Gaston's 2010

Steve-

Good observation about the overall professional attitude as regards the flight activities.

A very good "flow" has developed- publishing and using the "Dam Approach" has been such a successful initiative; between that, pilot courtesy and plain old common sense, it is a great way to handle the traffic. It was a lot of fun, and I know that, when I was flying, the quality of position reports and coordination was excellent. To all G VI pilots: SA-lute!
 
Steve said:
I've reduced my "in-restaurant" time to only the Saturday evening meal and the brunch. The filet was ok. The eggs benedict was cold, even though it was kept in a covered warming tray. I was too hungry to mind on either occasion.
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Tom and I enjoyed both our dinners, but maybe we were lucky with what we ordered. I didn't mind spending all evening in the restaurant Saturday since we were enjoying the company.

Steve said:
Bill and Brent (the Mooney boys) have become the hot dog and burger kings of the flight line. It's amazing what they can do with a stock grill. Imagine what would be possible with more cooking capacity.
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Bill and Brent, thank you again. :yes: I wish you'd let us all chip in, though. (I need to start a thank-you thread here today when I have time...so many people to thank.)

Steve said:
The primary advantage of using the restaurant is it is large enough for everyone to be at one seating.
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That, plus it's cool, dry air. :D
 
SCCutler said:
Steve-

Good observation about the overall professional attitude as regards the flight activities.

A very good "flow" has developed- publishing and using the "Dam Approach" has been such a successful initiative; between that, pilot courtesy and plain old common sense, it is a great way to handle the traffic. It was a lot of fun, and I know that, when I was flying, the quality of position reports and coordination was excellent. To all G VI pilots: SA-lute!
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I thought everyone did a great job of working together, plus Steve was a huge help in the safety department. Thank you again, Steve!

Thanks to those who were thoughtful and let me out, too. :yes:
 
Count me in for next year, but as Missa said, I need a total of 4 people (so that means 3 passengers) in the Aztec to make it worthwhile. Even at 20 gph, that gets expensive fast. It looks like budgeting 15 hours of flight time for down to Gaston's and back is probably about right, since that figures in headwinds and weather divergence.

I am all in favor of Andrew Stanley coming and us fitting his smoker in the Aztec. :D

For the record, if it fits it doesn't necessarily fly, however the Aztec just earns its truck reputation by having a lot of useful load and a wide acceptable CG envelope. This trip certainly put those qualities to use, especially yesterday with four humans, five dogs (three of which were rescue pit bulls from Oklahoma), and luggage.
 
Many thanks to Air Boss Steve. Maybe we need his IAR to be down again next year, so he can provide all of his quality ATC services. :D
 
I was also impressed with the high quality of airmanship demonstrated by everyone this year. I told a few people, but it is very nice to know what you can expect from the other people in the pattern. From my perspective we all did a nice job of working together, giving each other enough room etc. etc.

I'm planning on next year, second weekend in June. Hopefully I'll have my own airplane by then and can give a bunch of rides.
 
We just need to get everyone to fly the same pattern width, and come in RIGHT OVER the dam. Some people were calling out over the dam, when they were a good 1/2 mile abeam of it. Then someone in a Cherokee flew a pattern that almost took them to Mountain Home, which in turn caused me to alter my pattern, and sent Jesse out to the "penalty box" for the 4th time. Bruce and I needed 3 attempts to land because of stuff like that.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
You must not have had the same guy we did on Saturday night. :no:
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I think we were supposed to, but he never showed up at the table. I think the waitress we had basically stepped in to cover his table, because she was initially only going to take drink orders. Sharon said that she overheard someone saying he was planning to quit when she was up at the salad boat. I wonder if it was him?
flyingcheesehead said:
I vote that next year we rent a rig like the wedding folks had and pay Andrew Stanley's way to Gaston's. It'll cost less, the food will be phenomenal, and those of you who don't get to the FlyBQ will finally get to meet Andrew! :)
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Yes! Though others need to spell him from time to time, because we want him to have a chance to get up flying too!
 
vontresc said:
Many thanks to Air Boss Steve. Maybe we need his IAR to be down again next year, so he can provide all of his quality ATC services. :D
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Y'know though, somehow it seems like even when Steve is up giving airplane rides, he somehow manages to keep all the traffic separated too. He also contributes immeasurably to the safety of the event - If Steve wasn't gonna be there, I'd probably be having second thoughts about going too.

We definitely had a good group of pilots this year. Despite some mechanical things that caused challenges for some people, I didn't see any particularly scary landings or takeoffs this year. In fact, the scariest thing this year was the people who decided the runway was a good place to play frisbee, play with their dog, etc. I think that Gaston's could make a couple of improvements that would help with that - More runway side markers, and caution signs for example. Until then, I recommend that anyone who's landing continue to make low passes unless you're landing immediately behind another airplane.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
In fact, the scariest thing this year was the people who decided the runway was a good place to play frisbee, play with their dog, etc. I think that Gaston's could make a couple of improvements that would help with that - More runway side markers, and caution signs for example. Until then, I recommend that anyone who's landing continue to make low passes unless you're landing immediately behind another airplane.
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This is one reason why I won't give rides flying from the back seat at Gaston's. I really, REALLY want to see the runway well before I touch down there.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
In fact, the scariest thing this year was the people who decided the runway was a good place to play frisbee, play with their dog, etc. I think that Gaston's could make a couple of improvements that would help with that - More runway side markers, and caution signs for example. Until then, I recommend that anyone who's landing continue to make low passes unless you're landing immediately behind another airplane.
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I overheard someone in the wedding group talking about how they were out there, and they looked up and saw an airplane coming and had to run. They were complaining about the airplanes. Uh, yeah, it's a runway, stay off of it.
 
When I was down at the approach end taking videos on Thursday a group came up on the runway shoulder to watch with me. They asked me if they could cross to the other side to see the planes turning to final and I said NO!! just before Leslie came around the trees on short final. At least they asked. A bit earlier a couple with two small children drove up and asked when the next plane was landing (after DaveT's arrival) and I said any minute now since Spike was inbound. They got out of their car and reminded their kids to stay behind the fence rail (this was at the first driveway turnaround). We chatted a bit and they told me they were from NE and had been driving down the past couple of years to stay a couple of days and watch (our) planes come in. You can hear the dad on the video of Spike's landing in the background as he touches down. Those parents are Members of the Society of People Who Notice Things.

I had TroyA drive my vehicle down earlier in the day on Friday to tell those Frisbee throwing kids that they were playing on an active runway. Apparently the parents didn't understand the message, or were too busy eating TX BBQ at the wedding rehearsal dinner that evening. It was getting dim and those kids were hard to see from the tent, as well, when Kent made his pass.
 
I ate in the restaurant three times. I have been all over the country yet this place has the most overpriced food and some of the slowest service I have ever experienced. At the same time they advertise as if they are the world's best restaurant with the best resort accommodations on earth.

:mad3: Very frustrating!

We need to come up with a solution to have good meals on the flight line, by hiring a professional, getting catering, or something else. Most people are basically trapped on the field and need to rely on the grill or else suffer the restaurant. I don't want to haul in several meals' worth of food nor eat a hamburger or hot dog for several meals in a row. This forces me to go to the restaurant, but now I don't want to give them another dime. We spent almost as much on food as we did for the avgas to get us there.

I also spent $200 on a horribly musty-smelling room with hard beds, a dirty shower curtain, and a bathtub drain that didn't stay open. The card in the room said your pets must be on a leash, yet there were three unattended loose dogs running around and barking into the night.

If it weren't for the fact that I loved seeing everyone and their airplanes, and that we had a pretty good time flying, I would feel like I spent a whole lot of money for no reason. I'm not rushing to make plans for 2010.
 
skyflyer8 said:
I overheard someone in the wedding group talking about how they were out there, and they looked up and saw an airplane coming and had to run. They were complaining about the airplanes. Uh, yeah, it's a runway, stay off of it.
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I wonder if they'd have felt any differently if they knew that 75% of the bridesmaids for said wedding were on board, getting a FREE airplane ride. :rolleyes:

Again, I'm glad I made the low pass - They were not yet completely off the runway when I saw them, and they probably wouldn't have heard me coming as early had I not been at full power.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Count me in for next year, but as Missa said, I need a total of 4 people (so that means 3 passengers) in the Aztec to make it worthwhile. Even at 20 gph, that gets expensive fast. It looks like budgeting 15 hours of flight time for down to Gaston's and back is probably about right, since that figures in headwinds and weather divergence.

I am all in favor of Andrew Stanley coming and us fitting his smoker in the Aztec. :D

For the record, if it fits it doesn't necessarily fly, however the Aztec just earns its truck reputation by having a lot of useful load and a wide acceptable CG envelope. This trip certainly put those qualities to use, especially yesterday with four humans, five dogs (three of which were rescue pit bulls from Oklahoma), and luggage.
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You could always buy a single engine airplane and fly it twice as much for the same amount of money (or the same amount for half the price). :D
 
FlyNE said:
You could always buy a single engine airplane and fly it twice as much for the same amount of money (or the same amount for half the price). :D
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Or he could always fly it.......









...... wait for it ............








LEAN OF PEAK!

:yikes::yikes::yikes::yikes:

:)
 
gprellwitz said:
Or he could always fly it.......









...... wait for it ............








LEAN OF PEAK!

:yikes::yikes::yikes::yikes:

:)
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My airplane doesn't have EGTs, only fuel flow gauges. So I'm always running it lean of peak fuel flow, except on takeoff. ;)
 
gprellwitz said:
Or he could always fly it.......









...... wait for it ............








LEAN OF PEAK!

:yikes::yikes::yikes::yikes:

:)
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I hear that only works on brand C engines. In brand L engines running LOP will "Suck the paint off your house and give your family a permanent orange afro" :rofl:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I vote that next year we rent a rig like the wedding folks had and pay Andrew Stanley's way to Gaston's. It'll cost less, the food will be phenomenal, and those of you who don't get to the FlyBQ will finally get to meet Andrew! :)
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Well here's the dealeo on that. The smoker Rig will be a fortune to rent. Andrew and both have the same smoker and conceivably we can cook enough food on both to feed over 100. BUT it all depends on what you want to smoke. At the flybq Andrew and I prep the meat after everyone has left my house on Friday night and then put it in the smoker and it sits for a good 10-12 hours. Thats great for one meal but for Friday through Sunday you are conceivably looking at 9 meals if you include lunch.

Logistically getting that much food locally and then keeping it cold pre cook is going to be hard. At the FlyBQ we really do three meals. Friday night is cheese steaks and Ribs and the pulled pork is on Sunday. The shopping takes us half a day and the cooking is pretty intense.

The other issue is were gonna have to pay for the food. At the FlyBQ we have sponsors because we support charities. Since the food has to be ordered in advance folks are going to have to pay in advance EVEN if they cancel.

If food is really that much of an issue I'd say do breakfast on your own. and grill lunch and dinner Hot Dogs and Hamburgers fast and easy baby. I'll chat with Andrew and see if we can't come up with something.
 
It is really easy to take a van to the grocery store at Gastons. Considering how a lot of the cabins have full kitchens and everyone of them has a grill it is not that difficult to cook for yourself or for a group.
 
Mary the miracle wife cooks breakfast for us in the cabin. We do it as a cost savings activity, but cooking is not the main reason Mary comes to Gaston's.

The Harp's grocery in Mountain Home is open 24 hours. I suspect they could prepare a buffet dinner with everything from appetizers to entrees. That would take the workload of feeding everyone off any one or two participants. But it would still require some commitment by someone to arrange and execute. And a non-refundable pre-pay. And an acceptance of the menu. Just a suggestion.

http://www.harpsfood.com/layout.php?MainCat=Deli

I don't know if the location in Bull Shoals has the capacity we would need.

I'm not sure how willing the resort management would be to accomodate an outside caterer. Pizza delivery is one thing, full dinners in front of the restaurant is another.

Most of the larger cabins/cottages have refrigerators, FWIW, if we needed to store food for the group.

I think the daily grill on the flight line worked pretty good, but I don't want the cooks to get "burnt out".
 
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AdamZ said:
Well here's the dealeo on that. The smoker Rig will be a fortune to rent. Andrew and both have the same smoker and conceivably we can cook enough food on both to feed over 100. BUT it all depends on what you want to smoke. At the flybq Andrew and I prep the meat after everyone has left my house on Friday night and then put it in the smoker and it sits for a good 10-12 hours. Thats great for one meal but for Friday through Sunday you are conceivably looking at 9 meals if you include lunch.

Logistically getting that much food locally and then keeping it cold pre cook is going to be hard. At the FlyBQ we really do three meals. Friday night is cheese steaks and Ribs and the pulled pork is on Sunday. The shopping takes us half a day and the cooking is pretty intense.

The other issue is were gonna have to pay for the food. At the FlyBQ we have sponsors because we support charities. Since the food has to be ordered in advance folks are going to have to pay in advance EVEN if they cancel.

If food is really that much of an issue I'd say do breakfast on your own. and grill lunch and dinner Hot Dogs and Hamburgers fast and easy baby. I'll chat with Andrew and see if we can't come up with something.
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I completely agree that a multiple 'full fledged feasts' would be hard to complete on short-notice using only on-hand items, but I have personally fed 25 people using only my garbage-can smoker (yes, it really is made out of a garbage can). I put the rub on the ribs and wrapped them and put them in the fridge while I prepped the smoker and everything else. Once I got smoke going, I put the ribs on (5 racks worth IIRC). They smoked for about 1-2 hrs, then I pulled them from the smoker and wrapped them in foil and put them in a 250* oven until the internal temp got up where I wanted it. In the meantime, I put the chicken quarters on the smoker (~10lbs IIRC). I let that smoke for a while, then cranked the heat up to get them done just as the ribs finished up and Rachel had the salad(s), bread, etc. finished. I would hate to try to do pulled-pork on that timeframe though - that stuff takes a lot of babysitting!

Oh yeah, and this all took place AFTER we both rode 50 miles on our bikes on RAGBRAI. ;)

A trip to Wal-Mart for a case of ribs (or other smoke-able pork product), some chicken for the "I'm eating healthy" folks, a couple buckets of potato salad and cole slaw and bang, you've got it made. :) Adjust the pounds of meat and number of buckets of 'extras' according to the number of people that arrive and there *shouldn't* be too much risk for no-showers or organizers.

The rest of the time, keep on with the burgers and dogs as it goes now.
 
CJones said:
They smoked for about 1-2 hrs, then I pulled them from the smoker and wrapped them in foil and put them in a 250* oven until the internal temp got up where I wanted it. .
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OH NO Chris you blaspheme!! I pray Andrew does not read that. Please tell me you don't use liquid smoke :yikes::rofl:
 
AdamZ said:
At the flybq Andrew and I prep the meat after everyone has left my house on Friday night and then put it in the smoker and it sits for a good 10-12 hours. Thats great for one meal but for Friday through Sunday you are conceivably looking at 9 meals if you include lunch.
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We don't have to eat BBQ at EVERY meal. ;)

I was kind of thinking that we have enough cooking expertise among attendees that we should be able to come up with some good, well-rounded meals collectively. Right now we seem to do pizza at Steve's on Thursday night, burgers and hot dogs for lunch and dinner on Friday and lunch on Saturday, and usually dinner Saturday and brunch Sunday in the restaurant.

A fair number of people seemed to go for the salad bar in the restaurant Saturday night because of eating, well, a bit less than healthy for the rest of the gathering! :eek: And Gaston's was clearly not ready for us Saturday despite knowing well in advance that we'd have a large group and having served us before.

I think we can do some great meals on our own, between the cabins with kitchens and the grill on the flight line. We already get some EXCELLENT snacks on the flight line from Sue Flynn, among others. We could either do several potluck-type meals, or we could assign a "chief chef" and several assistants for each meal and do larger amounts of fewer kinds of food. I have some experience feeding large groups and would be happy to coordinate one meal.

Logistically getting that much food locally and then keeping it cold pre cook is going to be hard.
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But not impossible. :no: A lot of things could be prepped prior to departure (eg - put marinade into ziploc bags of still-frozen chicken breasts and put them in the fridge upon arrival). We're pilots, I bet we can make something work.

Of course, I'd LOVE it if you and Andrew both could attend, and also if we could get some of Andrew's famous pulled pork! But, I think we're capable of doing some good, well-rounded meals without too much trouble and we can pass a hat for $$.
 
I think we have our food coordinator for 2010...

flyingcheesehead said:
we could assign a "chief chef" and several assistants for each meal and do larger amounts of fewer kinds of food. I have some experience feeding large groups and would be happy to coordinate one meal.



.
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tonycondon said:
I'm planning on next year, second weekend in June. Hopefully I'll have my own airplane by then and can give a bunch of rides.
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You can always use mine Tony, if you don't have one by then. :)
 
Well, I'm cooking next year! I was disappointed with the restaurant food...

We could have Flippy's World Class Spaghetti and Meatballs...but then THAT would be Flippy cooking and me just being bossy getting it all together...:rolleyes:
 
AdamZ said:
OH NO Chris you blaspheme!! I pray Andrew does not read that. Please tell me you don't use liquid smoke :yikes::rofl:
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NO NO NO NO!! NO LIQUID SMOKE!! I let them smoke for about 2 hrs to get a good smoke flavor, then I finished them in the oven to keep them moist. I usually keep them in the smoke the whole time, but in that case, I needed the smoker for the chicken. ;)
 
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