If you were planning on joining the Husky Round-Up and didn’t…you missed alot of FUN!

On Saturday June 19th we gathered at one of my favorite flying destinations at Gilliam-McConnell Field (5NC3) with the Pik-N-Pig restaurant.

This place is the idyllic fly-in restaurant because the wonderful BBQ fare with corn muffins with jalapeno butter  is served on the large patio overlooking the paved and grass landing strip. Our folks flew in from various points in North Carolina and Virginia. We enjoyed the lunch and fellowship making new friends and talking Husky flying, grass strips and future gatherings to plan.

We were treated to Bill Hodges flying in his beautiful Husky N332F on amphibious floats. All particularly enjoyed hearing his stories of his trips to Florida at low altitudes over the water just off the coast and the numerous waters “landing” opportunities in Florida. He also told of his flight to the Bahamas. John Harris of Louisburg shared his favorite grass strip destinations in West Virginia and Mark Ruston and his lovely wife Dawn of Raleigh shared about their recent explorations in Virginia.

Chris McClure in his beautiful red Husky N15CM with tundra tires and Andrew Dauber in Bill Hodges second Husky joined us just a bit late but in time for the flying competition. Jim Briggs of Hampton Roads with his friend John came in his 172 to check out the Husky line up and Jim got a flight in the Husky and was thoroughly impressed!

When it came time for the short take off and landing competition, Justin Willess in his RV4 was eager to compete. The only prize was bragging rights but that seemed to be plenty motivation for all those involved. The participants lined up at a starting line on the grass strip and were measured for their distance to get off the shortest. They followed that with a low pass at high speed and then came back around for a try at the short landing. They had to touch down after the starting line and our markers measured the shortest distance to a full stop.

It was great fun and most of the guys kept going with multiple tries. Our results were…drum roll please…. John Harris in N103BB won the short field take off competition and the also the honor of being our headline photo above. A beautiful shot of him in action with our beloved Pik-N-Pig Restaurant in the background.

Our landing competition results will undoubtedly require a rematch some time in the future! Justin Willess in his RV 4  took the prize for shortest landing. His win was assisted in no small way by his superb piloting skills to keep his craft only inches from the ground and let down just after the scratch mark and the application of just the right amount of braking. The fact that our chief competitor Mark Ruston in his 200 HP Husky landed shorter on two tries but unfortunately scratched on both tries with wheels touching down just before the mark. Congratulations Justin and consider this your official notice of challenge for a rematch at the next event!

Our Husky Pilots received certificates for their participation in the event to top it off and make it memorable.

So, what could be better? … A perfect fly-in destination, great food on the patio watching planes come and go, a take off and landing competition and talk of our next gathering, not much could top this in my book!

There was discussion of locations for our next events. Included in the list was:

1. Fly-In at Mountain Air in Burnsville NC

2. A Sunday fly-out to Campbell Field in Virginia for their Soup on Sunday gatherings

3. A Coastal Tour in the Fall or Spring

Initial research into MountainAir has already turned up some interesting possibilities as there is already a golf gathering in September that might be the perfect weekend to join in. More news on that soon.

Mark Ruston and Chris McClure both volunteered to help organize and promote our next event. Thanks Guys!

SPECIAL THANKS: To Roland Gilliam the owner of Gilliam-McConnell Field for his generous support of the event and help with flight competition logistics.
To Steve Merritt of Cary NC for being our Flight Competition Judge along with Andy Thomson from the Apex EAA Chapter as measurer.
To Ben Armstrong for his masterful help with all the photos, logos and certificates – Well Done!
To Janie and the staff at the Pik-N-Pig for working so flexibly with me to organize the lunch.
To Premier Aircraft Sales for sponsoring the event and making it possible.

Check out the 2010 HUSKY with the amazing Garmin G600 at the event. Click here to experience the Garmin G600.