June 2011

Custer State Park Float Fly

Our annual trek to Custer State Park for the open house was the 21st and 22nd of May this year. We had a good turn out of planes and spectators on both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday was the better of the two days with light winds and great weather. The flights started early and happened frequently throughout the morning. There were plenty of interested aficionados who asked questions and gave encouragement. The retrieval boat was used but not overused with the morning’s good flying.

The only casualty of the morning was Gene Kelley’s beautiful 1/4 scale Cub. It was grabbed by one of those plane eating pines on the edge of the lake. It looked pretty damaged, but not totaled and Gene loaded up the parts for a trip back to his workshop.

Doc McGuigan and Jim Kammert flew their twin Hanger 9 Saratoga’s quite a bit. The float setup on those airplanes makes them a real joy as a water toy. They were well used in the morning’s festivities.

Bob Olson flew both his high wing floaters many times. The Super Tiger’s powering those planes barely noticed the thin mountain air and were off the water in no time.

Tom Pekarna had just the opposite experience with his electric 182. It taxied a few hundred yards, but could not be coaxed into the air no matter what he tried.

Ken Gatzke put quite a bit of time in with his Cub. I’m not sure how many seasons on that plane, but it must go back to WWII. Ken Corrin and John Kellogg also logged air time with their Mariners. Denny Bernal rounded out the field with his .25 high winger.

I just finished putting floats on my electric fun cub and it was a blast in the absence of significant wind. I flew it quite a few times until I managed to dislodge the front float mount and take a little dip into the water.

Sunday was harder with the wind blowing into the beach -- making landing approaches pretty tough. Everyone seemed to struggle a little with the landings and I don’t think there was a plane there that didn’t take on a little water. The only two who managed well were Tom Pekarna with his tug boat and Jim Flora with his sailboat. Of course they stayed pretty close to the water all day too. If we’d had the Farkle award there, it would have had to go to the whole group.

It was another great experience for the float flyers in the group -- even though there will be some repairs. The Park staff is always appreciative of our efforts. A special thanks to Jim Flora and Ken Corrin for sending these pictures.