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LOE 2014

dav1111

Well Known Member
GREAT NEWS RE: LOE 2014 KABI October 3-5, 2014

Gray Bridwell has agreed to co-chair LOE with me this year. In addition, Gray has worked out arrangements for EAA 471 to host the event. Wonderful facilities and lots of activities. Move info coming soon. Mark your calanders now and plan on attending.
 
Class Charlie airspace?

First, I do understand and APPRECIATE all of the hard work that people put into scheduling a flyin event such as LOE!

Is the post saying that this years LOE is going to be at KABI, class Charlie airspace? I have operated my RV in and out of class C many times and that doesn't bother me, but I question having a 'grassroots' flyin in this type of airspace.

I have never had my RV to Texas yet and having a flyin down there would be great, just not sure of the location? Since this flyin started back in Burlington, CO I have only missed three of them and they are always a great time, both for the cross country flight and the fellowship with fellow RVers.

Once again Russ I do appreciate all of the hard work, but it was a question that I felt was needed to be ask.
 
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Check out the EAA 471 Web Site. They are hosting LOE 2014 this year:

http://www.eaa471.org/events.html

While I would love to have a place that was not in Class C Airspace for LOE the problem we have had the last three years is finding a place that has good weather and the facilities to host such a large flyin charity raffle that needs to have seating for at least 15o people at the Saturday night banquet and charity raffle.

For over 6 months last year my buddy, Russ Kamtz, and me fly around and checked out a number of potential places to host the LOE flyin and had very poor success in finding an adqueate place. We settled on KFNL but I had serious reservations about weather being a possible game changer. While the weather did not keep us from having the event it did effect the turn out. Probably reduced the attendance by at least half.

If you have any suggestions for LOE 2015 please free to contact me or my co-chair Gray Bridwell as we want feedback from everyone to try and keep LOE alive and continuing to raise an average of over $10,000.00 for charity from the Saturday night banquet and charity raffle.


First, I do understand and APPRECIATE all of the hard work that people put into scheduling a flyin event such as LOE!

Is the post saying that this years LOE is going to be at KABI, class Charlie airspace? I have operated my RV in and out of class C many times and that doesn't bother me, but I question having a 'grassroots' flyin in this type of airspace.

I have never had my RV to Texas yet and having a flyin down there would be great, just not sure of the location? Since this flyin started back in Burlington, CO I have only missed three of them and they are always a great time, both for the cross country flight and the fellowship with fellow RVers.

Once again Russ I do appreciate all of the hard work, but it was a question that I felt was needed to be ask.
 
UPDATE!!!!

Time has come to start gearing up for LOE 2014 on October 3-5.

UPDATE:

Registration Form is now posted on

http://www.loeflyin.org/index.html

Be sure and move your cursor around and click on all the buttons!!!

$45.00 per person which includes a T-Shirt and Saturday Night Banquet Ticket. EAA chapter 471 in Abilene, Texas is hosting LOE 2014 and payment should be set to them by NO LATER THAN September 14, 2014 otherwise EAA Chapter 471 CANNOT guarantee that you will receive a T-Shirt or Saturday night Banquet Ticket, and you really don't want to miss getting one of the newly designed T-Shirts. Hopefully Doug Reeves will post a picture on the front page.

Again this year we are doing the charity raffle to benefit the Backpack Food For Kids program and Honor Flight.

Hope you can come and make this a bigger and better event than ever before.

NO RAIN DATE we are having the event on October 3-5, 2014 come rain or shine as we found out in past years that having a rain date did not work out very well.
 
Now I am confused...

I was sat in the barbers chair in Orlando yesterday.

Proper establishment with all sorts of junk and rubbish displayed.

Ray's Mens Styling, Best Haircut in Town, Free Advice Given.

Jennifer was attending to my needs, Ben was yarping on to another client when I spotted a license plate on the wall from New Mexico that had - Land Of Enchantment on the bottom.

I enquired and he said it was the State Motto - similar to Florida, Sunshine State, Georgia, Peach State and Arkansas - Paddle Faster, I hear Banjos.

So I wonder - did LOE start in New Mexico ?

Just curious :)
 
The fly-in didn't start in New Mexico, but the name "Land Of Enchantment" was applied when it moved to New Mexico. Later when it moved from New Mexico, it was decided to continue with the term "LOE", now meaning "Lots Of Experimentals"

More confused?
 
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I wonder if it is time to start calling it the "VAF" flyin? You could also put the City after it to identify where it would be. VAF-Abilene Fly-in.
 
LOE started at Burlington, Colorado, moved to New Mexico because of weather issues and picked up the LOE label. Although Doug Reeves of VAF fame probably had the most to do with getting the charity event started when the event was forced to move from New Mexico Doug asked for recommendations for a name change and the majority liked "Lots Of Experimentals" so LOE continued.
 
Thanks Russ,
Interesting coincidence, we stopped for the evening in Burlington CO on the return from Oshkosh. We were really treated great there. Russ gave us the crew car to use overnight and put our RV in the hangar overnight for free. We had a sticking tail wheel so I went to the parts store in town and got some axle grease to use on it. The kid at the counter asked uS what it was for and when I told him for an RV-4, he said he had ridden in a RV-6 and a RV-8. Russ came to the airport at 5am the next day to open the hangar for us. We plan to stop there again next year.
 
Back in the day...

So I wonder - did LOE start in New Mexico ?

Just curious :)

Mike,
Yes, as mentioned above and IMHO NM would be a great return address...
OR...
Prior to LOE the first DR sponsored RV fly in was held prior to 9/11 near DR's (and mine) home town of Waco on a private grass strip (Scott's). To this day it was one of the better grass roots events I can remember.
I flew my RV4 and two squadron mates in their 4's from AL to enjoy great BBQ, nice WX and DR's hospitality. Tracy Crook flew his Mazda Rotary powered RV4 from FL as well as one RV6 from Canada eh! I remember Tracy broke a radiator attach bolt and we drove to a local auto parts store for parts, RV standard!
My Sq mates and I were non-attendees of the 03' event having been deployed and missed the unfortunate nose-dragger 6A rookie flipping his airplane on the strip with subsequent DR rescue! This event combined with a few other things and the fly-in was moved/terminated.

It would be great to have LOE at a lesser location...

Ah, memories...
Smokey

Here is a link to an 02' event trip report and a glimpse at the original VAF...

http://www.vafarchive.com/msg/vaf/t2002152002
 
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There’ve been some calls come in regarding the fly-in & where to land, where to park, etc. If you go to the previously mentioned LOE website & click on the arrivals & departure button at the top, you’ll then be able to access the airport diagram. You can always go to the AirNav site too. The event will be at the far northwest end of the airport in the EAA hangar. The EAA hangar is directly in front of the Romeo taxiway off the approach end of 17R.
You'll be landing either 17R/35L or 04/22 depending in winds. 04/22 would be a good choice if it's right for you. Just request it on the way in.

Our controllers are a very courteous group; and pretty forgiving too. (Maybe because we send lots of food up to the tower the second Saturday of each month for our EAA breakfast? ;)) And BTW, one of the senior controllers and chapter member just finished-up her 8th year at Oshkosh.

Anyway, we’d love to have you come to Abilene & we’ll do our best to treat you to a good time.

(Feel free to PM me if you need more specifics. I'll help you as much as I can.)
 
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LOE Drtails

I have placed two calls to individual in the EAA chapter in Abilene only to go to voicemail. Was hoping to get some advance info on where on the ABI airport is the chapter located, and where will we be directed for parking. Sure would like to have an idea ahead of time to reduce any confusion with ground control.
Thanks
 
Hi Don
As soon as I get home this afternoon, I'll send you more specific details. I'll send my phone number as well if you wish to call.
Sam
I have placed two calls to individual in the EAA chapter in Abilene only to go to voicemail. Was hoping to get some advance info on where on the ABI airport is the chapter located, and where will we be directed for parking. Sure would like to have an idea ahead of time to reduce any confusion with ground control.
Thanks
 
LOE 2014 ABI

Thanks Sam.... that pretty well answers where you guys are.... but here's the info on AIRNAV about runways 4/22.
Runway 4/22
Dimensions: 3679 x 100 ft. / 1121 x 30 m
Surface: asphalt, in poor condition

Is that still the condition? Or is it really not that bad?

Thanks, Don
 
Don,
It's been a few months since I've personally been on 4/22 and sure don't remember it being 'poor'. I talked to a friend that is a frequent user of 4/22 and he said he would give it a "good". He also reminded me that the runway lights have been 'in-op' for quite a while & could be the reason for the AirNav 'poor' rating.
(Sent you a PM as well)

Sam

Thanks Sam.... that pretty well answers where you guys are.... but here's the info on AIRNAV about runways 4/22.
Runway 4/22
Dimensions: 3679 x 100 ft. / 1121 x 30 m
Surface: asphalt, in poor condition

Is that still the condition? Or is it really not that bad?

Thanks, Don
 
Don - 4/22 asphalt is fine. I'd rate it good. What isn't so good are the 4/22 taxiways. I'd rate those poor. Just old with sealed cracks and some with grass coming up through the cracks. Still no problem though. t/o and land my -10 on 4/22 quite often, mostly for convenience. You'll be fine. If in doubt, 17R/35L works 99% of the time with the wind.

Chad
 
4/22 Sit rep

I haven't been able to do any flying for a while so I couldn't believe that 04-22 Runways were that bad and I snagged an impromptu ride in the back seat of a fellow EAAer's Super Cruiser to get a first hand look.

He has one of the nicest Tailwinds in the country but it is down for mods, so he was getting his aviation fix in the old Piper.

Winds were 070 at 8 so we did touch and goes on Runway 04 till late afternoon turned to evening, and we' had enough.

From my vantage point 04-22 is in good shape. Any RV will not have a problem with the any of the runways or the taxiways on the airport.

Rumor has it that the airport manager has been after AirNav to correct their webpage but so far to no avail.

Dave A.
 
Planning

Sent my registration in today. Hope it is not too late. Also made my motel reservations. Anything happening on Thursday evening in Abilene?
 
Stay alert

rwarre,

Anything happening on Thursday evening in Abilene?

Although I am not the person to really know, my understanding is that LOE officially starts Friday afternoon with the gathering of...uh...eagles, followed by a beer and wine social that evening.

However, be advised that small informal bands of renegade Texans, professing to be aviators, have occurred in this area, almost without warning, so stay vigiliant. A few are even said to be armed with extensive RV knowledge but their whereabouts are unknown at this time. :)

Dave A.
 
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Behing the 8 ball

Did not realize that the registration had to be mailed in with a check this time around :eek:. Will be in the mail today, looking forward to the event.
 
10 day weather outlook for LOE 2014 shows ONLY a 10% chance of rain for October 3-5, 2014. Hope we have a great turnout.
 
If you come Friday or Fly In Early Saturday Morning, our hosts EAA Chapter 471 will have Breakfast for you!!!!!
 
HEADS UP !!!!

For everyone who HAS NOT registered for LOE 2014 the Banquet Caterer has a deadline of Thursday October 2, at 2:00 pm to turn in the numbers for the Saturday Night Banquet meal. If you have not sent in your check and registration you might not get to eat at the Saturday night banquet.

You might contact spkrazer AT sbcglobel DOT net and see what you can do to arrange for payment and registration.

For those flying in on Saturday, Falcon Flight is planning to do a 9-ship formation flight at 1:30pm Saturday.

Hope to see all my old friends and some new ones.
 
IF I can get there! BBA cold front supposed to be inbetween me and LOE tonight and all tomorrow :mad:

Edit
*****Decided to start journey early (Thursday) in the hopes of getting through the weather before it consolidated into a single front. It was a struggle. ADS-B rocks. Made it to Texarkana TXK before running into a wall. Should pass over us tonight and be a short hop to ABI in the morning (Fri). *******
 
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Chris

I'll check with the 'chief cook' and get back to you a little later. Just a guess...I'd say at least until 10:00,but I'll let you know for sure.

Sam
 
Ok,... just got the word from the chief:

Breakfast until 10:00 or 10:30ish. Could possibly have some breakfast burritos made from the left-overs afterward.
 
LOE 14 day 1

Dusk view of part of the north parking area with some of the horses bedded down for the night.

loe1.jpg
 
18 RV's on the ramp Friday night with 40 People registered plus about a dozen EAA chapter 471 members working to make this a great LOE and acting as our host.

Great weather this morning, clear 5 knot winds.

Hope you get to come and enjoy!!!!
 
Had nice flight from Phoenix yesterday. Stopped at Santa Teresa for fuel
. They have installed self service pumps just in front of the war museum since the last time we stopped. Winds picked up and were real gusty for our landing. EAA 471 is going all out here with their hospitality. Breakfast was great!
 
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Great turnout. 50 Airplanes flew in, mostly RV's. I understood that one of the supervisors told the controllers " there are a bunch of pilots coming that are not real fimilar with Class C airspace and I don't want any told to call the tower when the land". And it didn't happen!!! Probably because everybody was perfect!!!

We had 104 pilots, passengers, and drive ins come to LOE 2014 and the banquet / Big Screen TV Air Condition Room that EAA Chapter 471 built just for LOE was almost at capacity for the banquet. Betty Rose's BBQ was so god and tender you did not need a knife and people were invited to go back for more. It has to be one of the all time great LOE catered meals we ever had, at least sine 2001 when I started attending.

I cannot thank enough the multitude of EAA Chapter 471 members who went all out to make this event such a great weekend event.

Stu McGrudy and his crew also entertained us with some great formation flying. Please come again next year as you were a big hit.

Tha ONLY complaints I heard all weekend was "Where in the heck is all the RV'ers from the DFW area?" Hay guys you were way under represented. Maybe next year we will offer a door prize to the airport that has the greatest number fly in!!!!

Thanks also go out to all the raffle prize donors who made a bunch of people happy with what they took home.
 
Just returned home from my first LOE event.
I was very impressed with the amount of organization and hospitality that went into making it such a successful fly in.
The venue was absolutely perfect. The people were great.
Many thanks to the organizers and EAA 471 for hosting this great event.
 
Great turnout. 50 Airplanes flew in, mostly RV's. I understood that one of the supervisors told the controllers " there are a bunch of pilots coming that are not real fimilar with Class C airspace and I don't want any told to call the tower when the land". And it didn't happen!!! Probably because everybody was perfect!!!

We had 104 pilots, passengers, and drive ins come to LOE 2014 and the banquet / Big Screen TV Air Condition Room that EAA Chapter 471 built just for LOE was almost at capacity for the banquet. Betty Rose's BBQ was so god and tender you did not need a knife and people were invited to go back for more. It has to be one of the all time great LOE catered meals we ever had, at least sine 2001 when I started attending.

I cannot thank enough the multitude of EAA Chapter 471 members who went all out to make this event such a great weekend event.

Stu McGrudy and his crew also entertained us with some great formation flying. Please come again next year as you were a big hit.

Tha ONLY complaints I heard all weekend was "Where in the heck is all the RV'ers from the DFW area?" Hay guys you were way under represented. Maybe next year we will offer a door prize to the airport that has the greatest number fly in!!!!

Thanks also go out to all the raffle prize donors who made a bunch of people happy with what they took home.

We had a flight of 3 in from DFW, but I will have to agree, I didn't recognize too many local faces. I wish I could have stayed longer but at least we got to spend the afternoon talking airplanes which is my favorite thing to do.

The ATC guys at ABI have always been great, a couple of my wingmen had some issues at departure time and we were doing 'donuts' at the runway hold line, it must have looked a bit like a circus act when we were leaving... I called the folks in tower twice with the 'delay', their reply: "no problem, we've seen worse!"

Thanks for chapter 471 for hosting the event, you did a fantastic job :D:D
 
Had a great time meeting new folks on the Friday overnight. Sorry we could not stay to meet all the people coming in Sat morning. Diane and I were just stopping by during the outbound leg of a long holiday trip. In Vegas now. Went to the dam yesterday. Well worth it. Doing canyons this week. Will post pick later.
 
First LOE

I had no idea how much fun I was going to have when I asked if there was room for me at LOE.

I want to thank everyone at LOE 14 for such wonderful time. The hospitality was spectacular, the food was delicious and the festivities entertaining. Simply put the event was a delight.

I got to meet a lot of very interesting people, some whose names I?ve long heard or read; and while you may not consider yourself special ? to me, you are all icons in this amazing community.

For those that expressed an interest in meeting up at the Petit Jean Fly-In ? I will try. I forgot to mention, so I?ll put out my own request, for those that can make it: I?ll be driving out on the Saturday of the South East Regional Fly-In (SERFI @ KGZH) ? So I expect to see you there!

Thank you RV community for an amazing weekend.
 
When did Stu change his last name? :rolleyes::p

I got quite a kick out of that too. We've been talking about getting some new Falcon Flight shirts made. Maybe one of them will have an accidental misspelling embroidered. I'm sure he wouldn't mind :eek:
 
What happened to LOE?

Did something change drastically about LOE? :eek: Seems like it used to be one of the premier RV events. Tons of posts leading up to it and then many posts and photos after. Seemed like everyone wished they could be there. One of the big items on my RV bucket list if I ever get this thing flying. I even vacationed in New Mexico a few years back to check out Las Cruces thinking it was permanently held there. I gotta be missing something here.:confused:

[ed. It just ebbs and flows, Tom. Nothing too crazy. I missed this year because I was going through my Mom's house with my brother and sister. I'm planning on going next year. dr]
 
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Miss the photos

Thanks Doug. I guess I'm just disappointed there weren't more photos. :eek: It's actually quite the motivator for me at least. I have too many irons in the fire with my family and anything that causes me to burn the midnight oil on the project is a plus. :)
 
Hey Juliet Whiskey

We are also planning to be at SERFI. I will be in the polished RV-8A. Can't miss it. Come by and say hello. Drop a dollar in the son's guitar case (he sings for dollars). Should be a good time. Tim
 
Thanks Doug. I guess I'm just disappointed there weren't more photos. :eek: It's actually quite the motivator for me at least. I have too many irons in the fire with my family and anything that causes me to burn the midnight oil on the project is a plus. :)

Sorry 'the word' didn't get to you. We've (us in KABI) could have done better. Doug did have it on the VAF calendar as did Van's had it on their calendar.

We'll have photos up soon. In process of gathering them all up and will probably post on LOE website. Watch this thread & I'll give you a heads-up.

Sam
 
Thanks for coming to KABI!

To all who made the trek to KABI.... a Texas-Sized Thank You! It was great to meet new friends, kick tires and laugh a lot! Even the weatherman cooperated with us! If you are ever in the neighborhood on the second Saturday of the month, drop in and have breakfast with us!

Thanks again!
Steve Krazer
President, EAA Chapter #471
 
I buzzed up from Austin the Sat am but had to hit Dallas by the afternoon.
the event was great; awesome breakfast, great people and a ton of great airplanes. the ABI approach/departure/tower was uber friendly and relaxed and the pirouetting and dancing RV trio a hoot to watch as they circled back and forth between the apron and hold short line. Ground formation flying at its finest!
I'll be back next year!!


To all who made the trek to KABI.... a Texas-Sized Thank You! It was great to meet new friends, kick tires and laugh a lot! Even the weatherman cooperated with us! If you are ever in the neighborhood on the second Saturday of the month, drop in and have breakfast with us!

Thanks again!
Steve Krazer
President, EAA Chapter #471
 
Abilene LOE

Fellowship and food at LOE was excellent. I left my master on Friday and Sam Evans helped me with an overnight charge in the EAA Chapter hangar. Thanks again Sam! Great hospitality and the hotel was really nice. Enjoyed seeing everyone and a big shout out to Russ and Chapter 471 for a job well done!
 
PHOTOS UP!

Photos from the 2014 LOE can be found here.

Many thanks to Steve Krazer, 471's president for his leadership and unselfish help in making LOE happen on the Abilene end. Steve put in many hours at the airport as well as tending to the LOE website and taking most of the photos. All that from a guy that doesn't have a pilots certificate or own a plane! (But we're working on him. ;)
 
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Looks like it was a perfect day

Great photos Sam. Looks like a perfect LOE. :) Someday I'll be in one of the photos......:D Maybe. Getting close.
 
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