So last weekend I needed to make a run to the Kansas City area to see a friend of 35 years who is recuperating at the KU Med Center from a tough surgery. For the tip I was meeting another who was at the farm so we wanted to ride in together but there is not an airport handy to where my ride was coming from and I really don't want to go all the way into that dreaded B airspace just to pay to pull up on the ramp and rent a car so I'm looking at Google earth to see what is by my buddy's farm and maybe find a place to park the SC for the day but due to the terrain there is nowhere to land until after they get the beans in.
Just when I was about to give it up low and behold just off the highway at McLouth Kansas I see a nice little strip only 10 miles from my buddy's farm which is just north of Oskaloosa (Oskie) and it is right on the way to northern KC Kansas.
Yea I could go into Lawrence but I'm sick of pavement and fees so via AirNav I get the name of this little private strip and give the owner a call to ask a favor and after explaining my need, what I was flying up in and the reason for the trip (to see the 4th from our regular noon pitch game at Pittsburg State some 35+ years before).
Well, all I have to say is that when you're traveling and you need a spot to plop down handy to your destination that if you don't ask you'll never know just how hospitable any of those who love grass roots fling can be... talk about a great spot and some fine discussion about flying! So who was my host, a 94 year young aviator who goes by "Lefty" that lives on, maintains and still fly’s a bit out of Threshing Bee field in Kansas.
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2010/100811lefty.html
Talk about history Lefty flew PanAm Clippers!
So will I be back, you bet!
Kirby
Ps. I equate this experience to those days in high school where in order to get to dance you had to get up your nerve and ask…!
Kirby
Just when I was about to give it up low and behold just off the highway at McLouth Kansas I see a nice little strip only 10 miles from my buddy's farm which is just north of Oskaloosa (Oskie) and it is right on the way to northern KC Kansas.
Yea I could go into Lawrence but I'm sick of pavement and fees so via AirNav I get the name of this little private strip and give the owner a call to ask a favor and after explaining my need, what I was flying up in and the reason for the trip (to see the 4th from our regular noon pitch game at Pittsburg State some 35+ years before).
Well, all I have to say is that when you're traveling and you need a spot to plop down handy to your destination that if you don't ask you'll never know just how hospitable any of those who love grass roots fling can be... talk about a great spot and some fine discussion about flying! So who was my host, a 94 year young aviator who goes by "Lefty" that lives on, maintains and still fly’s a bit out of Threshing Bee field in Kansas.
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2010/100811lefty.html
Talk about history Lefty flew PanAm Clippers!
So will I be back, you bet!
Kirby
Ps. I equate this experience to those days in high school where in order to get to dance you had to get up your nerve and ask…!
Kirby
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