AREA SANTA CLAUS PARADE FUN
AFTER 9 YEARS FOTA/COPA CHAPTER 68 CAPTAIN STEPS DOWN 2nd ANNUAL BRUCE PENINSULA FESTIVAL OF FLIGHT WIARTON FLY-IN YOUNG EAGLES 2004 PARATROOPERS 'take over' CYVV JAZZ DASH 8's LAND AT CYVV NEW HANGARS!!!!
article by F/C Ch.68 member Paul Kastner
Published in the Wiarton Echo and online at www.wiartonecho.com
The 2nd Annual Bruce Peninsula Festival of Flight was held Saturday August 7, 2004.
The Rooftop Cafe served 68 breakfasts and the outdoor kitchen served 107 dinners and 18 boxed
French Fries. Unfortunately our amplifier decided not to work for us, so we couldn't supply some of the 30's,
40's music we were planning on. Roughly 50 aircraft visited, and the RAA ran two workshops;
one on wing rib fabrication and one on hard rivetting. There was a nice showing of beautiful vintage
motorcycles, and some nicely restored cars from the 50's and 60's.
The Collingwood Classic Aircraft Foundation had a busy time giving folks rides in their
Tiger Moth, including Carl Marklevitz from Stratford, who family sent him aloft for
his 75th birthday. They took him over the family cottage at Lions Head, and he was
thrilled to pieces with the whole. Many thanks go out to all those volunteers who
helped out so much, and all in all, a fun time was had by everyone!
This past Saturday was a glorious day for our Annual Fly-In.
The weather, temperature and guests were just great!!! 11 volunteers from our eager group
of Chapter #68 members were at the airport bright and early, and under the leadership of
our co-captain Hank Nuis, volunteers Glenn Goodyear, Bob Dolphin, Joan Bulmer, Bob White,
Paul Kastner, Ron Johnanneson, Stan Schade, Kelley Ramey, Lorne Schroeder and Harold Fry
things went smoothly. Our newsletter publisher Jenn even popped in and stayed the day!
Our first guests arrived by 0730 for breakfast in our Roof Top Café, and at 1600hrs they were
still coming in! Our count of aircraft visiting for the day was in excess of 76 planes .....
in a unique traffic pattern that was constantly on the move. Folks would drop in, gas up,
visit with us for a while then move on. We had 74 people join us for our whitefish lunch
that was prepared and served by Brian Reis, operator of the Rooftop Café, and his helpers. Airport traffic was in the ever-capable hands of the Blue Crew's Sue Yost (who hails from Ridgetown), Ross Pratt, Jim Mimnaugh (from Kincardine) & Dave Little. Once again, thank you for working our Fly-In ... job well done!
Our prize table ticket sales were handled by Bob White, and at 13:30hrs the lucky winners
were drawn. As usual, the first lucky winner was our own Joan Bulmer ... thank you to
all who purchased tickets and congratulations to Joan and each of our 25 prize winners!
Also a big thank you to Fiskars, BMO Nesbitt Burns, GraHam Fuels and Macdonnel Fuel Sales
for their support in providing the prizes.
A/P manager Doug Sykes informed us that fuel sales for the day were outstanding,
especially with a total of 10˘ per litre off our already low price .... making gas on
Saturday only $1.00 per litre. Thanks Doug!
Last but certainly not least .... a HUGE thank you to everyone who stopped in to see us,
our Fly-In Sponsors, Centennial Chevrolet and TD Canada Trust, Wiarton; John Drake
who loaned us the beautiful 5000 sq. ft. hangar for the day, and CFOS radio station's
Sherry Morley for reporting our event on the local airwaves.
After several weeks of scheduling and RE-scheduling (due to bad weather) our Young Eagles, we FINALLY got over 50 of them off the ground Saturday!
Kelley Ramey & her volunteers deserve a very large round of applause for their valiant
efforts during April & May. Unfortunately, we lost about 23 youngsters due to the weather
& scheduling conflicts, as well as pilots and aircraft. Needless to say, the scramble
was on late last week to find folks with planes who would fly for us. Special thanks
our pilots & last-minute recruits: Don Jones & his son Frasier, John Tottan, Udo Gottschall, Tony
McNamara, Ron Matthews, Harold Fry and Jim Miller. Regardless of everything, at 1500hrs the last Young Eagles were flown, and as they say, "Mission Accomplished".
Thank you everyone who helped Kelley!!
Saturday, June 29 ( a glorious day) the Queens Own Rifles
from Toronto had arranged to do military exercises at Wiarton (CYVV) which
involved having a 1967 Hercules aircraft land and pick up 40 paratroopers
who would parachute out with full gear and proceed to take one of our
buildings as part of their training. Watching this, combined with the flying
of Young Eagles, the day turned out to be fun for all!
We weren't the only group with problems with their plans ..... Picture this:
the troops were ready, all loaded with very heavy equipment plus their
parachutes, and the aging Hercules decided it would not start. 2 HOURS
later, it finally relented, and the first stick of jumpers hit the air
around 4:30pm, which is quite a sight!! To the best of our knowledge, only
one paratrooper was hurt in the landing .... so the signal went out for
medical assistance. The ambulance arrived, and proceeded across the airport
apron, onto to the wet ground towards the injured man, and promptly got
stuck. As A/P manager Doug Sykes fired up the big tractor and was heading
towards the ambulance to give it a tow, 20 army folks had pushed it out
manually. The ambulance driver decided to take a safer route and drove down
the runway to the injured soldier! Quite an interesting afternoon! We are
happy to report that the paratrooper was not seriously injured, he was check
over and released from our local hospital.
Sunday, May 9, three Jazz Dash 8's, owned by Air Canada (we think) arrived loaded with
100 folks from Quebec. After arriving here, they were picked up by chartered buses
and transported to the CAW convention center located on Lake
Huron, just south of Port Elgin, Ontario. 10 of our FOTA/COPA members were free to assist
Doug in making this a well-organized event, from transferring baggage from the Dash 8s
to the buses, manifests, and any other situation that came
up. Friday Morning found the same 10 back at the airport at 0630hrs,
carrying out the same procedures in reverse order as the visitors were
returning to Quebec after a week of meetings and other festivities.
A job well done by our volunteers and a hearty thanks!!
GOOD NEWS - finally after all these years, it is my pleasure to inform you that the Wiarton/Keppel Airport is in the process of building new hangars!!!!!!!!
The first one will be a 5000 square foot building with a 60 foot electric door. This building will be insulated and heated and privately owned by a gentleman from London, ON.
The second will be a T hangar with 5 units which will be available by either purchasing or renting! As progress proceeds we will keep you up to date, complete with photos. Keep scrolling for the complete "story" thus far!
Needless to say, this is a very very happy day for our great Airport!
