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Cleveland - Great Lakes CFO Flyin

Saturday, May 19, 2001


The Cardinal Flyers made this a memorable flyin from the start. When I first talked to Frank I knew he had some great ideas for things to do in Cleveland, and I had a feeling people would anticipate and experience a good time.

But neither of us expected quite the reaction we got! The signups were immediate and steady, finally resulting in 113 aircraft being preregistered for the flyin.

Frank and Mary Porath (those good looking folks to the right) put in a lot of effort in planning and setting up this event, including working out details with city officials, the FBO, caterers, hotels, press etc etc etc.

They even put together a special CFO staff badge, and brought a few friends to help wear them. The Porath team seemed to be everywhere, and made this not only possible but fun for everyone, even those of us from 'the home office.' So we were ready.. would they really come?

The Cardinals started arriving early, with Rick and Michele Gullet the first arrivals around noon on Friday. The field was IFR at that time. One or two other Cardinals made it in but by 1:30 it was below minimums.

A few Cardinals stopped in other local airports that were not as affected by the humidity and lake effect. Keith and Paul flew Paul's last leg together and landed at Lucern Co. airport, shooting the ILS as a flight of two. Center was a little confused by the request, but with visibility at 2 miles in haze it was the right thing to do.

Frank scheduled a nice supper at Hornblowers along the lakefront, where all in attendance could watch the fog roll by and enjoy an excellent meal.

During the evening a cold front moved through and cleared all traces of fog from Burke Lakefront airport, although Flight service continued to worry about a chance of fog for many hours. Those of us who were there knew that fog was not a worry.. sunburn perhaps, but not fog!

Thanks to Kevin Noonan, Carl Miller and a few other members we were able to collect the Cardinals all together on the ramp in time to watch the rest of the group arrive. I got a nice shot of Kevin (in Kevin and Carl's airplane) on the way back.

Several people on the ramp enjoyed it when Paul and I arrived as a flight, with Carl cleared to land on the other runway at the same time. It looked like Oshkosh for a moment, Cardinals everywhere!

In fact one of the great enjoyments of the day was watching the Cardinals all come and go. Everything took place in full view of the runway, so you were never far from the sight and sound of another of Cessna's finest doing it's thing.

With the help of Steven Webster and Jeff Ingersoll from CAP Squadron 252 of Painesville, Ohio, the Cardinal Flyers fully filled the ramp. One member commented on the CAP folks care and ability, saying that it was a real trick to park them that closely together.

They didn't even seem to mind much when Paul and I threw our weight around a bit, ignored them and taxiied to spots nearer the registration area. Thanks for your tolerance, guys!

The Flyers in attendance waited patiently for our registration crew to catch up with the load. The large number of attendees and an unscheduled bit of oral surgery that popped up in Debbie's schedule just before our departure made for a slow start, but shortly everyone was checked in and had their nametags.

Lunch was held on the lawn at Millionaire, a nice location for sitting in the sun and watching airplanes. Lunch included burgers and excellent ribs, a good choice by Frank. Folks sat on the grass, wandered around talking and made frequent trips back for more food.

It was interesting to know everyone by name, but not by face. We seemed to talk like old friends, a result of the time we've shared together in the digest.

Around 2:00 we convienved on the ramp for some informal technical talk. We walked around the airplanes, shaking tails and inspecting door seal material. A few subjects were dealt with in details, while others were discussed in passing.

We learned that there are some things that don't translate into words: the feel of a loose tail, the sound of a bulkhead creaking, and technique for lifting the door to see how it's hinges are doing.

It was great to have Paul in attendance. He spent the time on the ramp, looking at member's airplanes, hearing people's experiences and sharing an opinion or two of his own.

We also had the benefit of Jeff Kaufman who has a great deal of experience with drag reduction and engine cooling. Jeff held forth for some time around his airplane, showing some details of his installation.

When the time was right we all stood back and rolled the cameras as Jeff made a try in the 'fastest cowl' contest. With rumors that someone could get their cowl off and back on again in 12 minutes, Jeff made a try at beating that time. He did it, too, completing the job in just over 10 minutes.

We'll see if that time can be bested at the California CFO convention in the fall! Are you ready for a challenge, Vince? :-)

Toward the end of the day we added up the numbers. In all, 66 Cardinals flew in, including a short visit from Vince Kreizinger, who had been up all night finishing his airplane. It had not flown since he brought it back from Paris, so we got to see it after it's first flight, new paint and all. A nice looking airplane!



For those who are counting above, there were a few airplanes elsewhere on the ramp, and a few more arrived after this picture. Thanks to Mark Remaley for taking this shot.

At the bottom of this page you'll find pictures of all the airplanes that flew in, along with the people who flew them. We got most of them, most likely a few snuck away without getting their pictures taken.. like us for instance.

We heard from many Flyers who were kept away by weather, both south and east of the area. We had watched the thunderstorms on our various sferics devices the day before, and some arrivals talked of coming out of the east coast IFR. We look forward to seeing the rest of the group next year!

But this event wasn't over for many of us. Although a few left early (get get home under daylight IFR) and a few later, a good sized group (About 29 folks) stayed overnight.

Frank got reservations at a local restaurant and micro brewery, where we all sat around and talked airplanes into the night. Some folks even had their PDA flight aids along. It was an excellent opportunity to sit and talk with folks, getting to know them a little better.

In fact the conversations continued the next morning over breakfast. It really does seem like those of us who fly these aircraft are 'birds of a feather', with more in common than one might guess.

With breakfast comes the morning paper, and to everyone's amazement there was a substantial article on our flyin! Click here to see pictures and text from the article.

There was some interest in extending the formal program in the future to include an activity like this. We'll be trying it in North Carolina in July, but we'd welcome feedback on your interest in doing something more next year.

Speaking of getting to know people, it was nice to have Duane Allen come all the way out from California to attend the flyin. He had a rental car and was a lifesaver to a number of people who had more bags than they cared to carry from the airport to the hotel.

It was walkable, as we proved one time, but if we did have a more extensive event we'd have to work out some transportation as well. A few dollars should make it a workable thing.

Who to thank? Many people. Obviously Frank and Mary and their friends. Duane and his wife for sharing their rental car. Paul for flying all the way out to be with us. Debbie for working in spite of being laid low by a troublesome tooth. The many people who just pitched in, unasked and in some cases unnoticed, to help make it go well.

And to all of you for attending. It was great fun. Thanks!

Keith Peterson
CFO Webmaster

Now a few comments from others:


From Digest 1354.txt
From: Tom Vogelpohl
Subject: ATTA BOYS for Cleveland

Cleveland was Great! Enjoyed the visit tremendously!

Keith, Paul, Frank Porath and all those involved behind the scenes, you each deserve many `ATTA BOYS` for a great Fly-In.

Tom Vogelpohl N34354, C177B



From Digest 1349.txt
From: `Everett Lake`
Subject: Fly-in

Wow! What a great CFO fly-in at Cleveland`s Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL)! Thanks to Frank and Mary Porath, Keith and Debbie Peterson, and Paul Millner, I met a lot of great Cardinal enthusiasts, and saw well over 60 Cardinals during the fun filled and educational event.

Ev Lake N34064 a 71 FG at MGY

[Great to have you there, too, Ev!]



From Digest 1354.txt
From: `ray lezak`
Subject: Congratulations on Cleveland!

Organizing an event such as the Great Lakes Cardinal fly-in is a fun but monumental task fraught with difficulty and suspense, the weather for one. Because of the excellent work of Debbie, Keith, locals Frank and Mary Porath, others including CAP cadets, good food, friendliness, cooperation, helpfulness, and good humor, every aspect of the fly-in was excellent. Congratulations!

We flew a looong way (CGF to BKL and eventually return) and believe me, it warmed us up about other fly-ins along the way.

[Wow, that`s 9.3 nm, more if you flew the pattern!]

Thanks. N-34405 Milt Kaden & Ray LeZak



From Digest 1351.txt
From: `Real Clean / DeWald`
Subject: Thanks for great time at Cleveland

Thanks so much for tremendous time together. What great fun for my wife and me!

I was so proud to introduce her to such a good group of people. We had never been to anything like that together before (heck it was only my second) and she loved it. What a wonderful day full of good food, fun, and fellowship around the planes. The lakefront was beautiful and made for an ideal setting.

Thanks too for the extra effort in organizing the meal out together that night. That was a real cherry on top of it all. It was so neat just to sit, laugh, tell stories, and enjoy food and brew with others that love flying Cardinals as much as us. Amidst all that fun we sure learned a lot more about safely flying and better maintaining our airplane. Already look forward to the next one we can attend.

David DeWald - Fort Wayne, IN `68 Cardinal N9058F

[Great to see you guys there, too, David! Paul]



From Digest 1351.txt
From: frankporath@oai.org
Subject: Great Lakes Cardinal Fly-in

My thanks to all who helped make the First Great Lakes Cardinal Fly-in such a success, particularly all 66 (or was it 67 if you counted Vince Kreizinger`s brief appearance) who made it to BKL!

Although Friday evening had 1/8 mile visibility and 100` ceiling in fog, Saturday morning brought a wonderful influx of our favorite aeroplane into Burke Lakefront Airport. Debbie Peterson, although under the weather, soldiered on and handled the registration excellently.

The Civil Air Patrol cadets marshaled and parked the aircraft, Million Air refueled the birds, the picnic lunch on the Million Air lawn was great, the technical walks and de-cowling races were fine, and the weather couldn`t have been better.

The event was covered by the NBC TV outlet which (I am told) used the footage on their Sunday morning 1 1/2 hour news show.

Friday night, about a dozen of the early arrivers supped at Hornblower`s. Saturday night the after-event crowd went to the Great Lakes Brewery for a victory quaff.

Ev Lake made the missed approach, and alternate-d to Cuyahoga County Airport, five miles away, which was clear. Paul and Keith flew the ILS into Lorain County as a flight of two as their alternate. [And Bob Dell joined us there, and for the $80 cab ride to downtown Cleveland.]

Vince finished assembling his airplane, made a touch and go, and flew down from Detroit for just a few minutes, late in the afternoon.

I had to leave on Sunday for a presentation at Pasadena. I stopped at the cockpit of the Airbus 319 of America West Airlines to chat with the Captain, John Tate. He remarked that on his layover in Cleveland he had gone down to the Lakefront Airport and watched the Cardinals fly in!



From Digest 1351.txt
From: Debbie MacKenzie
Subject: Cardinal Fly-in Cleveland

We were so bummed not to be able to make it to the Cleveland fly-in.... My father and I were at the airport at 6:45 a.m. Sat morning praying that the skies would open and allow us to depart. Being based at 40N (Chester County), we were in 1,200 foot ceiling clouds and 2-3 mile haze. Just at the northern part of some yucky weather that was happening south of us. Couldn`t have gotten any worse. The good fellas from weather practically promised that the clouds and haze would lift at 10 a.m. which would have still allowed us to make it to Cleveland for the fun! We waited...and waited. These are the times when I could kick myself and say, `Deb, finish up your instrument rating!`.

[Gotta believe that`s a good idea!]

(sigh).... by 12:15 p.m. the ceiling crept up to 1,600 feet and the haze still was about 4 miles, Dad and I called it a day and decided that Mother Nature wasn`t going to let us go. We tried every course that could go around this blah thing but the key was getting out of the airport! It was frustrating because we knew only 10 miles up north of us the sun was shining, clouds were broken, tops were 3,500, got better as you went west.... If we could have just crept up there... We decided not to risk it so we stayed put.

It sounds like it was a grand time and an event to look forward to for next time! We plan on going to the AOPA fly-in in June, so that`ll be our next venture. Are there any other smaller fly-in`s happening that we should know about. Is there a list somewhere that would allow us to plan our entire summer for weekend trips? We`re new at the fly-in game so it would help to hear how we find out about such events!

Happy flying!



From Digest 1351.txt
From: `George Revesz`
Subject: Cleveland

Thanks to Frank for a great fly-in. He obviously has direct communication with the weather gods. We really enjoyed the flight line tour under the excellent guidance of Keith and Paul. Sure do look forward to the next one.

Peggy & George. 1976 C177RG george@triad-graphics.com

[Peggy and George, good to see you! While we were walking the line, and perusing your airplane, someone asked me what kind of name `Revesz` is... I answered in the superlative! :-) Paul]



From Digest 1350.txt
From: Norman Freed
Subject: Cleveland Fly-in & Angelflight

Keith,

Thanks to Frank Porath et al for all of the effort that went into making the Cleveland fly-in a great event. I was glad to meet you and my fellow Cardinalers.

Several people spoke with me about being an AngelFlight volunteer. I brought information with me from the Lawrence, MA chapter, `Angelflight NorthEast`, to which I belong. For those who are interested, I found another chapter that is located closer to the Cleveland area. It is:

Angel Flight East 501 Office Center Drive, Suite 015 Fort Washington, PA 19034 (215) 283-9400

http://www.angelflighteast.org

If anyone would like more or first-hand information about the types of missions that are flown, feel free to email me.

Regards, Norman `75RG N2729V



From Digest 1349.txt
From: Paul
Subject: Great turnout at CFO Great Lakes fly-in!

We had a great time Saturday at Cleveland`s Lakefront Airport. 66 Cardinals made an appearance, a great performance considering the crummy weather to the south of us. But, Cleveland was wonderful, 72 degrees and sunny.

Our catered lunch was also wonderful, followed by a moderated tour of the assembled Cardinals. 29 folks stayed over for dinner as well.

Only three Cardinals made it in Friday evening, due to Lake Erie fog. Keith and I ended up making an ILS approach into Lorain County as a flight of two; nothing like flying formation down the ILS! :-)

But, we all ended up in the right place Saturday morning, and had a great time. We`re already looking forward to next year`s Great Lakes fly-in. Thanks, Frank Porath, and all involved!

Paul


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