Airfield Letter October 2024

Airport Friends,

It’s no secret to any of us that we’ve taken a major hit with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Helene. Our Airfield and John Fadok’s Hendersonville Airport were particularly hard hit; all airplanes based at the two Airfields were submerged and declared total losses with the exception of Ofek Studnik’s, which is elevated in Carlton Hawkins’ old hangar home. Distant neighbors at Shiflet Field in Marion fared even worse.

Our local community has responded magnificently with people helping people. Our airplane owners have responded, too. In our case, we are keeping each others’ spirits up as best we can. There are positive discussions around formation of flying clubs and replacement of the machines we lost. We’ll be back, maybe in a different form, but we’ll be back. We are pilots, after all and our focus is on the next waypoint, not the last one.

If you have photos to share, please hold on to them – I’m asking Jerry Tice to set up our new website so you can upload to a special folder at airfield8nc9.org:

At this writing, our skies are filled with helicopters (among them is the Robinson R44 from Happy Helicopter Tours in Greenville that flew rides during the Apple Festival) and aircraft carrying out relief missions, Search and Rescue, and evacuations. Much of this effort is volunteer and self-funded. Some of our members are still isolated with supplies dwindling. The Sheriff’s Office was given names and addresses to perform wellness checks or to dispatch Rescue assets.

Regardless of all the good vibes, the reality is that hangar rents are still due and may be the responsibility of the insurance company since the date of loss is 9/28/2024.

The waiting list for hangars is the same as last month. We’re waiting to publish a revised list until we have a handle on the number of airplanes that owners will replace.

Please plan to spend some time at the airport. There’s a lot to do and our members need help cleaning up. Ironically, we could use some light rain to wash the mud off the grass and into the soil. It’s like Oshkosh – where weather can really be fickle - you can have rain and dust at the same time.

Press on … information exchange is so helpful. Talk, text, communicate! If you need one of us to meet an adjuster or find a helpful mechanic, call one of us.

Mechanic: Doug Woofter 828-551-0367

All the best

Alex 828-595-5950 and Mark 860-930-5453 content