Lee Bottom 2010 Wood, Fabric & Tail Wheels fly-in

Last year, the first year my RV-6 was flying, one of the events I was most looking forward to was the Lee Bottom Wood, Fabric & Tail Wheels Fly-In. Unfortunately it was rained out and I have been anxiously awaiting this years fly-in. The 2010 Fly-In was this weekend and my son Derek and I finally made it and it was great.

Lee Bottom is a north south grass strip along the Ohio river in southern Indiana. It is in a beautiful setting and a great place to camp with your airplane. We arrived around 7:00 pm on Friday and was parked in the south corner of the parking area with several other RV's. Later my son heard someone refer to the area as RV corner. One of the high points of the event was the arrival of Ron Alexanders DC-3, which seemed so at home on the grass. After registering and enjoying a nice BBQ dinner to the music from a live band we had to set-up our tent as it began to get dark. After the tent was up we joined other campers for an outdoor aviation oriented movie.

The next day was when the majority of the planes came in. By my count 23 RV's were in attendance with the several hundred other planes of every type. The predominance of tail wheel airplanes was obvious, many on very unique airplanes that you don't see around the local airport very often. Saturday was a great day to look at airplanes, talk to old friends and make new ones. As the small local paper in my home town use to say, a good time was had by all.

We left around 5:00 pm on Saturday but next year I plan to go earlier and stay to Sunday morning. If I had any criticism of the event it is that the food service on Saturday was not very good. Next year I plan to bring contingency food and beverages.

http://picasaweb.google.com/FSmidler/100925LeeBottomFlyIn?feat=directlink

RV Corner

Rough Strip

Hey Everyone-

I was one of the RV's that flew into Lee Bottom yesterday. There was a wonderful selection of aircraft to see. Lots of fabric, biplanes, older models, and, of course, a hefty compliment of RV's. It was a beautiful day and the setting was terrific!
The food was average fly-in food. Lines were a bit long for lunch but they eventually started moving.
Getting in was a little hectic as there the usual outliers who did not know about the procedure for landing despite it being well documented on the website.
The main criticism I have is that the turf strip was on the rough side. I would probably not take my nosedragger RV9A back there. Very uneven and the taxi paths were very rough. I was very concerned about damage to the nosegear.
Aside from that it was a great way to spend a beautiful Saturday!

Peter K
9A-235 hrs

When I lived in Louisville, I spent a great deal of time flying into Lee Bottom over the years. In fact, I flew a Citabria in on a gorgeous October afternoon and asked my wife to marry me. (She had no other choice than to say yes, it was a long walk home!)

I was there when Frtiz (RIP) owned the place and then he passed it along to Rich and Ginger Davidson. You will not find two people more dedicated to everything with a tailwheel but mores specifically old tw airplanes. They are what is RIGHT about aviation today and share the same passions as experimental owners.

Tell them your concerns...they will absolutely listen! They work VERY hard to make this event one to remember and it does get overwhelming.

If I still lived in the area, I would have small home there and be happy to stay there for the remainder of my years.

http://www.leebottom.com/

Thanks for the pics!! It makes me uber jealous and reminds me of some great times!

Lee's Bottom

Missed this year but will try again next year. Did fly up to Columbus,IN for a great breakfast.
Thanks for the pictures.
Squeak
RV7A

Disappointed at Lee Bottom ...

Well, I was disappointed that I neglected to bring my camping gear and stay the night!

Because of crappy weather up north, I was disinclined to make the trek down to Lee Bottom on Friday afternoon. Gross, overcast, cold and very windy conditions encouraged me to attend to other tasks. However, I was planning to buzz down on Saturday morning.

Awoke Saturday to more of the same. Ugh. After piddling around most of the morning and cursing the gloomy overcast, I called an RV-4 buddy who was already there to inquire about the weather. "It's sunny and warm here -- c'mon down!"

I thought about going back home first and packing to spend the night, but decided that, having never been there and still being somewhat new to the whole airplane lifestyle, I'd better just count on spending the afternoon.

I fired up Smokey and headed south. The overcast petered out around Indy, and I climbed up to 7500' and had a GS of 199kts. Me like.

I had printed out the arrival procedures and committed them to memory, so I was surprised to arrive and see planes flying every which way! First off, because the field is hidden from the west by a high bluff, it looked like planes were landing in the Ohio River. Not good. Were it not for my trusty 396, I never would've found the field.

I had to work around a couple of high-wing, low-n-slow types that were going the wrong way in the pattern and a Grumman that called in "over the water tower" (where I was doing yet another 360 to avoid the Wrong-Way Corrigan Gang). Turns out he was still a couple miles away, but made up his own arrival procedure.

I flew a bomber pattern to give the Pacer Boys safe spacing, only to see them dead stopped on the runway when I was on short final! Not sure how I did it, but I converted my wheelie into a 3-pt so I could tap the brakes and stop before plowing into the stopped planes. Sheesh.

The only aggravating part of the day -- other than the food vendor running out of hamburgers -- was that I was accosted immediately by somebody trying desperately to sell me dynamic prop balancing. He wouldn't take a polite "no thanks" and continued to push. Quite irritating. Other than that, it was a beautiful day for a fly-in and I really regretted not bringing along my camping gear. Next year, I'll plan accordingly.

I saw RVs that belonged to VAFers Rick McBride and Jon Thocker, and was hoping to meet them. However, there's really no good way to find anyone there, so we'll have to meet another time.

As for the rough turf, I was apparently unaware of it. Maybe that's the blessing of a taildragger. I thought it was acceptably smooth for a grass runway, and didn't have any problems taxiing.

The icing on the cake was that my wingman asked me to lead (since I have an autopilot) but insisted on flying at 2900' because of the headwind. It was bumpy and the headwind was only about 5kts, but the BUGS! When we got farther north, we had the obligatory overcast again and I counted at least a dozen HUGE bug splotches, each the size of a quarter (with long streaks, naturally) obscuring my windscreen. Add to that the fact that I'm wearing sunglasses and my regular glasses are in my fleece -- in the forward baggage compartment -- visibility was somewhat compromised.

All in all, a good flying day with good flying people. Next year, it's a weekend!

We went to one of the Sinful Sunday events they had this year and I think we all noted the lack of food. I decided it was too far to fly just to count how many PA-28's are still being flown but the WFT fly-in seems to have had a few more interesting aircraft. Thanks for the pics.

I will say there is a dead horse right about the touchdown zone when landing to the south. I watched more than a few people unwilling needing to land again after hitting it the day I was there.

Great pics

Thanks for the Pirep and great pics. What a magnificent collection of taildraggers. Will definately have to attend this one next year. ... Bill

LEE BOTTOM

If you like this type of fly in and facility, please consider sending a small donation to Lee Bottom. 09 was washed out and Rich and Ginger spent a lot of money on a fly in that never happened. They also rely on donations to maintain the runway, etc.