Cheri and I will be at Hillsborough SP site 40 (lovingly referred to as "our" site) next week Fri and Sat night Oct 1&2. Just in case someone wants to join us there.

Corey, how did the park look? Everything OK and ready for us in December?

Man, I would sooo like to go but I won't be in FLA until late Feb. Don't have time/money to do an extra Barth round trip. (I could be down there in a day in the plane, though. Hmm, I'll have to check for little airports in the area...) Which is closer, Plant City or Zephyr Hills?

Steve, Zephyr Hills is close, but you have to watch out for all those crazy people jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.

That is so tempting (Zephyr Hills I mean, not jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. I did consider jumping out of a couple of trucks this summer in Canada, though!) Skydiving is on my bucket list but not the first item.

You never know, I might end up there and rent a car...

quote:

Corey, how did the park look? Everything OK and ready for us in December?

Everything looked tip top and in fine form. The only bummer was that the redid the breakfast area and did away with the communal table top grills for cooking yer own pancakes. That was cool, but in the past now. Apparently they privatized the whole store and deli area. They did do an excellent rehab on the insides though.

The weather was simply spectacular. Highs 82ish, lows 65ish and pure sun all day. Lots of water in the river. Your favorite gator says he'll be looking for you come December!

quote:

You never know, I might end up there and rent a car...

Bill NY did that several years ago. I think he flew into Orlando, you also have Tampa nearby. If you fly into Zephyr Hills we can come pick you up. Lots of empty beds, no one has claimed our couch yet, but it's not a Barth anymore remember!!

Be careful what you offer! I would go with the smaller local airport for sure. (No problem with the 'Bird for me I'll just raise my pinky when I tip my beer/"malted beverage")

You only have to say "go" and the spot is yours. I'll expect a ride in the aerobeast of course!!

Steve,

What kind of plane do you have?

I sure miss mine (1967 Cessna 172 Skyhawk). I had it for about 10 years until "Charley" claimed it at PGD. The worst thing was the firewall forward overhaul just completed (50 hrs on it)when "Charley" took it.

I used it for aerial photo work for my wife's
realty magazine business which she also lost.

Capt Jim
1985 Barth Regency

It's a 1968 Skyhawk. Got it with only 1000 hrs total time, now has about 1750.

I don't like storms either. It was pristine till the tornado of Oct 07.





That is my hangar,too. We spent all winter fixing both:



New right wing, new paint, many other parts, plane and hangar good as new:





OMG, just realized...serious thread drift, sorry! Corey, do you still want a ride in that thing?

Oh, yeah!

Steve,

Nice "bird" you have and great repair job. Do you fly from a private strip or your own propety?

My plane looked fairly good after "Charley" until I got up close.
During the storm the tail tie down broke at the ground and then one wing tie down broke. The other wing tie down held as the plane went around in a circles countless times until the nose gear collapsed into the lower fuslage. She continued going around in circles draging the collapsed nose gear while the prop made a ridge into the concrete.
The firewall was buckled, the floor was split so you good see the ground and the rudder pedals were cocked sideways. There were stress areas on the wings. Insurance company deemed the damage to the fuslage to great to repair.

I'll see if I can find the photos and post them.

Capt Jim

Wow, your plane really took a beating.

Fortunately, almost all of my damage was limited to bolt-on parts.

Basically the hangar door slammed the front end, bent the cowlings, then jumped over the right wing and bent the strut and spar. The plane slid backwards, hit the back wall and bent the rudder, fin, one elevator and the aft bulkhead broke when the horizontal stabilizer cocked. We replaced right wing (new) and rudder, fin, one strut, left elevator, both ailerons, and aft bulkhead.

I had recently installed 2 radios, a second GPS, 2 gyros, intercom, and a new transponder in the panel. The new cylinders had only 200 hrs on them at the time. Many other new parts... motor mounts, strut seals, starter, alternator, both mags, rebuilt carb, brakes, tires, carpet, seat covers. The fuselage was not bent. The insurance company wanted to total it but for reasons above I elected to fix... couldn't see walking away from all the previous work. Like I said, it was pristine and I didn't think I'd find another without starting over on it.

We had minor repair on the left wing and horizontal stabilizer, major dent removal on the cowls, replaced bulkhead, checked/rebuilt the prop, new paint, new windshield.

My excellent mechanic and I spent all winter..good news is that when we first flew, it was straight and level, ball centered, no need to even adjust trim!

Bad memories but actually the plane has more new stuff now!

I fly out of Kalkaska village airport (Y89) 3500 ft paved, nice clear approaches too.

(That is my hangar.. another big project. Note: hurricane brackets work, did you notice no trusses were lost?)

I don't mind interesting thread drift, great pix BTW, and the plane looks like new.
However, I checked RA this morning and see that 51c, 51d, and 75 are still available for the big coaches, and 30 for 35 or less footers. These are the last 4 sites in "our" area, so if you've been putting it off, better get your reservations in quick! We'll start getting together the food plans etc. in a couple weeks, so start thinking about what you'd like to bring for saturday evenings feast. Sunday morning will be biskits and gravy, and maybe Cheri will make some pancakes if we ask really nice. All other meals you're pretty much on your own. Hope to see everybody there.