Well, Rough River 2011 is in the books, and it was special for a variety of reasons (some good some bad). First off it was the 25th installment of the gathering, which is impressive for any fly-in. Secondly, we had 8 Velocitys in attendance (which everyone believes is a record). Sadly I’d be remiss without acknowledging that there was also an accident involving a Glasair killing the pilot. (NOTE: the NTSB reports are in, indicating that the PSRU drive shaft fractured rather than the clutch failing… factual, probable cause ERA11FA512, N43KH)

But, back to the good stuff. We had our usual roomy cabin with a lake view, which we shared with fellow Velocity builder/pilots Dave and Ali Nelson, both arriving mid-afternoon on Thursday. The park has a shuttle van that picked us up at the airport and dropped us off at the cabin, and even drove us to the edge of the park so we could pick up a few groceries. We got a few snacks and fixins for breakfast. The flying weather was pretty good, few clouds and moderate temperatures, but it was a little breezy, but there were several airplanes in before us even. I’ll apologize up front, that I didn’t take my better camera, so these are all from my phone.

We flew right over the highway we’d landed on in 2008

The ramp was filing in when we arrived

Our Cabin

Balcony View

Living Room

Master Bed and bath

Kitchen

My Baby

Tucked in for the night

In fact, the weather all weekend was gorgeous aside from being pretty windy until Sunday, but fall cool prevailed making for great sleeping weather, and the leaves were starting to turn which made the countryside very picturesque. We got a lot of traffic at our airplane with folks wanting to check out new interior (we gave Dave Spano lots of plugs) and panel, and received a lot of compliments on the paint. We got so much traffic, in fact, that we didn’t get to look into nearly as many planes as we normally would!

We did, however, get to spend some quality time Velocity builder/pilot Rene’ Dugas, whom we had not met previously, which was a treat. He’s a great story teller, and has flown his Velocity more than most. We also reconnected with Velocity folks Darryl and Nora Kufalk, Brent and Evan Bourgeois, and to meet Jimmie Dallas who’s Velocity is based near us in Indiana, Marshal Holtsclaw who bought N81VA from Wayne Lanza, and Mike Sullivan.

Velocitys on the field

  1. N22DN – Standard RG (short wing top loader)
  2. N81VA – Marshal Holtsclaw (standard FG – Mulitcolor, aka Big Orange, aka Pink Panther, the deep stall test bed)
  3. N321VE – Mike Sullivan’s Standard RG (short wing top loader)
  4. N38VL – Jimmie Dallas’ Standard FG (short wing top loader)
  5. N207DK – Daryl and Nora Kufalk’s XL/RG
  6. N61VB- Brent Bourgeois’ SE/RG
  7. N129RD – Rene’ Dugas’ XL/RG
  8. N44VF – Our XL/FG

Nelson N22DN SE/RG

Dallas N38VL SE/FG

N321VE SE/RG

N81VA SE/FG

N129RD Dugas XL/RG

N44VF Ferrell XL/FG

N61VB- Bourgeois SE/RG

N207DK – Kufalk XL/RG

Sunset

 

We mostly had breakfast in the cabin with the Nelson’s, did lunch on our own at the lodge, and did group dinners. The first night we went to Fiddler’s restaurant which is across the street from the airport, which is very convenient. On Friday we had a group dinner at the lodge, and Saturday we ordered pizza for a bunch of us (including the Basol’s who just did a first flight in their Cozy and Howard and Michelle, a Long-Ez couple) from a local place called Little Dave’s. Saturday featured the annual afternoon chili lunch and hotdog BBQ hosted by Dust with with assistance from a ton of folks including Doug and Elana Hurd from our Chapter in Cincinnati. Later was the official program and door prizes, which the Velocity contingent did quite well in. Saturday afternoon a Vari Ez did an impressive aerobatics display including loops and rolls, and several folks gave out rides and performed fly-bys, including our own Rene’ Dugas. It’s just a great weekend with great folks and flying, what more could you ask for?

Accident aircraft N43KH

 

 

Posted By: Brett Ferrell
Tuesday October 4th, 2011 at 11:28 PM

Categories: Blog Travel Log
Tags: 2011 CSA Fly-In Flying Rough River

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