Thursday, June 29, began at the clubhouse at the Wings of History Museum across the street from South County, where we participated in a flight safety seminar that engaged the members as never before. It was a Seminar-in-a-Box program from the AOPA's Air Safety Foundation, consisting of a series of captioned video recreations showing how pilots can get into trouble, after which we discussed the scenarios among ourselves. It was an excellent case of the deaf teaching the deaf, which made all the difference in audience attentiveness.

A scene from the captioned ASF safety videotape. On the right, in silhouette, is Patrick Seamans, interpreting in French Sign Language.

That afternoon most of us piled into airplanes for a flight to Castle Airport, 52 nm east of South County. The approach into Castle, a former Air Force B-52 base, and its 300-foot-wide, 11,800-foot-long runway boggled the mind of every Midwestern grassroots pilot used to pencil-thin 1,500-foot turf airstrips. So did the huge concrete apron, which swallowed up the few airplanes visiting Castle that day.

Approaching Castle Airport. The 11,800-foot-long runway nearly fills the entire width of this photo.

At the Castle Air Museum nearby, we viewed some 50 restored aircraft from World War II, the Korea and Vietnam eras, the Cold War and Desert Storm. Looking up into the huge bomb bay of a RB-36 was impressive enough, but aficionadoes of rare airplanes especially enjoyed the Army Air Corps B-18 and B-23 bombers from the 1930s.

A Boeing B-52D Stratofortress bomber dwarfs the IDPA visitors at Castle Air Museum.

Later in the afternoon the squadron mounted up and flew to Harris Ranch, 70 nm south-by-southeast from Castle, for dinner at the famous Harris Ranch Restaurant, which raises its own beef within smelling distance of the airstrip.

After a good dinner at Harris Ranch. From left to right: Henri Corderoy du Tiers (pilot of this Cherokee Six/300), Jean Hauser, John Yeh, Jay Kowalczyk, Daniel Abbou, Denise Kowalczyk, Alec Naiman, Philippe Marti, Xavier Hinard, Teddy Clemons, and Alexandre Baker.

As the runway is 2,820 feet long and the temperature was in the 100s, there was a consultation among the pilots about density altitude and weight & balance before takeoff, but everyone lifted into the air without mishap.

On the departure climb from the Harris Ranch airstrip in Pat Rockwell's Cessna 172.

Poor Clyde Smith and Tim Coffman--and their passengers Maralee Hankins-Smith, Eric Debieuvre and Randy Fraser--missed the dinner. The two planes returned from South County from Castle to pick up Becki Coffman and Donna Fraser for dinner at Harris Ranch. While on their way to South County, they saw fog roll in over the coastal range, threatening the Santa Clara Valley where South County is situated, and worried that they might not be able to return to base later in the day. So they stayed home instead of proceeding to Harris Ranch. Everyone agreed that, not knowing the actual visibility patterns in the valley, they did the right thing by being conservative pilots.

The trip back from Harris Ranch awarded the aviators an unusually rich tapestry of flight. The setting sun cast a warm glow on the golden-brown hills that separated the green farms of the Central Valley from the coastal ranges. One could see the marine fog layer rolling in from 50 miles away, and the mist-infused air took on an orange-purplish hue in the setting sun. Since we all took off from Harris Ranch within minutes of each other, several pairs of planes fell into a loose formation, enabling another rare perspective. During the descent, a couple of planes brushed along some of the fingers of fog penetrating the valley, adding to the sensuousness of the coming dusk. South County Airport was already in deep shadow as we entered the pattern, but the winds were straight down Runway 14, and all six planes landed smoothly.

Thursday's flight manifest of 28 people in 8 aircraft: (first name is the pilot) Cherokee Six/300: Henri Corderoy du Tiers, Alexandre Baker, Philippe Marti, Xavier Hinard, Sigmund Loza. Maule: Terry Ridgway (hearing), Mike Tyacke, Patrick Seamans. Cherokee Six/300: Tim Coffman, Randy Fraser (Castle only). Archer: Clyde Smith, Maralee Hankins-Smith, Eric Debieuvre (Castle only). Archer: Alec Naiman, Daniel Abbou, Denise and Jay Kowalczyk. Cherokee 235: Jack and Nora Kelsey, Debra Kelsey-Salo, Damara Long. Cessna 172: Pat Rockwell (hearing), Henry Kisor, Philippe and Brigitte Sazarin. Archer: Mark Stern, Joe Stevens, Teddy Clemons (Harris Ranch only). Some people also drove to Harris Ranch: Jeff and Jerri Willoughby, Jean Hauser, Cathy Roach and Becky Center. John Yeh, Mary Yeh and Ming Yeh drove from Las Vegas.