17s from the movie the Memphis
Belle. It's out on tour at the moment.
The RAF's only just started towing at Geneseo and the Museum owner and staff
could not have been more welcoming. We're looking forward to a wonderful
relationship. They're certainly off to the right start.
The airfield is absolutely massive. The only question is how much of the grass
to cut and which bits, because there's no way to cut it all! Right now, we're
using the access paths and taxiway paths for aerotowing and the cut field grass
near the C119 Flying Boxcar for scooter towing. I tell yah, it's quite something
to watch operations out of the hatch of a WWII aircraft with gliders landing
next to a C47.
This is I believe day 3 at the airport, this is all brand new. Mark's has just
now gotten the aerotow side legal and running and I helped them get the scooter
tow back out and operational (it's only been used twice before).
Well, how's this for timing? A former student had just showed up to check things
out as we were finishing testing the scooter tow. So he signed back up with the
club (his USPHA was already current) and we got him back into the air (several
times). I love scooter towing. Just in time too as the club training hill is now
closed for the season due to crops (corn).
All in all it was a fantastic weekend. I can't wait to get out with this crew
again anytime I'm up visiting my brother. (They've got some sweet mountain sites
as well, but that's a story for an other day)
A couple notes. On the cart is our fearless leader Linda and Mark's in the tug.
The big plane outside of course is the C119 Flying Boxcar. The close up scooter
tow pictures are Ron and Rick testing things out in the taller grass before we
moved to the nice mowed stuff by the 119. The Museum is a non-profit
organization of extremely nice volunteers.
