Crestline Soaring Society

The Fly-In was a huge success and a great send-off for Rob Kells. From the LZ mid-afternoon the sight of all those PGs, HGs, and rigid wings flying over Marshall was amazing. There were a couple of vintage HGs and there was the Swift, plus a blue ultralight was buzzing (quietly) around and at one point Chris Wills did a couple of fly-bys in his red single-engine plane before he came to the LZ in a land vehicle.

Near sunset the Airpark looked more like an aircraft carrier than ever before, with gliders and people all over the west 2/3 of the surface and a strip along the east side to land on. There were pilots from all over the USA out to remember Rob and many of them also flew; the list of pilots would have read like a who's who from Hang gliding & Paragliding back issues. A number of Rob's non-flying friends and neighbors braved the drive and the heat to join us, most seeing what we do for the first time. At least one neighbor has now arranged for a tandem flight. There was plenty of good food and refreshments and poignant remembrances of Rob Kells and Andy Jackson during dinner. The Missing Man Formation HG fly-over went well and the five-glider simultaneous loop at sunset, followed by free-wheeling aerobatics, was a real highlight.

Rob McKenzie did a fantastic job of managing the parking lots and shuttling people with their ice chests and shade structures from the lot to the LZ. Rob gave up a day of tandems and shuttle rides to do this service to the club and the pilots and we can't thank him enough. Di McKenzie did her usual 110% to coordinate the set-up, pilot sign-in and head counts, ordering the food etc. Di had a lot of help from Barb Crouse, Kathy and Ashley Rhodes, Megret Olewiler, and no doubt others. Prez Alan Crouse and Activities Director John Wright spent the whole day at the LZ keeping things going smoothly. John's big-screen tv was showing the Crestline weather graph via the new wireless internet access he's set-up at the Airpark and later the hi-def slideshows and videos were a big hit. Past Prez Rob von Zabern had his amazing sound/PA system (from his DJ days) out so there was great background music into the night and messages and speakers could be heard by all. Mike Z's truck bed was filled with Hefty bags after the clean-up and breakdown for him to handle disposing of later - he takes on this thankless job every event it seems, so here's some thanks.

Good Flying,
Ken Howells