I finally got my second flight review done and managed a five day weekend from work so I did what any pilot would do. I reserved an airplane from the flight school for the entire day and set out on a tour of eastern Oklahoma. The main purpose of the trip was to meet up with a college buddy (Glyn) that moved back home to the DFW area, but it quickly outgrew that small plan. We were looking forward to catching up on life and stuffing our bellies with some good BBQ. He happens to be working on his instrument rating and passed his knowledge exam the day before so that gave us something to celebrate. Other reasons for the trip included trying out an NDB hold, voting in the election, visiting a few new airports, and enjoying some good ol' aviating.
First destination on the trip was to the
Seminole NDB (SRE) to make a couple circuits around the hold. My flight review consisted mostly of simulated instrument time as 99% of my flying is of the cross country type and I am trying to close in on the instrument rating. I also fly a lot at night and unintentional VFR into IMC is more likely at night with no clear view of the sky condition. Once arriving at the NDB I made my way around the hold to see what holding at this type of fix was like. It didn't come without a couple of issues however. About five miles from the NDB I realized there was a missing link between the receiver and the indicator. I had only used the old ADF receiver in this particular airplane once and there was a selector knob that I didn't quite understand. I finally resolved that issue and began tracking the signal a little better. Overall it went okay, but there were a couple things I wasn't positive on so I made note of those to bring up next time the instructor has me by the billfold. Two times around and I was off to McCaslin Field (Oscar44) to cast my ballot.
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| Cessna 172P at McCaslin Field (Oscar44) |
I made arrangements with my Dad to pick me up at the airport and we would go vote together and visit for a bit. I really enjoy McCaslin Field for a couple of reasons. As a child my parents would drive by the field when we would take the long way to church and I can remember begging my parents to drive by so I could see the hangars, the underground house, the runway edge cones, and the big red balls on the power lines. I wasn't really interested in aviation at the time and knowing enough to know what happens at an airport was enough that it drew my attention. As a kid I never once saw an airplane there, but my imagination took care of the rest on all of those Sundays. Years later I was driving down the highway one day during my senior year of high school and saw a little yellow airplane circling low. I decided to follow it to see where it would land. At some point I realized he was landing at McCaslin Field! I pulled off the road into the ditch and quickly jumped out and stood in awe as my imagination stood still and my eyes took over. After the airplane turned off it's engine and the pilot got out I abandoned my car in the ditch and began to walk across the grass field to learn more. I soon met the pilot and was full of questions. This meeting was what introduced me to Steve Ruse, his
Pietenpol Aircamper, and the
DFWpilots online forum. Each time I enter the traffic pattern at McCaslin I make a low pass to check the field and to grab the attention of any of those kids who might be passing by and are just like I was over a decade ago. Occasionally cars will slow down and every now and then one will pull off the road in the same ditch. This day there were only a couple slow passers so I made one low pass and put the Skyhawk down with full flaps just beyond the fence at the threshold of the north end. Dad was already parked next to the windsock awaiting my arrival and had his window rolled down. Its always neat to get to taxi right up to where he picks me up on each visit. An hour or so later we were back and it was time to head to Ardmore, OK for lunch.
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| Arbuckle Mountains |
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| Ardmore Downtown Executive Airport |
My initial plan was to meet up with Glyn at
Ardmore Downtown (1F0) and drive to Blue Pig BBQ for lunch. I had been to Blue Pig a couple times as a student pilot at the Ardmore Municipal Airport (KADM) location. That was a little over four years ago and they had since moved closer to town. Their website has an Ardmore address listed so I figured they were still in town. Upon arrival to the downtown airport I tied the airplane down and met up with Glyn. He had beat me to the airport by about 15 minutes as we chatted via an air-to-air frequency. This was my first visit to the airport and I really liked the layout and the amenities. The "FBO", KMA Aviation, we used was an unmanned self service setup that actually worked well. They built a little metal building that is about 10'x20' that has the crew car log, restrooms, shower, recliner, and an honor system oil cabinet. This would be a wonderful airport to get stranded at if you were in the area. I love seeing operations like this as I learned to fly at a flight school that has a coffee can in the fridge as a cash box for flight time and sodas. As an aircraft renter I try to depart Tulsa with no more than my personal minimum amount of fuel on board so I can help small operations like KMA stay afloat. With a good impression of the place I decided I would top off with fuel and take advantage of the $4.79/gal price upon returning from lunch. Fuel in Tulsa is nearly $6.00/gal right now and it helps the self serve pump owner if I do this. Soon after getting on our way to eat lunch we learned that Blue Pig BBQ was no longer in business at their Ardmore location they had listed and the phone had been disconnected. We happened to stumble across a street advertisement sign that pointed the way to a BBQ joint a couple blocks away so we tried that. We ended up at
Smokin' Joes and it was AWESOME! The parking lot was packed and we soon understood why. The hospitality is southern and the owner made his way around to each table to greet the guests and personally thanked us for our business. Not something you see much anymore and it really solidified my opinion of the place. I WILL be back and it WILL be soon. We tried to empty our plates like good boys do, but we couldn't. I loaded up on more sweet tea and back to the airport we went in the crew car. After topping the airplane off with thirty gallons of 100LL we were off in very loose formation to Lake Texoma State Park Airport in Kingston, OK.
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| Lake Murray just south of 1F0 |
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Lake Texoma State Park Airport
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Lake Texoma Airport (F31) is a state owned airport that was more than likely built to handle fishermen that seek out the abundant striped bass, golfers for the Pointe Vista golf course located across highway 70, or recreational outdoorists who use aviation to travel. I had drove by the airport during a drive from Longview, TX to Sulphur, OK to visit my parents while I was attending school a couple years ago. I thought it was neat so it was added to my route during the early days of planning this trip. I made a quick stop to log a landing there and slowly back taxied to depart on runway three-six out over the golf course. I snapped a few shots of the highway bridge and the golf course on climb out and headed toward my next destination, Atoka Municipal Airport in Atoka, OK.
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| OK HWY 70 Lake Texoma Bridge |
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| Vista Pointe Golf Course on Texoma |
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| Atoka Municipal Airport |
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| Cessna 172P at Atoka Municipal Airport |
Atoka Muni. Airport (KAQR) was a recent discovery during a drive from Tulsa to Ft. Worth to tour Ft. Worth ARTCC. The airport is a small town airport that
sits just feet from the highway. I have an interest in small airports and something we are seeing today is more and more of these being closed down. Sometimes airport closings can be attributed to political officials and other times for the harvesting of the land for larger money makers among other things. My hope was to get to experience a new airport in my home state and maybe someone would see that the airport indeed does get used. A lot of the time the benefits these airports have to the community go un-noticed. I made a landing and taxied to the small ramp and shut down next to a M20C Mooney. As I was pulling in I noticed a backhoe was beginning the construction of a new hangar. A great sign for an airport! I parked as close to the street as I could to help promote this little airport to those who drive by. No banners, no speeches, no important passengers, and no motorcade. I soon found a little building that indicated a restroom was inside and walked in to find what looked like a shed inside with a restroom and a folding chair. I finally found the light switch and proceeded to empty the bladder and get a drink of cold water from the sink with my hands. After enjoying the nice weather for a bit and walking around some I noticed some men walking from across the street towards me. Before I could say a word one of them unlocked the Mooney and arranged it for the two passengers. I had a chat with the pilot that is based in Ada, OK and he was flying two doctors in to work at the nearby tribal hospital. A good sign this airport is being used to serve the immediate community. Before long they were gone and I started back up to finish my day of flying with a 100nm leg to Tulsa.
A short climb to 5,500 in the cool air and things were looking great! Cruise flight is the least demanding workload and it really allows you to relax and enjoy the views. The sun was just touching the horizon as I passed west of the McAlester VOR and the ride was perfect. With a moderate north wind the GPS was showing a ground speed varying from 85 to 95kts at times. I was truly on Tulsa time and this just meant more time to enjoy the changing colors of fall.
Enough memories till next time...
TC
