It's agreed: Our 7th annual fly-in was just the best ever

by Henry Kisor, IDPA Newsletter Editor (with contributions from Mark Stern)

It was the grandest IDPA Fly-In ever, the one Mark Stern organized at South County Airport in San Martin, California, last June 27 through July 1, 2000 and it will be a hard-to-equal benchmark for fly-ins to come. The planning was nearly perfect. Only the weather, as one might expect, caused trouble, and not much of that. Mark had a first-rate Plan B ready for any eventuality. Best of all, the sole unexpected occurrence (more about that later) set a serendipitously happy tone for the week.

The fly-in began unofficially on Sunday, June 25, the morning after eight IDPA-Europe members arrived in Morgan Hill, site of our motel headquarters, after spending all day Saturday sightseeing in San Francisco. They went immediately to the airport to commit a little aviation. The Parisian Henri Corduroy du Tiers easily checked out in the six-seater Piper Cherokee Six/300 he'd use to ferry the French contingent from place to place during the fly-in, and four others took lessons from the instructors at Two Genes Aviation, South County's FBO.

"It was the first lesson ever for two of the Europeans," Mark reported. "I have never seen such deliriously happy people. You should have seen the wondrous smile on Xavier Hinard when he climbed out of the Tomahawk after his first flight in the captain's seat. After one circuit, Eric Debieuvre was champing at the bit and scheduled five more lessons for the week." For most of the instructors, Mark added, it was also their first experience teaching deaf people, not to mention French-speaking ones, "but they were all creative in use of non-verbal communication techniques, and it all came together quite well."

Meanwhile, Mark loaded Daniel Abbou and Brigitte and Philippe Sazarin into his Archer for a trip to Monterey Bay. It was their first flight in a private plane commanded by a deaf American pilot. "They were in awe, and their expressions of wonder reminded me why I so love to fly," Mark said.

At 2 p.m. Mark suggested a hop to Zuniga's Restaurant at Watsonville on the coast for lunch. "When Henri translated my proposal to the others, they asked, 'Really? We can go now? Are you serious?' as if it was not within the realm of possibility that a deaf American aircraft owner can just get in and go without a second thought," Mark said. "It was unbelievable to them after coping with the much more restrictive environment in France." "Yup, you bet! Let's go!" Mark urged. And off they went, Mark flying the Archer and Henri the Cherokee Six.

On the way back to South County, the Archer and the Cherokee Six merged into formation as they crossed the Santa Cruz Mountains. Daniel Abbou, who is a television personality in France, was riding in the Archer's right seat and used a video camera to capture the Cherokee Six about 250 feet behind Mark's plane and slightly off the right wingtip.

Back at the motel that evening, IDPA kingpins Clyde Smith and Jack Kelsey had arrived, and everyone commented on the progress--monitored by two-way pager--of Alec Naiman and Sigmund Loza, who had rented an Archer in New Jersey on June 23 and were flying it across the country. They spent the first night in London, Kentucky, and the second in Big Springs, Texas. They hoped to reach South County Sunday night, but as nightfall approached, did the right thing and decided to land in Bakersfield, Calif., instead, choosing to reach their goal Monday morning.

Rise and shine with coffee! From left to right: Denise Kowalczyk, Daniel Abbou, Henri Corderoy du Tiers, and Dennis Whitley.

At 10 a.m. Monday, June 26, Alec and Loza arrived at South County, completing their 28-hour transcontinental flight (over only 31/4 days). A good-sized welcoming committee gathered on the porch of the FBO trailer to greet them.

Daniel Abbou congratulates Alec Naiman on the successful, safe completion of his cross-continental flight.

That same morning, several of the Europeans had their second flight lessons, and some of the Americans spent the day in San Francisco sightseeing.

Henri took five of his compatriots in the Cherokee Six/300 to explore Columbia Historic State Park, 80 nm east in the Sierra foothills. This park brought the visitors back in time to the old days of the California Gold Rush. They also flew by the Golden Gate Bridge on their way back. Excited reports upon their return indicated that all had a wonderful time.

In the late afternoon Monday, Mark's hangar became a social hangout, what with people seeking relief from the afternoon heat in the aluminum shade and the cold drinks stocked in the hangar refrigerator. At the peak of this gathering, Henri's plane had returned from Columbia, and taxied up to Mark's hangar for a look. After idling for a few minutes, he decided to taxi back to the plane's usual tie-down spot on the flight line. Unknown to Henri, the powerful propwash of the 300-horsepower engine blew an enormous amount of gravel and dust into Mark's wide-open hangar, driving everyone else to shelter in the corners. As a profusely apologetic Henri teased later, "That's one way of saying 'Hello!' " We took Mark's plane out of the hangar, and the combined efforts of 15 people restored the hangar to its sparkling-clean condition after only 10 minutes. About two pounds of the collected fine gravel were saved in a Ziploc bag as a memento for Henri.

As IDPA members arrived from far and wide at the motel on Tuesday, June 27, each was given a beautifully designed 22-page fly-in program that outlined, in considerable and unmistakable detail, with clear, easy-to-follow maps, each of the events that would be held during the week as well as a list of area restaurants and attractions. This was a particularly effective addition and helped inform everyone where to go and when.

"Deaf Power?" A decal on Kent Power's Cessna 210.

Tuesday afternoon, a contingent of 35 IDPAers drove to the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, 35 miles north of South County. There they viewed a one-third-scale model of the Space Shuttle, a human centrifuge, a U-2 spy plane, a vertical motion simulator, and an 80-foot by 200-foot wind tunnel, the largest of its kind in the world.

Don (center) explains the largest wind tunnel in the world (background), as Sherry Thannisch (right) interprets in American Sign Language. Patrick Seamans (left) stands ready to interpret in French Sign Language.

On Tuesday night the fly-in began officially as everyone crowded into Mark's hangar for a welcome party. The pop flowed freely and the pizza disappeared quickly as IDPA members renewed friendships and Kent and Morna Power pitched the 2001 international fly-in in Australia with colorful maps and photographs taped to the walls of the hangar.

Inside Mark's hangar. From left to right: U.S.A., France, and Australia (maps on far right).
(The plane was taken out of the hangar for the party.)

Just before the party, quite out of the blue, Tom Lambrick, a retired United captain who keeps his modified World War II Stearman primary trainer in the hangar next door to Mark's, offered a free ride in the colorful biplane to one lucky deaf pilot during the picnic on Saturday.

Quickly Mark arranged a lottery held at the end of the party. The initial winner was Joe Stevens, who said he'd flown the Stearman many times, so returned his prize to the lottery. Teddy Clemons, the second winner, magnanimously bestowed his prize on the youngest member of IDPA-11-year-old Jay Kowalczyk from Maryland, who had come to the fly-in with his mother, Denise. The broad grin on Jay's face as he hugged Teddy sparked a wonderfully sentimental moment that spread a feeling of warmth throughout the group.