Western L-5s Flying to 2010 Keokuk L-bird Fly In

I am tyring to plan a trip to the L-bird flyin at Keokuk this year and hoping to meet up with other L-5s going there from the West. My plane is based at Ogden-Hinkley Airport in Ogden, Utah. If you are planning on going this year, let me know what your general plans are and I might be able to join up with you. Right now, my only problem is convincing my wife to let me go, but I hope to have that solved in the next week or so.

Thanks,

Is there anything posted online about the Keokuk gathering? I'd like to know more about it...

Ryan

There is a website, but not much information other than the basics.

http://www.keokukiowatourism.org/lbird.htm

We went last year, and had a great time. Several vets in attendance, got to have a long visit with an L-4 driver.
Made a nice break in the trip to OSH. Bombing contest and Spot landing on Saturday. Understanding was that this year was going to be an even bigger blowout. Plus they let us have the plaque for the bombing.

Did you make it to Keokuk and OSH?

Yes, I did make it to Keokuk and Oshkosh. I was the only L-5 at Keokuk, but everybody treated me well and I did enjoy it. There were about a half a dozen L-19s, about the same Navions, some CJ-6 and other Russian types, plus an L-4 and and L-2. I flew up with a couple of Birddogs from Keokuk to Oshkosh with a stop to see the DC-3s in Rock Falls. At Oshkosh, there ended up to be a total of 4 L-5s. I made good friends and had some questions answered. I do not know when I will get another kitchen pass to do it again.

Thanks,
Greg

Sounds like fun. I wish I could get an L-bird gathering together down here in TX.

Ryan

Why don't you try to get a L-bird gathering together? I have been thinking that many L-bird types do not want to travel for days to go to a gathering, but a day's travel might be reasonable. I noticed at Keokuk and Oshkosh there were very few Western L-birds and I assume that they had the same problems as I did, travel time and expense. If there was a L-bird gathering somewhere towards the West, it might supplement Keokuk. Now in my own experience, I would travel about 3 fuel stops before I would park for the day. At about 2-1/2 hours between stops at about 100mph, that would be about 750 miles. Depending on what part of Texas you are from, that could be a reasonable distance from the West Coast and cover most of the Mid-west. There is alot of L-birds in Texas. If you could also get some FAST formation training and certification involved, you might have a good venue.

We tried for Keokuk, but weather kept us away. There was a line of crud between us and EOK, and a clear spot to OSH. We had the L-4 with stripes at OSH. Record fast trip (by many hours) for us this year. Only 30.7 hours in the air and 19 fuel stops.
We are working on getting an L-5 formation clinic (JLFC) together in the Amarillo TX area, and it looks like it may come together. I'll keep you guys posted.

BlueSkyL-4 wrote:

We are working on getting an L-5 formation clinic (JLFC) together in the Amarillo TX area, and it looks like it may come together. I'll keep you guys posted.

Would that be FAST qualifiying for airshows, etc...? We're talking about doing something in the next couple of months down here at the Alamo Liaison Squadron, but I think it's an in house, not official except for our squadron sort of thing.

Ryan

Their are several signatories to the FAST program, TRARON, JLFC, Stearman group, etc. My understanding is a card from any of the signatory groups will work. To fly formation in waivered airspace you must have a card.