TEX20 Write-up  
Home > TEX > TEX20

We did not get good weather at all, but we still had fun.  It rained most of the morning, was chilly, and was windy in the afternoon (check out the radar image at right from 6:30am the morning of the event).  Nonetheless, fourteen RVs, one Rocket and one T-18 did make it in as well as several dozen people in their cars.  I opted to drive in early instead of waiting for the clouds to rise a little.  The BBQ at lunch was really good and the company was nice.  We had people from as far away as NY and FL in attendance. 

Pictures

People
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Captions of note:
1) Mark Rowe, Alex DeDominicis (the organizers of the event) and 'Red' Marron (the Mayor of the BC Squadron)
2) One attendee 'voices' his opinion for the Wx we were handed for the day (of course it was beautiful 24hrs later)
3) Mel and Ann Asberry looking for more planes
4) Don Christiansen parking the first plane to fly in (which was Danny King in 'Beautiful Doll').
6) Ron/Barb Grover's 'Hot Stuff' image.
8) The BBQ was incredible and the Lockheed TP-80C in the background was a nice backdrop.  (I *think* it's a TP-80C)
10) The black cat that caused the bad Wx.
12) Rob 'Smokey' Ray was in town and drove out to the event.  What a nice surprise! 
15) BBQ stain on Jay Pratt's shirt.

Planes
1 2
Captions of note:
1) Representing the Air Force, Danny King makes the first arrival.
2) Clay Romeiser gave many rides after lunch in his newly completed 9A.

Panels
1 2 3
Captions of note:
1) Hot Stuff
2) Bob Brashear
3) Clay Romeiser's 9A Blue Mountain installation

Words

A Thank You To Airborne Imaging Inc.
...from Mark A. Rowe [markrowe at texasairnet.com], Alex DeDominicis and Doug Reeves

To the folks at Airborne Imaging Inc.,

On behalf of the RV Flying community, and the organizers of the TEX RV Fly-in, I would like to extend our thanks for allowing us to use your facility this past Saturday.  Your willingness to accommodate our need for a place to host our event went well beyond the call of duty. Without people like you, our ability to pursue our hobby would be severely hampered. Although the weather did not cooperate and allow all that wanted to participate to make it, everyone that was able to attend enjoyed themselves.

The RV community is a unique family with a common bond of love for aviation and the RV aircraft that we do so much enjoy! We appreciate you extending your hospitality to us and making us feel welcome at your facility. If ever we can reciprocate please don't hesitate to call on us!

Sincerely,

Mark, Alex and Doug

Air Force Arrives First!!
...from Danny King  danny.king at charter.net]
   There I was....... holding short of Northwest Regional's runway 35 trying to figure out why my Garmin 250 XL couldn't find Midway airport (JWY). I even put on my readers to get an extra clear look at the new Dallas Fort Worth sectional. Yep.. JWY, but the Garmin refused to recognize the three letter code. The engine was almost up to takeoff temp, so I made a quick call to Doug Reeves to check the weather at the arrival airport. Doug said it looked like a 2000 foot ceiling, good visibility, and a little mist in the air. Yea Right! I thought... Ya can't have an RV fly-in without at least one RV! Before I hung up, I sheepishly asked Doug... "What is the identifier for Midway?" "JWY," he answered.
   As I sat there contemplating whether or not the vis was good enough to find the airport by dead reckoning, my cell phone went off again. It was the Navy calling. Ross Burgess, RV-6 driver and a really nice guy for a Navy ex-fighter pilot, called to tell me that he was going to launch for Midway after taking care of family business. I asked him if he knew the identifier and he said, "Wait just a minute." His answer was 4T4 or something. I plugged it into the Garmin....and Presto... Midlothian Airport 120 degrees for 48 miles. Hot Damn, I'm good to go! It turned out that I had a new sectional and an old data base, where Ross had both old sectional and old data base. At least his matched!
   I thanked him, pointed the Doll into the brisk northwest wind, and poured on the coal. In seconds she was airborne, and I began a right turnout. The strong tailwind had me speeding toward the fly-in at 240 mph, so this flight was only going to take a few minutes. The visibility was really pretty good, so I climbed to 1000 AGL and was still clear of the overcast. I could see the areas of light rain and lowered vis so I flew a zigzag path to Midway.
   As I arrived over the field, I began to wonder if I was at the right airport after all. There were no RVs or people in sight. I entered initial for an overhead 360 for runway 35. Then, like ants coming out of a just disturbed ant hill, I saw RVers pouring out of a small slit opening in the big hangar doors. I thought to myself, "Of course this Air Force pilot is in the right place." As I turned final, I realized that the wind was really strong above the field, so I pull up into level slow flight to see just how strong it was. The Doll all but stopped, and my perception of forward motion diminished to nothing. As I turned downwind again, the Doll started to go sideways over the ground. The crosswind was about 30 degrees from the left. Since I knew RVers were watching, I did my best Bob Hoover imitation as I wheel-landed the Doll on the left main gear.
They directed me to taxi to the big hangar and they parked the Doll right up front. Being the first to arrive has its advantages. I shutdown to cheers from my fellow RVers.... We had a fly-in!
Danny King
Beautiful Doll 80434

Thanks to Clay with the RV9
...from RJDickensheets at aol.com
About two months ago I put in for vacation to attend TEX 20. Got up this morning and the wx was definitely not cooperating. What the hell, decided to give it a go - 3hr drive up I45 in the driving rain and wind. Along the way spent too much time in Mexia looking at wrecked airplanes and pulled in to Midway about 4PM!!! Oh man, everyone had left. Not a single RV. Was just about to merge back onto the soggy interstate when above the airport streaked a lone RV. I squirmed in my seat to get a better look through the rain spotted window. It was coming in for a landing. It was a shiny RV9, never saw one except in pictures - we ran at the craft in such a manner I'm surprised it didn't become airborne again. "Clay something or other was the name, fixin to head to Lancaster, anyone want a ride?!!!" Zoom Zoom Vroom around and back down again, and despite the cold and wind my good friend Matt drove home in the dark with the RV grin. Thank you Clay something or other from Lancaster, we's friends.
Ryan Dickensheets
[ed. That's Clay Romeiser.]

Postcard From The Event (all in fun)
...for those who don't know, this is a hint as to what the 'B.C.' stands for in B.C. Squadron.  You can see we don't take ourselves too seriously.