Isn't Cedar Mills the home base of Armadillo Aerospace? I wonder if they would accomodate a tour for some small fee.
Close.... Caddo Mills (7F3) is where Amadillo Aerospace is. Bower is talking about 3T0. And he's right on about the quality of the place and the food.
Caddo Mills & Amadillo Aerospace has a special place in my heart. For the following reason: (Kimberly and Doc will like this)
On my night XC training flight, route of flight was Denton (KDTO) > Aero Country (T31) > Collin County (KTKI) > KGVT and then reverse on the way back.
On the way, my CFI was quizing me about various night flying topics and explaining that if desired, you can always navigate by picking out the beacons and using them as landmarks. Just after crossing KTKI the following conversation started
"Speaking of beacons, what indicates a lighted airport," he asks.
Me: "Alternating white and green."
CFI: "Correct. And if it's a military installation?"
Me: "White, White, then Green."
CFI: "Correct again. What does Green, Yellow, and White mean?"
Me: "A lighted heliport. But I got a question for you, how about White-White-Red?"
CFI: "Huh? Whatcha mean White-White-Red? Where in your books did you read that?"
Me: "I didn't. But if you look about my 1 o'clock-ish, about where Caddo Mills should be, there is White-White-Red..."
CFI finally spots it. Watches it for two cycles. Finally,
CFI: "I don't know. Never seen it, but that is where Caddo Mills is. We'll have to check into that when we get..."
FWOOOOOM!!!!! A 200 ft. fireball fireball erupts!!!
CFI: "WHAT DA FU--!!!! MY AIRPLANE!!!" And puts into a hard left bank.
CFI: (very excited voice, he mashes the PTT) "Fort Worth Center, Diamond niner-six-niner-papa-alpha, we are a bit past Collin County and we may have just seen a terrorist attack!" (No fooling, that's exactly what he said) "You might need to alert the authorities and get some emergency equipment rolling toward Caddo Mills.
Center: "Diamond niner-six-niner-papa-alpha, say again your location?"
CFI: "Diamond niner-pappa-alpha is just east of Collin County, 5500 feet, and we're making a tight left turn to avoid the explosion area we just saw! We just witnessed a 200-foot fireball!!.
Center: (Now we hear a bit more excitement in the controller's voice) "Ah, okay, Diamond niner-pappa-alpha, squawk __ __ __ __ and ident."
CFI Inputs the code and idents.
Center: "Diamond niner-pappa-alpha, radar contact. Confirm you're near Caddo Mills."
CFI: "Affirmative, Center, Diamond niner-pappa-alpha is about 20-25 northwest of Caddo Mills".
Center: "Okay. Stand by one."
Short wait...
Center: "Diamond niner-pappa-alpha, Fort Worth Center. I checked in with my supervisor and I think we got it figured out. Armadillo Aerospace is located at Caddo Mills. We had a notice that they were doing some testing of their rocket engines this week. I think what you saw was one of the more spectacular failures. We'll call them and make sure no one got singed."
CFI: "Thank you center. And when you speak to them, please advise they owe me a new pair of shorts. Niner-Pappa-Alpha."
Center: (laughing) "Understood, Niner-Pappa-Alpha. Will pass the message."
CFI to me: "Okay, your airplane. Now let's see if we can proceed to Greenville without any more scary incidents..."
It's a fun entry in the logbook. The DPE, when scanning my log book, fixed upon the entry of "EXPLOSION" and asked us both about the story.
