Texas Fly-In A Success!

Nice Start To The EAA Regional Fly-In Season

June 4, 2007 — The 43rd annual EAA Texas Fly In (Southwest EAA Regional Fly-In) concluded over the weekend at Hondo Municipal Airport and even though a weather system stretching from New Mexico to Arkansas prevented many to the north from attending, organizers called it another successful gathering.

"We did all right," said Stan Shannon, chairman and CEO of the fly-in. "Our numbers were a little off because of the people unable to fly through the weather. But they came from the west, east and south, and the event went really well." Weather in Hondo was clear and very hot, about what you'd expect this time of the year in Southern Texas, he added.

Attendance was about 6,500 for the weekend, and there were 750 aircraft, Shannon reported. Forums and workshops were very well attended, exhibitors offered something for every aviation enthusiast and a wide variety of homebuilt, classic and Warbirds were on the field. The RV/motor home areas were near capacity. EAA volunteers also flew about 40 Young Eagles during the fly-in. ?Everything clicked, and the event went really well,? Shannon said.

Saturday night?s special guest speaker for the awards dinner was Gene Kranz, flight director of the aborted Apollo 13 mission in 1970. ?Gene Kranz was phenomenal,? Shannon said. ?What they pulled off during Apollo 13 was unbelievable. Those in the audience heard not only the story of the mission that was immortalized by the motion picture of the same name, but learned of the attitude and integrity that the early space pioneers adhered to."

There were, however, some unexpected, uninvited visitors the day before the fly-in as a swarm of honeybees took up residence in one corner of the volunteer tent Thursday morning. "Well, it is a fly-in, so we considered them early arrivals," Shannon joked. The appropriate bee-removal folks were summoned, and the bees were removed by that afternoon, well in advance of Friday's opening.