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Triple Tree trip 2014

MarkW

Well Known Member
Friend
Traveled to Triple Tree SC00, South Carolina this weekend. I had hoped someone else would start this thread as I didn't take but one picture.
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Great flight up Friday morning from Orlando with a few different layers of clouds.
Warm temps in SC but a good crowd Friday. Bus driver said 350 planes on Friday was the same as last year but Saturday should be 1000. As a two ship we took a short flight and to get fuel Friday evening and when we got back the place looked empty. I think the weak front coming through scared most people off. We didn't even get any rain that night and the flight home the next day was uneventful. Wish I had taken the camera because this place is beautiful. Spent most of the day Saturday watching the flight line while the ladies were treated to a afternoon bus ride into Greenville for shopping. That was a nice touch and will bring my wife back again next year. The benefit of everyone else leaving was plenty of great BBQ and shrimp Saturday night.
We will be back!
 
Mark, it was a pleasure meeting you and seeing your beautiful plane!

This was my first trip to TT and it was great! Good people, well organized, lots of planes to drool over.

A funny side story. I and two other RV's arrived just before noon on Thursday. As I was tying down my new-to-me (one week) RV-6 a fellow pulls in next to me and parks his Bearhawk. After a bit he wanders over and asks me where I got that airplane. He said he had just flown in it a couple of months earlier with one of the owners! I told him that I had just purchased it last week. He said that he hadn't heard it was for sale and with a grin he said he was calling the owner. I told him to say Hey to Frank when he talked to him. :)

Small world, this aviation community.

Here is a pic of our camp site. It was a wonderful time, good food, we played music the two nights we were there, the facilities were the best ever, and the food was great. I look forward to next year.

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Life got in the way so plans got modified such that I only went for the day on Saturday. 300+ NM leg for a hamburger. New record in that the $100 burger became a deuce. But worth it for sure.

Its the kind of place that, no matter how many pictures you stare at, you just have to go see.

Great camping spots in the trees as evidenced in previous picture. Nice Southern Hospitality. A Spartan Executive and Stearman in the hangar that are worth plenty of time staring at just to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into their restorations.

Answered the question I've always had that if I had a ton of money what would I do with it. Well I'd build Triple Tree, of course, hard to see how I'd change one thing.

PS - great run event but I will send them a suggestion that they publish a holding pattern in the arrival procedures as it got a bit interesting when a bunch of us had to improvise one when they held arrivals for a C46 flyby on Sat. AM.
 
Hey Andy,
Even better than the picture. There a good size creek right behind my plane. Trees sure left a mess on the plane though.

Good to meet you too Chris,
Sorry we missed the music. Good company and adult beverage where we were so it was hard to pick up and move.

I am with you Richard,
Since I don't have that kind of money it is all fully good of Pat to let us share his. I will be back.

Thanks for adding the pics to the thread Jim,
I love that approach. The wife wasn't real happy about the tree at the end of the runway being above her eye level as we sliced between the trees.
 
I really liked camping amongst the trees but yes, they left a mess on the plane. Leaves, bugs, and other tree droppings. Not complaining because this camping area is brand new but I hope they plant some grass in there (they seem to be experts on grass) because every airplane that taxis by sends up a huge dirt cloud that deposits onto the morning dew on your plane.

Anyway, I had a great time and will be back next year! I showed up solo but soon ran into old friends and made new ones as well!

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Like it!

I have to say that Triple Tree is becoming my favorite fly in! It is all so genuine, from the volunteers to the participants. I really like that there aren't any airshows or vendors to distract everyone. We got to spend quality time with other pilots, and the volunteers are amazing. I lost count of how many times I heard them ask if they could do anything for us or others around us. And it was Pat Hartness himself serving the drinks in the food line on Thursday evening.
The food is nothing sort of amazing, at least for the Thursday and Friday dinner meals that we were there for. And it seemed like there were really beautiful examples of so many airplanes across the entire spectrum of Certified, Classic, and Experimental.
Yes, there were some tree droppings and dust in the camping area, but it sure was nice to be in the shade! That heat this year was a killer.
At first I thought camping under the trees probably wasn't such a good idea when the first wind started from the local thunderstorm, but I heard the volunteers spent the last 3 weeks getting rid of all of the deadwood in the trees, putting mulch around the trees, and working to eliminate the red ants. Now that is really caring and thinking ahead.


Vic
 
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I made an unexpected unplanned stop at TT on Sunday morning. Almost everybody was gone but the atmosphere of a great flyin was still there. Love that 7,000 feet of smooth grass :)






 
Tony, I must have been entering the pattern after you landed on Friday. I remember most of that radio chatter on your video, especially the offer of a back-taxi!
 
Mark, you too 100% more pictures than I did!

My son and I flew in late on Friday (some of us had to work), parked the plane down on the north end, and then camped next to Tony and across from Bruce.

Saturday morning the mini-me and I spent six hours driving one of the six seat golf carts around, giving people rides, chasing down an air pump, delivering ice, giving Pat's sister-in-law and her mother a tour, and generally helping people.

Like OSH and SnF, the place runs on volunteers. Next year, we will get the word out early and if you can help out, the TT staff will be more than happy to have you!

The improvements they make there every year is amazing!

Pat insists that everyone has a smile and good attitude, as does he, for the entire event.

The Triple Tree works is because Pat is such a nice guy! While the funding helps, the facility must become self supporting, and Pat and the staff recognize that for that to happen, it must be "welcoming".

It is good to hear everyone had a good time!

PS. The controller you hear in Tony's video is a retired CLT controller who now contracts at Concord (JQF) and is referred to as "The Singing Controller". Adam volunteered to help this year, which is great. A few years back I had the opportunity to give him a ride in my RV around the north end of Charlotte, over the lake, to Long Island Air Park. If you haven't done it, give a controller a ride. He was very appreciative and even going into TT three years after I gave him that ride he recognized my N-number.
 
Nice video Tony

I could not help but notice a portion of a bible passage on your panel. What does the rest of it read?
Thanks!
 
I could not help but notice a portion of a bible passage on your panel. What does the rest of it read?
Thanks!

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth...And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, And God said, Let there be light: and there was light...And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" Gen 1:1, 2b, 31a

At the Young Eagles banquet this year Sean Tucker said it best. "when you take a person flying, you are "lifting their soul to heaven". That's how feel when I am flying.
 
Wednesday night is the "Lessons Learned" meeting for the Triple Tree staff. If you have any suggestions, comments, or whatever, please email them to me at bill (at) repucci (dot) com and I'll make sure they get in the right hands!
 
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