Hi,
I just got back from 10 days at Burning Man. Lissa and her entire crew set up & operated the airport in fine style. There were 124 planes tied down to the desert floor on Saturday night, while "The Man" burned, amidst flame-throwers, fire spinners, and all sorts of lively types, numbering just short of 40,000 hardy souls of humanity from all over the world.
I staffed one of my unicom shifts, while wearing only a sparkly cape & loafers, during a funnel cloud arrival that brought the airport down to 0-0 in blowing dust, and 35+ knot winds. Incomming aircraft had to circle for 45 minutes over the dust clouds, then elected to just land off-airport, and taxi in through the slowly receding storm.
Nearly 90 folks went aloft with me on scenic rides, several for the first time in a small plane. Not to mention the many riides that other pilots had gifted. All & all it was an amazing gathering. Not for the faint, or fearful - this year's theme was "Hope & Fear".
I Hope to re-join the flyin' community of BRC International next year.
That's it for the news from the thin edge of our culture. Enjoy, Berk