Heads up guys!!!!! PLEASE!, The RAF has been in the lead on this form the beginning. There is little doubt in my mind that they are our leading force to save and preserve all our airstrips, if we show up at the strip and have any type of a confrontation we will lose the war by trying to win one battle and there many other strips at stake. If the media got wind of a confrontation I am certain that we would all be portrayed as the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz or The Hells Angels. We would also damage our reputation in the eyes of the public and the RAF.
Right now from what I hear Via Rick and the RAF, an agreement has been made and local NPS management are supportive. I have little doubt that we will get a work party date from the RAF in the next week or two. Please don’t blow it now! If we screw this up we will never get another chance to support another strip. I feel all of your frustrations. Its’ comforting to know that I’m not alone.
We put just a little pressure on the NPS and local government agencies and we got results. And the RAF has recognized it. For the first time we, as pilots have their attention, they are hearing many as a voice of one through the RAF and they are listening to it. Please do not go in a separate direction from the thrust of the RAF, they are on our side and are leading the way.
Please coordinate with Rick at L05 for the work party to restore our airstrips.1-760-378-3870
Thanks for the support, Joe

mountainmatt wrote:The best way to say "thank you" to the RAF on their great work.

http://theraf.org/civicrm/contribute/tr ... set=1&id=2

Done, Thanks Matt..

Coyote Ugly wrote:

mountainmatt wrote:The best way to say "thank you" to the RAF on their great work.

http://theraf.org/civicrm/contribute/tr ... set=1&id=2

Done, Thanks Matt..

Been there done that! I agree!

Okay, what you are reading is correct, the NPS has agreed to allow the work (whatever it turns out to be) to be done under the existing agreement with the RAF.

The coordination of the work party date needs to include the NPS as they want to have someone there as well. John Kounis will be the representative for the RAF and will post here later today.

Brent turned out to be okay to work with and also we found another individual within the NPS (that stayed behind the scene) that will be very helpful on future aviation related matters.

As far as the RAF's role, I'll just say that this is exactly why we exist and nothing is more satisfying than seeing it work as planned. Thank you to all who placed trust and confidence in our ability to influence the outcome. As individual pilots, it would have been a tough hill to climb. As a national organization, representing individual pilot's interest, there was a stated (by Brent) comfort factor in the discussions, negotiations and resolution.

That said, the couple of individual calls made yesterday could not have been more timely. They put the icing on the cake so to speak, assuring the NPS that there really were a significant number of unhappy folks standing on the sideline most anxious to enter the fight. As one government individual stated, "I learned a long time ago that general aviation is one bear you do not want to poke!"

Now it is time to finish organizing a work party and set the date. Again, this needs to be coordinated with Brent so that they can schedule attendance as well. Thanks and congratulations to all.

Is there contact information for Brent? Rick Lach The manager @ L05 has a list of volunteers for work parties. We will also need forms for volunteering for the NPS

Since John Kounis is the RAF California Liaison, it would be best to have John work with Rick. John will be available after 4 PM today and we can get started on planning the work party. He has Brent's contact info.

Regarding the forms, thanks for the reminder, I do not recall the wording on our agreement, but will make sure that all "t's" are crossed and "i's" dotted. We sure don't need an administrative issue to delay this now.

My thought is the sooner we do this the better!

FLHusky wrote:Since John Kounis is the RAF California Liaison, it would be best to have John work with Rick. John will be available after 4 PM today and we can get started on planning the work party. He has Brent's contact info.

Regarding the forms, thanks for the reminder, I do not recall the wording on our agreement, but will make sure that all "t's" are crossed and "i's" dotted. We sure don't need an administrative issue to delay this now.

My thought is the sooner we do this the better!

Fl Thanks for your efforts. Can you get a list of acceptable actions that we can do/perform at the CS? For instance it was rumored in an earlier post that the rocks can't be removed from the strip? Do/don't through the rocks off or move to the sides? Ect? Surface Ingress and egress into the Saline Valley might be an issue as the roads have not been repaired either (even more reason for a functioning airstrip ) those people at the hot springs probably need some food & supplies airlifted in.

I think John Kounis working with Rick would be the most effective way to deal with this. Rick has a good contact list already and can give updates as needed. Rick and John can both be fully updated as to what they can and can't do, as well as the required paperwork.

I wish I lived closer, it would be a great feeling to reopen a closed airstrip. The more numbers that show, the more the NPS will understand that the volunteers/support to keep these strips open is there.

BTW The South Pass (Hunter Mountain) road into Saline valley is closed. This is not just Park Service "closed" this is really closed. The road dep. tod me today that it will take a long time to repair.

So if anyone comes from the South you will need to go to Big Pine and take the North Pass road. No real issues with the North Pass but it is still rough. North Pass is on all the maps. It is called Wacoba/Saline road.

The route would 395 to Big Pine to 168 to Death Valley Road to Wacoba / Saline road down to the valley. Later we can worry about the turnoff to get to the Warm Springs and Chicken Strip.

Consider the temp. Last Saturday it was 93 degrees at the airstrip and it was overcast and a bit of rain.

I just spoke with John Kounis. Turns out he is not registered on this site. He just registered and is waiting for the administrator to approve him.
He ask me to let you know that he wants to shoot for October 15th for a work party to get the strip open. He will step in with more info and thoughts as soon as he is activated.

FL, I think I just approved him.

I updated the work party thread FOUND HERE.

Desert Rat wrote:We been had.....BTW someone said his Suzuki had "transmission damage" and Lee was unable to finish the repair. More crap... Suzuki is OK according to Lee.

I bet that about as many guys as would fit in a 180 could roll that suzuki right out of the way......SIDEWAYS
tom

It is a "DONE DEAL" Pix. taken today.

Did the Park Service guy ever show up?

58Skylane wrote:Did the Park Service guy ever show up?

As of 10 AM today (10/16) no Park Service....Good thing we didn't wait to sign the VIP forms. Exactly what I expected them to do.

Desert Rat wrote:

58Skylane wrote:Did the Park Service guy ever show up?

As of 10 AM today (10/16) no Park Service....Good thing we didn't wait to sign the VIP forms. Exactly what I expected them to do.

Oh well. Just makes them look like the fools. I think they had a plan, but hopefully it back fired on them. That's all I'm going to say.

What a weekend, and the ROAD FROM HELL.

The trip in was long and painful only 40-miles on a dirt road, shouldn’t be that bad, right. But it wasn’t all dirt, the first 20 was, but the last 20 in was really a ROCK road. The county grader stopped for the weekend at the 20-mile mark and it went from a 15-mph road to a 5-mph road. What fun. So our arrival time of 5:30-6:00PM went to 8:30PM. It would have been later than that if it were not for NVDave and his friend Jeff. They led the way in and our thinks for the help.

The morning light brought a smile because Lazard Lee and some of his friends had already removed all the rocks from the strip except the two “X”. The With Desert Rat’s lead the group got right to work removing “x” and filling in some low spots and I did the dragging with my JEEP. It was done in no time and before the second wave of volunteers arrived. We did leave the important measuring and photography work for them.

After that it was just wait for the Park Ranger, Steve Powell to arrive so he and John Kounis could bless the strip. Well the ranger never showed, as it turned out he got side tracked on the way in and didn’t make in until the next morning. So we ended up in the hot tubs with the dogs (all five) and what a great afternoon. Then we found out that dogs were not allowed in the tubs so we drained the tub, cleaned it and refilled it to keep every one happy. This was a smart political move as it turned out.

That afternoon John Kounis the RAF Representative declared the strip Serviceable and OPEN with the full support of all the pilots in attendance. At that point NVDave and Jeff took off for Bishop. Around four hours later (3 ½ driving ½ flying) we were politely buzzed by a 182 and it was NVDave and Jeff back for to test our handy work. Of course they made it EZ and it was off the HOT TUBs again.

The next morning Ranger Powell arrived about 8:15 and was very nice and seamed quite comfortable that there was now two airplanes tied down and the strip was back in service. Earlier that morning Desert Rat came in from Bishop to see how a tail dragger handled the new surface. All went well again, Boy are we good. I had a short talk with Lazard Lee and Ranger Powell and asked them directly if there were anymore issues or anything we had missed and they both seamed quite satisfied with everything. Lee even ignored the fact that we let the dogs in the hot tub, very polite of him.

The trip out was a little more painful then the one in. we got started around 9:00AM and two more flats and one broken wheel later we made it to Big Pine to buy two tires and put on spars for the trip home. It was then 4:00pm so we got some food, I’m still not sure if it was lunch or dinner. I finally make it home by 9:30PM and I’m sure Glidergeek was later than that.

BOY what a week end and WHAT FUNNNNNNN.

Rick

Dogs... Wow.
BTW.
I created a Facebook community page for the Chicken Strip. Now your job is to go to Facebook and search for chicken strip and join the community. You are are on Facebook aren't you. Or try this link.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicken-Strip/165327670225574?sk=wall

I sent Brent a thank you E-mail and pictures.We need a Pilot Log. I left a little notebook that I had with me on Sunday. The lid on the small can that said pilot log is now missing. The book is in the big can with the corks.

Lets have some visitors...

First and for most I would like to thank all participants that supported the Chicken Strip. I arrived on Saturday mid-day with shovels, heavy rake and running on a semi bald spare tire,,,,???? There was nothing left to do. Actually it looked quite nice; rocks removed dragged smooth with white rocks on either side and around the wind sock. Like rick said the road going In is a bit rough, I’m the guy with three flat tires on the trip, I have to thank Russ the Glider Geek, Rick the 701 driver and another friend Paul that helped me make it to Big Pine with out there help there is little doubt that I would still be there. If it were not for Russ with the bottle of Nitrogen and Rick with a can of Fix a Flat I would have never been able to make it out in one day, you should have seen it, it looked like a relay race my wife hanging out the window telling me when the tire was going flat, Russ pulling up next to me when I stopped and handing me an airline, me filling the tire and taking off for another five miles till the tire got low again and that’s the way it went for twenty five or thirty miles. As it worked out there was a tire shop in Big Pine, two used tires and less than $100.00 bucks and we were on our way again. Russ, Sandy, Rick, Max and Paul, thanks for sticking with me.

701driver wrote:What a weekend, and the ROAD FROM HELL.

So we ended up in the hot tubs with the dogs (all five) and what a great afternoon. Then we found out that dogs were not allowed in the tubs so we drained the tub, cleaned it and refilled it to keep every one happy. This was a smart political move as it turned out.

BOY what a week end and WHAT FUNNNNNNN.

Rick

I never bathe without my dogs. We lost both of them to very old age last winter. I need another couple Dobies. Or a rule change about bathing.

Great job guys. What a great outfit this is.