Warbird Information Exchange

One reason I was glad to get my plane back from Texas was the flyin at Jeffco Airport today in north Denver. I spent the night at Loveland, got up early and called in over Boulder about 9am. The tower operator sounded like he was having a bad day and was none too happy to hear from me. He had me circle over Erie. After about 10 minutes he called back to ask where I was. Then he wanted me to go south of the airport and fly a 4 mile straight in final, avoiding downwind. Then I heard another plane call in over Boulder, and get cleared onto downwind straightaway. I could tell it was going to be a mess getting out if I ever did land, so I gave up and went to Longmont. We used to have a nice show at Jeffco, but now it is "Rocky Mt Regional", and has pretty much become big jet country.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

that's a shame Bill - loads of "props" were here today. (TBM, B-25, Yak, AT-11, P-51's off the top of my head)

the only jets flying were JP, Vemon, MiG-17, F-16 and B-2

pssss - everyone still calls it Jeffco!

maybe you should come to Front Range in 2 weeks? (less traffic)

Skippyscage. I spoke to Darrell on Fri about coming to Jeffco and could not get any fuel furnished. He did say they were expecting us to do a flyby or that is what I understood. When I called in over Boulder the tower operator was anythng but receptive and didn't want me to get anywhere near the pattern. The long 4 mile straight in is not the best approach for me in the Spitfire. I don't know if this guy had a problem with me personally or all warbirds or was just on edge, but he sounded like he really hated to talk to anyone, and a fly by or aoverhead approach had no chance. Maybe he was only used to the corporate jets who prefer the long final, or maybe he was new and just scared someone would make a mistake on his shift. He did clear aniother plane right into downwind that called in after me over Boulder while I was holding. The other problem with going southeast of rwy 29 is you can get into the DIA class B airspace. I couldn't fly and pull out that chart at the same time. I could have persisted, but I could imagine the hassle trying to take off at noon from there. As for as the corporate jets, I fly my Be in there many times a year and it is rare to see any small stuff at DAC below the restuarant. It looks like you had a good turnout. Of course the 51, Gnat, Venom, T-33, Mig are based there and don't have to fly anywhere. How was the crowd?

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

it's a shame that sometimes a controller can ruin a day - would have liked to have seen the Spit - I haven't seen yours yet - would have added to the British Heritage on display

looked like a good turnover crowdwise - but never having been to this event before I can't really speak from the past.

paul

Bill....we did'nt go either....but we'll be at Front Range it looks like in a couple of weeks as they are doing a sunday 'Tribute to Warbirds' so we're planning on going. Hope to see you there.

Mark

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Mark Morris

I'll be there Sunday as well Mark - maybe I can finally bump into you.

Skippy and Mark, the Spitfire is at Longmont, right now it is on the ramp, might try to hangar it. I expect to have it there or Loveland for awhile. I am not planning on taking it to Front Range, didn't get an invite to come or fly in the show. It think it is more for acro planes rather than warbirds. I really liked it when the show was at Longmont. The last two years there I flew a solo acro act and I thought it was very good and a number of people said the same. It is almost the perfect place for me to fly and that is about the best show I have done. Longmont is a pretty place with green grass and the mountains in the background, hotels and restaurants nearby, and people living there. I realize Front Range has a lot more room, but it is so sterile out there, with no grass or trees and not much in the way of facilites where they have the show. For me as a pilot flying there or flying in, you have to deal with the control tower and the fact that you are squeezed under the Class B airspace. It is so much easier and more pleasant to land at a non tower field where I can fly my own pattern, rather than have a controller who is unlikely to be a pilot and almost certainly never flown a similar plane try to tell me how to land. The controllers at Oshkosh are there as volunteers and because they really like planes. I think the guy on duty at Jeffco probably was the low man on the senority list or got the short straw as to who had to worik on Saturday, and was none too happy about it. I am sure there wer people on lthe ground thet would have enjoyed seeing the plane even if it was really dirty, but I knew it would have been a hassle flying out also. It was all for the good as I used to time to get in a hangar, wash it and now it looks like it should, almost anyway.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Bill....yep....always preferred Longmont too, such a great place and amazing scenery....Front Range pales in comparison, but whatcha gonna do.....

M

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Mark Morris