Hello Everyone:

The New Mexico Pilot's Association is holding their 2nd annual Negrito Flyin (0NM7) in the Gila National Forest. Negrito is a beautiful strip in Gila at 8,000 feet elevation. Last year we were serenaded by Elk bugling and Wolves howling in the morning. The flyin is in a remote part of Western NM, so I hope to see you AZ, NM, UT and CO pilots attend.

Last year we had 25 planes and 33 people drop in.

Since I am pretty technologically impaired, I have not been able to insert pictures of last year's events (Zane did try to follow the instructions, but no joy) but you can link to my photo album to see some pictures.

Much more information and signup details are at the NMPA website http://www.nmpilots.org/. The sign up sheet and safety briefing is in the Library section and more pictures are in the Gallery. Also a post on the forum about the flyin. There is also a map on the website so you can pull up the strip and it's surroundings.

One of the objectives of the NMPA is to provide backcountry flying instruction, so we will also have a brief groundschool during the flyin and evaluation flights by backcountry instructors to give you pointers on the skills that you need to improve your backcountry flying skills.

For those of you that are intimidated by the 8,000 elevation, the main strip is 7,000 feet long and the cross wind is 4,000 feet. Read more about the strip and conditions in the safety briefing. Negrito is a great strip to practice backcountry skills.

We will be serving breakfast Sat morning and Sunday morning and Dinner Saturday night.

Hope to see you all there.

Regards, Larry

One more thing I meant to add. If you have any questions about the flyin at Negrito or logistics getting there, please don't hesitate to PM me and I will get you my cell number.

Regards, Larry

You know, it's a damn shame. I had planned on attending this flyin when I first heard about it, but after reading two pages of "legal ease" and a charge to show up, I think I'll pass. Maybe you folks should take notes from Aktahoe, and just set a date and see who shows up. As Americans, don't you think we should all be responsible for ourselves?

Hey Larry, I agree with Hafast, all the red tape kinda turns people away, but I guess that's the world we live in.

I'll upload the pics to your first post as requested. In the future a quick PM to Zane or myself might get a faster response.

Have a great fly-in!

I agree. Nix the legal BS as well as the fee, and let people be responsible adults. If the owners of the strip need a waiver, then so be it, but the fee is definitely a turn off.

So Negrito is owned by USFS but not open to the public on a normal basis?

AirNav said that it was privately owned and permission required. Looks like a nice place though.

Grassstrippilot wrote:AirNav said that it was privately owned and permission required. Looks like a nice place though.

Ya it does! Would be a neat place to camp. I just thought it odd to have a public owned strip on public USFS land that is PPR.

http://www.nmpilots.org/library/Back%20 ... iefing.pdf

http://www.nmpilots.org/documents/Negri ... n_2011.pdf

Really?

So, I see that their safety briefing lists the owner as the USFS. I also see that the waiver is for NMPA. So, I think it is a setup like Wilson Bar: owned by the USFS, marked as restricted (R) on the charts, but no real prior permission required. Anyone with first hand knowledge on this strip care to comment?

Guys:

Maybe I didn't do a very good job of explaining:

Price - I'm sorry for any price. But as part of the flyin, three meals are provided as well as sodas (as long as they last) and beer (if Gary shows, that won't last long) and coffee in the mornings. Also we had several of the female persuasion show up and they really appreciate us hauling up porta potties (cost for that is about $300). Also, we bring up two trucks so we can bring water for those that can't haul their own and the food.

Finally guys, we are using this as a fundraiser. Last year Ron and I covered the cost of the trucks and food out of our own pockets, and were able to hand over about 700.00 to NMPA who used it to cover costs of the new website which launched early this year. NMPA has about 250 members and serves not only backcountry issues, but general aviation issues as well. We put on clinics, sponsor flyins, etc. Also, the money will go to improvements at Negrito. This year we had a work party, rented a bobcat for three days and moved rocks, installed tie downs and made a great parking area for planes. We will do that again this year and the money made will help with that.

The event wasn't supposed to be a spontaneous get together. Instead a annual fundraiser and just general good time.

If $45 is too much price to pay for you, I sure would understand, but thankfully there are a number of us that do and we not only raised money but had a great time in the process.

Legal Issue - NMPA officers were concerned about being sued over a sponsored event and frankly I don't blame them. I know the owners of the strip in Marble CO want a release before pilots land there and that is all NMPA is asking as well. I am sorry we live in these times, but I don't think it is unreasonable to do this. The only comment that I have is that maybe you might feel differently if you were one of the officers? I understand if you say you wouldn't be concerned, but I don't think we can blame those that are.

Ownership - The Forest Service is the legal owner and it is a public strip. However, they ask that if you are going into Negrito you call them first. We ask that all pilots abide by this. We have all heard of the stories of Forest Service strips being closed / shut down (there is one near Negrito that we are trying to get the Forest Service to allow us to reopen). So I would ask that everyone try to cooperate and not give them a reason to see us as a problem. For purposes of the Negrito flyin we have already let them know we are coming.

Guys, please feel free to PM me if you have any questions or comments you want to discuss this with me personally. I welcome them. Sure was a negative tone in some of your responses and I hope the information above will give you an opportunity to rethink it a little. Not everything is going to fit everyone's idea of right. However, I will tell you that we surveyed most everyone that came last year, and hands down, it was really enjoyed by all.

I do think this post has given me one good idea though. I can understand how people are concerned about prices these days, so I will provide an accounting on our website after it is over of the money and how it was used. Perhaps that will help prevent misunderstandings in the future.


Regards, Larry

Thanks Larry for taking the time to explain that.

Not everyone will agree on everything, but lets keep this thread about the fly-in and not a personal rant about this or that (this isn't directed at any one person, I just see the way this is going - perhaps another thread).

Matt

Thanks Larry. The cost makes more sense now. As for the legal issue, I understand the officers being concerned. However, there is one difference with the Marble example: I believe that is a private strip and the owners want the release (same as Caveman). This strip isn't owned by the NMPA. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that they would have a hard time requiring it or enforcing it, i.e. if someone didn't register and just showed up. Likewise, I would think that someone wanting to sue would have a hard time blaming NMPA. But, like I said, I'm no lawyer and we all know how jacked up our legal system is, so they probably would be able to cry foul!

Anyway, thanks again for the additional information and have a good fly-in.

No worries.

And I understand your frustration. We have talked to one of our lawyer / members already but it would be worth the time to ask again if this is really needed.

Regards, Larry