Pumpkin Bombing - Today!

flyingcheesehead

flyingcheesehead

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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UQACY, WI
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iMooniac
Heading down to Green Castle (IA24) in the DA40 to visit my favorite little flying club, and watch the annual Pumpkin Splat. :)

Maybe I'll participate too, if the Citabria is available. :D

It supposedly runs from 1 PM to 7 PM. Not sure how they're gonna go that late since the sun is going to set at 5:54.
 
Well that was FUN!!! :goofy:

Pete, Larry and I took the DA40 from MSN down to IA24, where the DA40 was VERY out of place, parked next to a Stinson and a Taylorcraft.

It was an absolutely beautiful day, and there were multiple planes in the pattern just about the whole time we were there (several hours). And not just any planes - The 152 and 172 were almost as out of place as the DA40, since the other pattern-dwellers were things like the aforementioned Stinson and Taylorcraft, as well as a J-3, the club's red Ercoupe, a really nice 170, and a red taildragger I couldn't identify (Clipper/Chief type thing, side-by-side two-seater).

Better yet, many non-pilots showed up and got to try their hand at pumpkin bombing (I hope they donated to the scholarship fund to say thanks!) and enjoyed the fun. Lots of smiles, and lots of people enjoying what is likely our last day of T-shirt weather for the year.

After looking in my logbook, my tailwheel currency was about 5 days overdue, so I grabbed the Citabria and went around the patch a few times, and then took Larry up as my bombardier. Three pumpkins that were nowhere near target, but they went SPLAT anyway, and that's what really matters. :D

Then, it was off to IOW to meet Rick G for dinner (We almost took this van that said Alexis Park Inn on it :D) and saddle up for the trip home.

Man, what a great day - I needed that. :yes:
 
cool Kent. I participated in the first few splats. They are a ton of fun.
 
Well on the way down we were experimenting with the new upgraded Apple/Garmin iG1000 system :D
 

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that is about the minimum glass required to find green castle, especially if you've never been there. at night is only another order of magnitude harder.
 
tonycondon said:
that is about the minimum glass required to find green castle, especially if you've never been there. at night is only another order of magnitude harder.
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:rofl:

Yeah, it's not an easy place to find. I have to use roads all the time - I know where it is relative to US 6, US 151, I-380, and I-80 so I find one or two of those and follow them in. I think we were just a couple of miles shy of 380 when I was finally able to spot the hangars this time, so about 6 miles out. We were nearly perpendicular to the runway, so that was almost a lost cause - And it would have been a lost cause if there were any corn in the adjacent fields.

At night, you can't see it until you're on a 3-mile final, so good freakin' luck! :crazy:
 
Yeah my old club in Westosha (5k6) wasn't all that easy to find if you didn't know the local landmarks too well. As an added bonus there was a 50/50 chance that the rotating beacon would get stuck when you turned on the lights tripping all the breakers :)
 
rpadula said:
:needpics:

Really now.
Click to expand...

I don't have much in the way of stills - But I do have some video I need to put up.

The two birds I flew:
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A much better pic of the Citabria:
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Stinson, Taylorcraft, Diamond Star? The DA40 was definitely feeling out of place...
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if i remember right green castle is the third light on the north side of the road west of the interstate.
 
tonycondon said:
if i remember right green castle is the third light on the north side of the road west of the interstate.
Click to expand...

And by "the road" I assume you mean 250th... Which you have to find via first the 80-380 interchange, follow that north to the North Liberty water tower or the old Maytag plant or the Heartland Express terminal, and west from there.

NOT a place you're going to find without knowing the area. :no:

But yeah, it probably is the third light west of 380...
 
great pictures. nice to see that Calvin is still flying the coupe and Rita is still kicking. I miss that place.
 
Nice pics! But where were the splatted pumpkins? :dunno:
 
the first time Leah and I did the pumpkin splat i told her to drop the pumpkin and then the whole airplane shook! that got my attention, i was initially worried that the pumpkin had hit the stabilizer too. But no, she had dropped the pumpkin out the window of the 150 directly onto the tire! it worked out good though because i had called a bit early and with the extra bounce we ended up with 2nd place.
 
N801BH said:
:hairraise: On pic # 22 that pumpkin almost took out the horizontal stabilizer..

Or it was a optical illusion.:dunno::dunno:
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Illusion. The pumpkins come down pretty darn quick - The ones that hit a part of the airplane on the way out hit the tires, not the stabilizers. There were at least 2 or 3 that I saw hit tires, none came close to the tail.

Some of the other pics make it look like airplanes were closer together than they were, too - But there was an air boss on duty the whole time, and things went quite smoothly. It was one of the busiest patterns I've been in, but there weren't any close calls, and despite the taxiway setup requiring a long back-taxi on the runway I didn't see a single go-around either.
 
first year i was in the pattern with 5 other planes when i realized i was the only one with a radio.
 
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