I just opened an unexpected letter from the MAAA, the Montana Antique Aircraft Association, it seems that I won the flour bombing contest at this years fly-in, and a substantial check was enclosed! I must have been either in town on the bike getting some mo gas, or on one of the nearby rivers (Three Forks....Madison, Jefferson, and the Gallitin all come together there, so lots of gravel bars) and had missed the award ceremony. After DQing the spot landing (short of the line by 16", but close don't count when you're short) I really kinda blew the award thing off.

I won a whole $30.00, but the thrill I got when I found I had won it, was priceless This makes no sense I know, but damn, if you can't be good, be lucky! I would be no more excited then if I had won the lottery, go figure Anybody who has flour bombed knows that it is just dumb luck when you come close, making it all the more rewarding to win it. Damn shame I missed the award ceremony, nothing like getting applauded by your (envious) peers, ha ha! Kid stuff I know but I am still laughing my ass off.

Congrats Tom, some Gas

I nominate you to the backcountrypilot.org Hall of Fame.

Would anyone like to second the nomination?

(Great job by the way)

8GCBC wrote:I nominate you to the backcountrypilot.org Hall of Fame.

Would anyone like to second the nomination?

(Great job by the way)

yes!

ExperimentalAviator wrote:

8GCBC wrote:I nominate you to the backcountrypilot.org Hall of Fame.

Would anyone like to second the nomination?

(Great job by the way)

yes!

Thank you EA.

CG does more BACKCOUNTRY AVIATION stuff in a weekend than I do all year sometimes.

So today I get to mount the plaque (1" by 5" engraved plastic with just my name and the cryptic message, "30 feet", nothing about it being a bombing competition, on the hangar wall, I'll put it next to another flour bombing plaque that reads "floor bombing", obviously the givers put a lot of thought into these prestigious awards ) next to the other high honors. Total worth of these various awards over the last few decades is maybe $2.00 at a trophy shop, and they cost tens of thousands to obtain, but who's counting! The fact I won, at 30' away, shows the intense level of the competition, fun stuff!

Shoot! I was standing right there, watching the event. Sorry I missed meeting you.

MTV

Heck you're right next door MTV. As you know, a great little fly in, lot's of cool aircraft and a real relaxed atmosphere. How about the radial engined PA-12 on amphib floats, don't see one of those every day. And the beer truck that prowls the flight line, I love the fact we are treated like responsible adults and not little kids, goes without saying the beer is for LATER. Can you imagine a beer truck at Oshkosh?? Their insurers would .. See ya next year maybe, I almost never miss it, and I noticed that when I hung the "trophy" I had also won the event in 2010, I'm on a roll!

Reading your report of the big payout brought smiles to my face. I have participated in three flour bomb competitions and all three were at the Naniamo Fly-in. The first year Big Gerry was my bombadier and side bets were flying as to whether my 172 would even get airborn with both of us on board. Half way on downwind Gerry asked what he was to do. I answered " how the hell should I know, this is my first time too, lets slow down and open the door and see what happens". I discovered a little left rudder made everything good. Gerry had to remove the shoulder harness and loosen the seat belt to get turned around properly. We did good but got DQ'd, it seems neither of us paid attention to the 100' rule and the judges and the tower did not like our 10' pass. The next year my wife decided she wanted to be my bombardier, Gerry was still alive so what could go wrong. So were on down wind and I am giving her the instructions" remove your shoulder harness, loosen your seat belt and open the door and throw the flour bag when I tell you". All I can say is that I wish I had a tape recorder hooked to the heads sets for the response to those instructions. Well we get that all sorted out and we are on final at 100' and over the bay and I say open the door and she says "NO".
I ask why not and the answer is" I don't want to fall in the water". This is where pilot decision making is taken to the highest level and you realize that explaining the difference between hitting water and hitting dirt are not the same and it takes too long to explain so it is best to be quite at this time. Over the land the door opens and bombs away with a good shot but not the winner but lots of good memories. The next year my wife decides not to be my bombardier so my friend Pete decides he would like to try it. Well this year the club decides to something a little different, instead of flour they are going to use these little plastic bags with numbers on them and grass clipping from around the airport in the bags. We were allowed two practice runs with no numbers on the bags and on the third run we were to drop our numbered bag. I could not believe how many pilots got that skill test part of the program wrong. We get airborne and I go over the program with Pete and we are good except for that extreme rain shower that shows up on base. We are all set up for the drop and out the package goes then HOLY CRAP PETE IS 3/4's of the way out the door and I am trying to grab his belt before he falls right out and trying to keep the plane stabile at the same time. I never did reach his belt but Pete rolls back in and says " just a little bit later and I think we gotter". He looks at me and says" JEEZ you look awful pale, your not going to get airsick are you? No Pete I'm ok". The next pass we followed a Dash8 in on final and they damn near won the spot landing contest and Pete did his out the door observation move but I was ready this time. On the third pass our numbered bag went out and Pete rolled back in with the comment " I think we got it". We did win the trophy and a ceramic popcorn bowl and that was cool and fun. During the trophy presentation there were all kind of comments about where did we learn to drop bags of grass so accurately and I bet you guys could get on full time if you could do that at night. We all had good laughs but Pete and I had the biggest laugh because nobody else knew that Pete was a retired police officer.
Flour Bombing puts a big smile on my face.
KenW

courierguy wrote:Heck you're right next door MTV. As you know, a great little fly in, lot's of cool aircraft and a real relaxed atmosphere. How about the radial engined PA-12 on amphib floats, don't see one of those every day. And the beer truck that prowls the flight line, I love the fact we are treated like responsible adults and not little kids, goes without saying the beer is for LATER. Can you imagine a beer truck at Oshkosh?? Their insurers would .. See ya next year maybe, I almost never miss it, and I noticed that when I hung the "trophy" I had also won the event in 2010, I'm on a roll!

That PA 12 is actually a "Faust". Neat airplane, owned by a fellow in Bozeman.

He's now scratch building a four seat version, except he's planning on using a Rotec radial 9. Should be neat looking.

MTV

We're both right MTV, looking at that plane and trying to figure out what it is, is like trying to determine the breed of my dog. Booth is a real maverick, I can't wait to see his 4 place. You're more right then I was though, I was under the impression it was some kind of bastard early PA-12 prototype of some sort, not a homebuilt. Guess I missed the EXPERIMENTAL placard. http://www.antiqueairfield.com/articles ... red-piper-

Not an Idaho native, I don't know near as many sheep jokes as one of my neighbors who was ranch raised. At least I think they are jokes