Chapter 1217 Invades (Chino Part 1)
The Planes Of Fame Museum at Chino, CA, has the largest collection of privately owned warlords in the world. Each month they feature one of their aircraft in a flying demonstration that is associated with a specific theme for the weekend. The largest event is the annual airship that is not to be missed if you want to see, hear and smell those great airplanes from the past. Recently, several Chapter 1217 members visited the museum. Here is the diary of our trip:
Friday, May 17, 2002
Two WWII Boeing Stearman primary training biplanes piloted by 1217 members Roger Parrish and Terry Emig departed from Falcon Field along with two other Stearmans flown by Jason Williams and Bob DeFord. They headed west, along the northern boundary of the Phoenix Class B airspace, and were joined by another Stearman, 1217 member Tom Weidlich. The five-craft flight set course for its only en route stop at Blythe, CA - about two hours flying time. Flying at 4500 MSL, the flight was smooth for most of us except our No.4 airplane that seemed to encounter sudden and violent zephyr winds as we crossed the desert. Some of the gusts encountered were so severe that the big biplane was seen doing some kind of looping and snap-rolling maneuvers. I am sure that only his piloting skills prevented his
being just another statistic. As I recall, after descending nearly into the Blythe Airport Pattern was he able to avoid the turbulence and regain his position in the formation.
The second leg of our flight took us from Blythe on a long slow climb to the west directly over the airport at Indio, CA. This use to be called "Thermal" but I saw on the sectional as we overflew that someone had changed the name to something a bit more California-ish. I do not remember the new name. After crossing the mountain pass south of Palm Springs we soon encountered the typical LA basin visibility as it dropped to just over three miles. We were later told by our hosts at Chino that three miles visibility in the basin is when they look to the left and they can see a mile then they look straight ahead and they see a mile and then they look to the right and they see another mile, that's three.
Just as we crossed I-15, which lies four miles east of runways 26 L/R, the airport came into view (I said it was VFR) and the formation broke overhead and landed in trail. We were told to "taxi to the end and contact ground point-something, good day". As a good flight lead should do, I had obtained weather, winds and notams for our route, that's how I knew that the entire airport was under major construction...yea, right. Not wanting to bother the seemingly already irritated ground controller by asking something silly like, "How do we get there from here?" I located my trusty Flight Guide from the bowels of the Stearman and found the runway diagram for the Chino Airport. Once parked, we were greeted by Jack Davis and Hartley Folstat and Margi Stievers, all long-time residents at Chino. 1217 members Bill Lewallen, Mike Evans and Julie White had arrived earlier in Bill's Cessna 195 and had been exploring the museum while waiting for our group to arrive. Soon we were off to our motel in a couple of borrowed cars and to catch an early diner.
Saturday, May 18, 2002
A day at the Chino airport always starts at Flo's Café. Every dairy farmer, pilot, police officer, CAP cadet and tourist knows about Flo's, especially on air show day. The group then proceeded back to our gracious hosts' hangar and absconded with every means of transportation available. A jeep, two golf carts and even their go-ped were commandeered to provide any means of obtaining questionable access to the flight line.
Stay tuned for next month's exciting conclusion, where you'll learn how to "land a Stearman in a crosswind while suffering from a severe case of table dancing."