New England Aero Tow - May 19-22, 2016 - Salem, Connecticut

[Sinkhappens86]

Arrived home at around 500pm after a spectacular 5 days of flying. Had a blast seeing everyone for the first event of the year that wasn't plagued by weather! Was finally able to put the Decathlon to work and having to work hard to land it in the crosswinds the first 2 days. It all paid off as Saturday was perfect Decathlon weather. I put over 8 hours of flight time on it and hauled countless gliders in the air.

Thanks to Len, Steve and the Prop Busters for putting on a great event. The food, company and field were all incredible. Thanks to Larry for the new project, Tom M for helping repair the tailwheel and everyone else that helped me keep the Decathlon going throughout the event.

See you all at Windy Ridge!

[TomTerrific?]

Wow- great days of soaring! Nice flying with everyone.

BIG T H A N K S to the many tug Pilots for all the tows.

Here's my vote for the best look'in ASW20 cockpit & pilot. See pics.

[Jeff D]

Another fantastic event!! Thank you so much to Steve, Len, Jim D and hosts of others! Also Kevin K. for getting in the towing act as well with his Decathlon. Fantastic weather and conditions. Again as usual, if you listened to the weatherman, you missed it. Silly lift at times.

Got to get going on the pictures - be patient. However here is proof of the of the Bidule Precision Towing Team (Ok, I made that up...) being out in force! But Steve did give them a run for the money





Glad to see old friends again after the winter and continue to meet new ones. See you soon!

Jeff D.

[Jeff D]

Oops, forgot to mention Scott and Bob on towing with their Bidules. My bad. Was late from unpacking. Sorry guys.

[Nodd]

While I only flew two out of the four (or was it five) days I still managed to get a bunch of stick time in on T-HEVY. Once again it was wonderful to see everyone, had fun camping out at the field & telling airplane stories well into the night. A BIG thank you to all those involved. Once again I had a blast.

[JimD]

Just got back to Cumberland at noon today. I stayed in Connecticut last night and departed at 4:00am this morning. Very light traffic all the way out of Connecticut on I-95 and across New York State on I-287 across the Tappan Zee Bridge. The rest of the trip to Cumberland had light to moderate traffic and made for an easy trip.

Just for the record, I departed Cumberland at 6:45am on Wednesday so I would have time to make a fuel stop plus a leg stretch break and arrive at the Tappan Zee Bridge at 1:00pm. That put me in Niantic at the Sleep Inn by 3:00pm and traffic was moderate that time of day with not backups. Was able to maintain speed limit all the way from the Tappan Zee to the motel.

So...all future trips to Salem will be planned around these time frames. Also, I offer this experience to the many that come to Cumberland from Connecticut. Consider these times for least traffic headaches.

As for the event...WOW...just simply wow! Weather could not have been kinder or better. I was committed to all four days no matter what and was rewarded with four full days of flying!

More later once I get unpacked and finish a few chores here at home.

[hello82]

So great to see everyone again for the first time this year and also meet some new folks. Yes, many thanks to the club, organizers Len and Steve, all the tow guys and all helpers for making it a success. Sunday was a wild wild ride!.... and to Len for doing that wild inverted super low, super high speed pass!

Hope to see many of you again at windy ridge.

best,
Matt

[Kuya]

I was amazed to see some fantastic flights ,IT will on my calendar next year

[lenb]

Hi gang.

Sorry for the delay in reporting in but I just woke up from a long long badly needed nap. Whew, you guys wiped me out.
After 4 1/2 days of aerotowing and countless sailplane flights, I can finally say we're getting this season going. The start of the year was tough with Mr. Winter not wanting to let go but now with 4 great days of weather, I think we're going to be just fine.

Thank you to everyone who attended our event. The tow pilots, Jim, Scot, Kevin, Bob, Steve K, Steve P and Rob.
There was never a moment during the entire 4 day event when a tow plane was not running and many, many occasions there were 2 tugs flying at a time. It became second nature to the tug pilots to alternate arrivals and departures. Thank you to all the tow pilots for a well orchestrated and very safely run towing operation.

Tow planes at the event included:

4 Bidule 170's (2) were ZDZ 180 powered, (1) DA 150 powered and (1) DA 170 Powered

1 Hangar 9 Decathlon DA 120 powered
1 Hangar 9 Pawnee DA 120 powered
1 Hempel 40% Clipped wing Cub, DA 150 powered
1 Top Models Pilatus Porter DA 120 powered


This event saw a whole bunch of interesting events. From simple launch and land flights to specking out from 100ft. The wide variety of sailplanes flown proved its not just the fast glass that wows the crowd. Both Steve P and Gunny made spectacular flights with their vintage wooden ships to the delight of the large group of spectators visiting the field to see what the festivities were all about.

Thank you also to all the help, the Propbusters Club is a GOLD CHARTER rated club and they act like it too. The food was always ready and hot, the field was perfect and the tow lines were always tended. Nice work guys.

There were some very nice awards given out at the end of the event, prepared by Bob M and used fantastic photos taken by our photo prodigy Jeff D. Thank you guys.

Best Modern ship was won by Scot S with his Arcus 6.6m
Best Vintage was won by Steve P for his Nemere
Longest Flight was taken by Aurele
A photo award was given to Jeff D for his outstanding service and photo expertise
All of our tow pilots were awarded an Excellence in aerotowing award
Best of Show was Bob M for his outstanding Citizen Watch FOX

And LORD OF THE CORN was taken by Brent C from Orland FL for his spectacular, outstanding and amazing one point landing in the corn field. ( it was almost a tie though)
A special thanks to Steve P for his commitment to maki
I hope I didn't exclude anyone, although I'm sure I did but you know who you are and how much I thank you for all the help.
A special thank you to Steve P for making this event run as smoothly as it does, to Jim for arriving early and staying late to help any way he can, to Scot S for being an excellent go to guy for anything needed and to Bob M for his overly generous donation to the club, providing the awards and helping with the raffle prizes.

I can't wait to see Jeff's photo collection. We get spoiled and nobody else takes photos!!!!

[Sinkhappens86]

Videos are done! Check them out. Had a bunch of footage to go through, especially proud of the awesome shots I got from the 2-33. Enjoy!

[Csessa]

That was cool seeing my plane in flight. Need to try that again with a camera on both planes.

[Sinkhappens86]

And one more for all you masochists out there. Make sure to watch to the end, we have to have a sense of humor about these things.

[stevekremer]

Nice videos Kevin. Except for the last one of course.

Steve K

[TomTerrific?]

Nice Videos.
Agree- the 2-33 one is really great. Like the "chill" music too.
Heard some dubstep too in them.

I had a great belly laugh(at least) with your music selection and it's introduction on the sad asw video.
Thanks for posting these!
Tom

[stihac]

Here are few photos from Saturday

[Jeff D]

Love the shots. I seeing missed the bald eagle but heard about it. Great head on shot of
Len's DG800.

[stihac]

Thanks Jeff I appreciate it. Not the best shot of the eagle but with 200mm I was reaching for sure. That dude can soar high
The DG800 was reactionary shot. I've heard the whistle, turned around and there it was going right at me

Petr