I think almost everyone had a great time at LOE4. I'll report on the event from my vantage point, since that's how I experienced it.

Friday October 15, 2004
0600 out at the hanger (52F). I'm getting Flash ready for the trip, just going over everything and topping off fuel and oil. We were planning to meet at Hicks (T67) at 0800 for a group fly out. Around 0630 my cell phone rang, it was buddy Ross Burgess. He wasn't planning on attending, as his daughter was arriving later that evening from college for a weekend visit. "Um, I was thinking about flying out to Las Cruces with you guys for lunch." Turns out his daughter wasn't scheduled to arrive until 1900. 502n.m. each way, mind you.

Well, I think that's a wonderful idea.

Danny (Sky) and Marthajane King, Ross (Scorch) Burgess and I launch for Hicks (T67) to join Jay (Jaybird) Pratt, Don (Yellowbird) Christiansen and Jim Vroom. We form up in the air and point for Andrews (E11) for fuel. In the air we can hear chatter from many flights headed west. Paul Schattauer checks in on 122.75 and wants to join up. He's coming from Atlanta and overnighted in Arlington, TX visiting his son. After a few minutes we finally ended up finding each other and push on as flight of seven. One thing I didn't envision enjoying while building was the fact that you can carry on a conversation with someone a hundred miles away enroute. The group 50nm ahead finds the best altitude for speed and conveys it to the guys coming down the pipe.

Headwinds and my non-constant-speed setup kept the GS down to around 135-140kts (we're working on that). Down at E11 we found a long line of RVs gassing up. It looked like a fly-in actually, and it was just a fuel stop.

After 3.9hrs of total engine run time we shut down on the ramp at KLRU.  Remember, Ross just came for lunch (aren't RVators incredible) so we need to get a burger and fuel for him toot sweet.  Adventure Aviation tops him in literally five minutes and he's starting his burger about seven minutes after arriving.  Ross is a big space history fan so I wanted to see if I could get a four minute tour of Frank Borman's hanger.  With the help of Ron Karp, Ross got to see Mr. Borman's P-51 and I couldn't have been happier.  Certainly a whirlwind tour!

Ross took off shortly after that and enjoyed monster tailwinds back, calling me with the info later:  2hrs 40min to travel 502n.m. for an average ground speed of 216.49 mph.

OK, time to do some serious sitting...  Lawn chair out.  Sunscreen on.  Find some shade.  Do this for the next several hours.  This is what LOE is all about.  It's the RV social event of the year.

Falcon Flight and Team RV started showing up in waves and we were treated to some nice formation passes. 

Around 6pm we headed into town to shower at the hotel and scoot out to dinner.  I went with Jay, Danny and Marthajane and we ended up at La Posta.  Excellent as always.  It's always good to see the piranhas.

In bed around 10pm (sharing a room with Jay).  He snored so loud the foam earplugs actually fell out of my head.  Such is the life of a fly-in attendee <g>.  We take the good with the not so good, and that's just fine with me.

Here are some picks from day one.....  

DAY TWO

After a nice breakfast at the hotel Jay, Danny, Marthajane and I headed out to the airport. The morning Sun rising over the Organ mountains and the high elevation of the airport makes for different lighting as compared to Dallas. The mountains off in the distance looked absolutely orange.

With the cool temperatures and low Sun people milled around, walked up and down the many, many rows of RVs, socialized and sat in lawn chairs. Believe it or not, this is the routine at the LOE fly-in (by design). The idea is to spend an entire day doing absolutely nothing but catching up with friends who live far away.

I call the LOE fly-in the 'Seinfeld fly-in'. It's a fly-in about nothing...

I tried to focus my camera on shots of people interacting, as I was pretty sure others would get images of planes (they did). If something caught my eye, I'd take a picture, like the RV-4 with the modified canopy that gives more headroom to the passenger. I visited briefly with Rosie and Victoria from SoCal and Larry Pardue from NM and many others. Falcon Flight and Team RV combined forces to do some formation passes, reinforcing the formula that I think is so appropriate for this gathering. I did not know about the formation plans, and after seeing all the planes taxi out I thought to myself, "Oh, that's a nice idea. I'll sit right here and enjoy it from the comfort of my lawn chair." Perfectly appropriate and they got to start when THEY wanted to, not by someone else's watch. A few other RVs took off during the formation passes to go do some sightseeing, which was perfectly acceptable and safe when done correctly. Try doing that at a large EAA fly-in <g>.

Around noon some of us decided to take the car into town and eat at Lorenzo's. I had the spinach cranberry salad and it was outstanding. I really like this restaurant.

Back to the airport for more sitting in chairs and shooting of the bull. Rick Freeman showed up in his RV-8 while we were out to lunch, so he joined the crowd of sitters. A coupla folks made a 'beverage run' and now the day was complete. Good friends, good food, beer, formation flights flying overhead while you tough it out in the 78 degree shade and light breeze. I know, it's tough to imagine <g>.

Around 4:30 I headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and change of clothes, then came back to get ready for the banquet which was held in a large hanger on the east side of the airport. You just follow the several hundred people walking around 6pm.

People started eating around 6:20 and afterwards Red Marron made his yearly thank you speech. It's worth the trip just to hear Red speak. I saw a shuttle launch in 1990 and it reminds me somewhat of that. During this time raffle tickets were being sold in a corner of the hanger, manned by employees of the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope. After some more socializing Red started handing out the trophies for best of show and furthest distance traveled. One really nice spot in the evening was when Bob Brashear was presented with an award for, well, just being Bob Brashear. He has helped literally hundreds of RVators with their planes (me included). I consider myself lucky just to know Bob and Sybil. You would be hard pressed to find nicer people. Bob had one of the first RV-4s in Texas and I've seen a framed picture on his wall of a younger Richard VanGrunsven stepping out of the prototype RV-6 at Bob's Waco grass strip.

Pamela Angell gave a nice speech on what the raffle money goes to, and then it was my turn to play rock star. I'm no public speaker, so I'm always a little nervous to get in front of people in a setting like this. Fortunately, as I read the first digit of the first six digit raffle number someone jumped up and screamed "I win!!!" which got a big laugh. I wasn't nervous anymore. The next day I thought of the perfect comeback I should have said....."yeah, I remember my first beer." (line from an old Steve Martin comedy album...)

I still find it hard to believe that so many companies were willing to donate so much stuff for the raffle. The final tally for items raffled off totaled over $8,200. It was good idea to be at the banquet and to buy a ticket (you have to be present to win). Good odds. Paul Rosales was kind enough to steal my camera and take pictures of all the winners (including his wife who won a $375 Sioux drill donated by Avery Tools).

Soon enough my time in the spotlight was over and I could go back to being, as Ross puts so eloquently, just some 'punk jack@ss from out at the airport'. That's a title I can live with...

After the banquet wound down, and I had my first beer of the evening, I came to one of my favorite parts of the fly-in. It's pitch black outside and you get to walk through about 100 yards of tied-down RVs on the ramp to get to the car. It really is a site to see, and one I only get to see once a year.

We got back to the hotel, I took a shower, crammed the ear plugs home again and hit the hay. Jay's snoring once again shook 'em out...

Such is life. 

DAY THREE

When I finally got around to waking up, Danny and Marthajane had already had breakfast downstairs.  About 45 minutes after waking we were all fed, showered, packed and on our way to the airport.  I finally got around to taking a picture of the big road runner up on the hill between the hotel and the airport.  I think it looks prettier from the road, but I'm not sure.

We said our goodbyes to those we only see at this fly-in and strapped on the planes for the return trip to Texas.  We were very fortunate to have gonzo tailwinds at 9,500'.  Before we launched there was discussion on making the 502n.m. flight non-stop if we had the winds that were forecast.  As luck would have it we did.

We flew around the restricted airspace north of El Paso and punched T67 in the GPS/autopilots.  Take a gander at the MX20 moving map pic below and you'll see that our groundspeed (GS) was pretty tasty.  203kts on a 160hp/FP setup at times made for a happy pilot.

As usual, the trip from SE NM to N.TX over the Permian basin is remote, dry, covered with oil drilling activity and sparsely populated.  Still, there are usually opportunities for photos.  The high clouds made for easy traveling and unique shadows at times.

Flash passed 350 hrs on the way back.  Not quite a Rosie total, but a nice start <g>.

About 30 minutes from home Jay announced he was stopping to make a pit stop.  Too much coffee before launch and all that...

Danny, Marthajane and I were still OK so the flight broke up at this point as we punched in 52F in the GPS.  We had to make a slight detour around a TFR that was in place over the Texas Motor Speedway.  I slid in as #2 still fat on fuel for the overhead break and turned the key OFF 2hrs and 53min after I turned it on. 

Five minutes after I walked in the door my wife was off with a girlfriend for an afternoon of whatever it is that they do <g>.  I was officially on babysitter duty.

PS: Later in the week I heard from Pamela Angell at the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope.  $4,980 worth of raffle tickets were sold at the Saturday night banquet, with every single penny of it going to the charity.  What a great feeling!

Larry Pardue's Annual Write up of LOE
...from Larry
For any of you that wanted to make it to LOE4 (Land of Enchantment Fly-In at Las Cruces, New Mexico) who were unable to come I put a brief report on my website at: http://n5lp.net/LOE4.htm

Mike Stewart's LOE4 writeup
...from Mike on Team RV's Yahoo Group
"It's up on the Team RV website [ed. In the 'Some other events' section. dr]. Wait till you see these pictures. WHEW! Be patient, I got only a little bandwidth going outbound. Here is a well deserved kudos from a spectator I got.
<snip>
Thanks for the show! I thoroughly enjoyed it! I know it looks easy, but I can't yet begin to appreciate just how difficult it is to fly that closely to another plane. With all of the airshows and the military teams that perform these days, it is easy to take this kind of flying for granted. I appreciate the skills you folks demonstrated.
Thanks again!
Tom
<snip>

Froggy, Subob, Nomad, Rascal, Fossil, Bitzer, J3 et all........ we missed you guys!!!! And you missed a terrific event.

Enjoy Team,
Kahuna"

LOE4 From A First Time Perspective
...pictures and text sent in by MaxwellTL at aol.com

As a soon to be builder with no plane, I viewed LOE4 as the perfect opportunity to do some looking and to ask those who have already been there the tons of repetitive questions that all new builders ask.

My wife and I left Houston at 4:30PM on Thurs. 10/14 and drove until 10:30 PM stopping in Sonora, TX for the evening. We resumed our trip at 7:00AM on Friday and continued our drive west on I10. Somewhere between Junction, TX and Fort Stockton, TX a very nice RV passed us just to the north of the highway. There was no doubt in my mind where it was headed. My envy boiled over as I realized that if I had a plane, the trip from Houston to Las Cruces would have been about 3 hours rather than 12. Perhaps in a couple of years I'll be flying there instead of driving. Dang, TX is big!

We reached Las Cruces about 1PM and were surprised to find 126 RVs already parked on the apron. Wow! Where does one start! My wife and I spent the rest of the day walking up and down the long rows of RVs drooling over the outstanding workmanship and beautiful paint schemes. We asked a few of those newbie questions and got very straight and helpful answers. You know, why RV3/4/6/7/8/9? Why tip-up or slider? Why tail-dragger or tricycle? Why Lycoming instead of auto conversion? How long did it take to build it? When did you first fly it? What was the most difficult part of building?

As a professional photographer (second job) I took the opportunity to capture at least 1 or 2 images of most planes. Photographing planes is quite different from the portraiture and weddings I am accustomed to photographing, but I am please with the results.  If you would like to look at about 250 of the images I took GO HERE. There are a lot of paint scheme ideas and some good formation flight images there as well.
[ed. Tom, PLEASE come next year and take some more of these great pictures!!! dr]

The fly-in was very low-key as advertised and there was a lot of discussion and just plain fun going on. There were only a few vendors in attendance but that is OK because that is not what LOE was advertised to be. I tried to weasel my way into my first RV ride, but that didn't work out. My personal pride wouldn't allow me to take out my, "Will work for a ride" sign :) The formation flying was cool, or is that kewl, and it was good to meet Jerry and Gus from Vans Aircraft.

The Saturday night banquet was great with good food and good music. The hangar was the perfect place for that big bands/war years music of which I am a sucker. Although I am not a WWII veteran, to me there is just something very romantic about the era. The pilots, the USO dances, the many sweethearts that were discovered, and the ensuing lifelong relations that were formed, such were the times that we will not see again.

Incidentally, I was fortunate enough to win one of the door prizes. I won an "Inductor Dual Magneto Timing Light" that was donated by Avery Tools.

Top 10 things I learned from LOE4:

10) Las Cruces has very nice weather and you really do need sunscreen in October. Red told us they have 350 days of flying weather each year. Wow!

9) I don't know if I believe this or not but I was told by a builder (name withheld) that the planes with checkerboard tails go 5 mph faster than those without. Is this really true?

8) It doesn't really matter if one chooses Tip-up or Slider. They are all great!

7) Quote from Gus of Van's Aircraft, "Tail-draggers look good on the ground but once you get in the air there is very little difference. Stick with the nose gear if you are most comfortable with it."

6) Photographing airplanes is much more difficult than photographing people.

5) Laird Owens from California manufactures some awesome formed panels for the RV6. See pictures.
[ed. Laird's email is (owens at aerovironment.com)]

4) Yes it is possible to put O'Hare air traffic to shame at a small airport. Saturday morning was very, very busy.

3) While it does take money to build a plane, a lot of people with average incomes have proven it can be done.

2) There is an abundance of knowledge in the minds of your fellow pilots and they are more than willing to share it with you. Don't be afraid or embarrassed to ask.

1) The Van's Family is just a great bunch of people.

Thanks to everyone for the courtesy extended to my wife and me. We had a great time and learned a lot. I am excited and looking forward to getting started on an RV7A. Was LOE4 worth the 24 hours and 1550 miles of driving? You bet it was and we'll probably do it again next year.

Tom & Connie Maxwell
Houston, TX.
MaxwellTL at aol.com