What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

RV Fly In at Air Tractor, Inc. (Olney, TX)

+1

I'll be there!...(update scratch that....sick kiddo)

b,
T.O.O.D.R.
 
Last edited:
Kyleag04 said:
It's just not a party unless at least one Doug Reeves is there!

Sorry TODR...
Click to expand...
What if 2 Doug Reeves are there?
todr_flight_web.jpg


Know you folks will be having fun, but we will enjoy celebrating her life. 100 years is a LONG time....

TODR
 
Man, this is killing me.... I want to go Olney this weekend, but nooo, I'm stuck at home recovering from a minor sinus surgery. Waahhhh, it's just not fair!!! (whining complete.)

You guys are gonna take/post lotsa pics, right?
 
I am not going to be able to make it. Painting All day Saturday. Trying to finish before I get busy flying. A friend of mine will though. He has a Starduster 2, and thinking about a RV8.
 
Weather looks good, so make it two more, maybe three. We'll probably skip burgers, but thanks all the same, mainly just want to see the RV's and tour the factory.
 
Brent Colvin said:
I am not going to be able to make it. Painting All day Saturday. Trying to finish before I get busy flying. A friend of mine will though. He has a Starduster 2, and thinking about a RV8.
Click to expand...

Brent,

Too bad you won't make it. Guess you gotta get ready so you can make Bob some money again this year. :D Hope ya'll have a great season!
 
Reminder

Everyone,

Looks like we'll have a pretty day tomorrow for a fly-in. Hope the wind stays down. We're getting everything ready and we are looking forward to meeting everyone.

Just a reminder, if you want to take part in the prop balancing, please bring your tools to remove your own cowling.

We'll do tours of the factory in 10-20 person groups throughout the day, starting at about 11am.

Food will be ready around noon. Nobody is required to bring anything, but we will not turn down any deserts or snacks (especially if Tanya's cookies are as good as everyone says).

Can't wait to meet everyone. See you there.
 
What Kyle said ^^^^^^^

Also, if anybody wants to bring along a side dish (potato salad, fruit salad, chips, etc, etc. etc.) to share with the crowd it would be great. The nice weather is going to give us a HUGE turnout! We're gonna try to make sure we have enough food. If we need to ride to town and get Subway sandwiches, we'll do that too!

See y'all tomorrow!

MDR
 
May stop by late on my way back to 52F from Georgetown and my new grandson! It will be after lunch so don't count me in on the burgers - but I would take a cookie if there are any left!
 
I'm in

I had my RV worked on today, if everything checks out in the morning, I will be there.
 
Three from Wichita

There will be at least three of us flying in from Wichita, KS. Our aircraft will be a Cessna 182 since my RV-8A is still under construction in the garage and Jim Smith's RV-6 is stuck in the hangar on a soggy grass runway from a week of rain here in Wichita.

See you all tomorrow...

Steve
 
"Borrowed Horse"

The "Borrowed Horse" is gased up, full of oil, and ready to FLY to Olney. It has a lot of cat paw prints, and dust. Poor thing has been walked on, sanded around, ignored, and had all sorts of other RVs built around it all winter. It feels like it has been shot at and missed too often!! What a long winter. Whew,,,...!!

Looking forward to this "first" spring-fly-in!!!!!!!!!!
 
http://picasaweb.google.com/jscottcard/OlneyAirTractor#

Here is our picture dump from the event. I can't thank the guys at Air Tractor enough for doing this. I found their production process and product very exciting. Thanks Mike for the superb tour and demonstration. It was thrilling to talk to enthusiastic employees producing airplanes for a specific purpose. I guess I was a little surprised to see just how much we have in common, all the way down to the little details.

What a perfect day.
 
Dang Mike,
I checked out Scott Card's photos, not bad for a local boy. Wish I could have made it, looks like everyone had a great time.
 
What a way to spend a Saturday!

We made it back a few hours ago. We took our time and checked out last week's tornado damage at Hammon, Ok. on the way home. Thanks for the prop balance and tour Mike. You guys did a great job! 35-40 mph tail wind on the way down and 7 on the nose on the way back.
 
Thanks!

I was the last to leave at around 4:30... after the prop balance and running nice and smooth now!

Thanks everyone for the great day!
 
turbo said:
turnout of rvs. looked like nice wx too.
Click to expand...

Yup - it was a veritable SEA of RV's for a "typical weekend fly-out"! I imagine that the draw of the Air Tractors, the lack of nice weather the past few months, and the beautiful weather today contributed to the remarkable turnout. We bucked 30+ knot headwinds on the way up, and we still agreed that it was well worth it! And of course, we had some nice tailwinds and a fast ride home.....

Paul
 
Tanya and I are going to be talking about that for some time to come. We could even be enticed to move out, into a double-wide, after experiencing that business.
 
Last I heard there were more than 50 RVs plus about 10 spamcans in attendance. I overheard one person say, "a few more RVs and it will be LOE." The folks at Air Tractor and the local volunteers handled it well but I bet they never guessed the turnout would be this big. Maybe we can entice Air Tractor and the local volunteers to host this every year. I think everybody had a great time.

Having been involved with ag plane marketing and sales early in my career (Grumman Ag Cats), and more recently with overhauls of PT6A AG engines, I found the tour enlightening. The production facility was clean and well cared for. I was impressed with the quality of the workmanship and the enthusiasm of the employees on hand. Air Tractor is now employee owned. about 200 employees in all. Our tour guide said about 90% of the aircraft and parts are made in-house. They are producing about one ag plane every three days. Leland Snow (founder and Air Tractor designer) is a legend in the ag business and rightfully so.

See the link below for my brief photo album of the event.

http://picasaweb.google.com/pratt.chris401/OlneyTexas31310?pli=1#

Chris
 
THANKS!!

Huge thanks to the guys at Air Tractor!!! I missed the tour (woke up late:() But got to walk around and talk with you guys. Some RV folks even gave me a quick tour. Love the community. I was surprised to find how many Air tractors are exported throughout the world and their many uses. Even a bullet proof (resistant) version!
 
RV's and AT's...

A huge THANK YOU to all of the great folks that came out for the first "RV Fly-In" hosted by Springcreek Aero Club. I believe the final tally was 76 aircraft - Mostly RV's, with a few other types in attendance.

S.A.C. is a flying club for the employees of Air Tractor, and we currently have a Piper Warrior, although one of our members is currently working on his -7 fuse kit... During the cleanup this evening, several other members have expressed an interest in building a "club" RV!

Anyway, here's my first attempt at a picture dump, so I hope it works...

http://picasaweb.google.com/101380070329523636475/SACFlyin31310#

Blue Skies,

JJH
 
And from a pilot's perspective....

As a 20+ year 'Tractor driver, they may not have mentioned that these airplanes are designed with near 40G impact survival!

This last season (2009), I sprayed over 48,000 acres of cotton (blue jeans), soybeans, peanuts, corn, wheat and millet for U.S. consumption, in 300 tach hours.

Burned 13,500 gallons of Jet-A and fly the most pilot-friendly ag-airplane built, paid $12,500 for insurance!! (the low, no-claim rate).

Made in the U.S.A.:D

Best,
 
Air Tractor

Wish I could have made it, but I was flying my AT-802 making a living. Leland makes a great airplane. I have been many times to Olney, but it would have been fun to meet so many RVer's. I will be finished painting in a few more weeks, next year I will fly my 7 to Olney.
 
Yellow

So why are they all yellow? There have been other threads about color vs visibility, so I was wondering.
 
It was a great flight from Kansas! Great tour of the plant and it was nice meeting new acquaintances. Both my father and grandfather flew AT301's , and my dad was pretty impressed at all the new 'stuff' going on. Maybe I can drag grandpa down there next year.

Food was good, and if you can snag a cookie from a lady walking around, they aren't too bad either.
 
Visibility. They are still hard to see. I fly with several others on same field and used to looking for them, you would be surprised how well they blend in with the surroundings.
 
TThurston said:
So why are they all yellow? There have been other threads about color vs visibility, so I was wondering.
Click to expand...

Same reason John Deere tractors are green, Pepto-Bismol is pink, and Coke cans are red with a white swoop........because the marketing people said so!

We all had a really great time yesterday. When we decided to put this "little RV Fly In" together, we had NO IDEA there would be 80 airplanes. In spite of having 4 times the crowd we expected, everything went really smoothly.

Thanks, everyone, for a great time!

Mike R
 
Olney Fly In

Wow!
Thanks to everyone that posted the photo albums! Some really great shots in all those collections. Looking forward to the NEXT annual(?) fly-in at Olney. Everyone up there really did a great job in handling a much-bigger-than-expected turnout. What a great day!
 
Dittos

Reddick is right on! Great photos and fun for all who attended. Great time!!

Mike was our tour guide, good job. Hope you guys have us out again.

Thanks for a fun day
 
This was my first fly-in, what a great time, the RV community is really a great group. Thanks to Spring creek Aero Club for putting this on and to Mike for the enlightening tour.
 
Thank You = RV Grin?

TractorDrafter said:
A huge THANK YOU to all of the great folks that came out for the first "RV Fly-In" hosted by Springcreek Aero Club... S.A.C. is a flying club for the employees of Air Tractor, and we currently have a Piper Warrior, although one of our members is currently working on his -7 fuse kit... During the cleanup this evening, several other members have expressed an interest in building a "club" RV!
Click to expand...

What's the best way to keep that interest alive? Your own personal RV Grin, of course. IF (not assuming anything here, I made it a big IF for a reason) Air Tractor is kind enough to sponsor another gathering for us, it seems that an appropriate way to say thanks would be to offer RV rides to the folks that generously give us their time.
 
TractorDrafter said:
S.A.C. is a flying club for the employees of Air Tractor, and we currently have a Piper Warrior, although one of our members is currently working on his -7 fuse kit... During the cleanup this evening, several other members have expressed an interest in building a "club" RV!
Click to expand...

And with that facility and all those tools handy, you guys would have it done in a month! Maybe two...
 
jbDC9 said:
And with that facility and all those tools handy, you guys would have it done in a month! Maybe two...
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that the tool crib knows EXACTLY how many clecos Air Tractor Inc owns....and keeps track of them....for just such a reason...:rolleyes:
 
tcard said:
What's the best way to keep that interest alive? Your own personal RV Grin, of course. IF (not assuming anything here, I made it a big IF for a reason) Air Tractor is kind enough to sponsor another gathering for us, it seems that an appropriate way to say thanks would be to offer RV rides to the folks that generously give us their time.
Click to expand...

Several of the AT guys are no strangers to the RV grin. The first thing I did after getting my tailwheel endorsement was to go fly with Alex D. in his -6; Kyle's been to OSH and back in a -4 (This might explain the -7 canoe parts in his shop...) Mike spent some vacation time recently flying his dad's freshly built -9 (or is it a -7? I forget...)

However, we do have about a dozen SAC members who have not experienced the 'grin' yet. We'll have to do something about that...:)

JJH
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top