The Liberty Gazette
May 6, 2014
Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda
Street-Ely
Mike: The big Texas sky
is abuzz with airplanes and helicopters signaling the start of a busy fly-in
and air show season. With so many events the last weekend of April pilots had a
smorgasbord from which to choose, and while murky weather may have dampened
some activity by midday the cloud cover burned off, opening up for acts of
aviation to be committed.
The good folks at the Cleveland Municipal Airport, Clay and
Darline Dean, hosted “Renegades on the Runway & Crawfish Boil”, while
Southwest Airlines Captain and Reno air racer Alan Crawford held a
cross-country air race in Llano. Another Southwest captain and air race friend,
Ryszard Zadow had a gathering at his grass strip west of Houston, which
included flour bombing and target shooting. Vying for attention were air shows
in Burnet and Lago Vista, and then there was the big one: the
first-ever Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Regional Fly-In at the San
Marcos airport.
The 400,000-plus-member AOPA has traditionally held an annual
fly-in convention called “Summit”, but now under new leadership is returning to
its grass roots focus by hosting five regional events this year. The first one
was shaping up to be bigger than expected – more than 725 RSVPs scheduled to
arrive within hours – so special procedures were enacted to handle all the
aircraft, including designation of the New Braunfels airport for overflow.
Weather kept some away but more than 475 airplanes did finally
alight on terra firma at San Marcos. Pilots brought aviation enthusiasts along
to introduce them to the joys of flight and all the friendly folks involved.
Thousands meandered the grounds to see display aircraft, visit aviation vendor
booths and listen to well-known aviation speakers at scheduled seminars.
Linda: Master of
Ceremonies, the immensely popular flight instructor, humorist, and author Rod
Machado introduced a very important aviation supporter to the crowd: the mayor
of San Marcos, a city that has done a lot of things right.
Mayor Daniel Guerrero is not a pilot, however he is an avid
aviation supporter and he loves airplanes and what the airport is doing for his
community. He spoke with genuine enthusiasm of the vast plans and hopes the
city has for their airport, his comments answered by resounding applause and
cheerful sounds. Rod, who is from California, stood up after the mayor’s
address and exclaimed, “California needs a whole lot more mayors like San
Marcos has!”
Speaking of mayors jumping into General Aviation airplanes with
both feet and spreading their wings, our friend Yasmina Platt, the regional
AOPA representative, took Houston’s Mayor Parker on an aerial tour recently.
The mayor enjoyed the view and learned first-hand about airports as economic
engines. Houston Airport Systems has three here (and more abroad) but the
metropolitan area boasts several more airports making it a hotbed for business
looking to relocate to Texas, bringing jobs with them.
Support been echoed by mayors across the country, more than 100
joining forces actively calling on the White House to recognize the value of
General Aviation; 49 states have sent declarations to Washington (California
fails in many ways).
Here in Liberty our airport has vast potential to help the area
grow and prosper. There have been great changes in recent years and we look
forward to more growth to come.
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