Despite a relatively light turnout and two days of miserable weather, our eighth annual IDPA-USA fly-in at Lee's Summit, Mo., was another great gathering, with interesting side trips, good food, a very pleasant headquarters hotel, a warmly welcoming airport, and unbeatable companionship. Jeffery Willoughby deserves our cheers and thanks for organizing such a splendid gathering.

The turnout was smaller than usual partly because many European members had decided to go on the International fly-in around Australia in July, and partly because the number of fully paid-up members in IDPA-USA has shrunk over the last couple of years. Still, the core membership--the pilots and their families who tend to turn up at the fly-in every year, wherever it may be--held steady, and many members who live in the Midwest but had not yet been to a fly-in decided to get to this one. So did two newly minted deaf private pilots

Here's a day-by-day rundown on the events:

Saturday, June 16

In dribs and drabs we started gathering at Lee's Summit Municipal Airport. First Jack and Nora Kelsey and their daughters Debra Kelsey and Suzy Long arrived by car, as did Barry and Pat Schwartzmann. They were on hand at the airport at noon to greet the first arriving aircraft, a Cessna 150 carrying Clyde Smith and Maralee Hankins-Smith from Jacksonville, Ill.

Landing close on their heels was Henry Kisor in his Cessna 150, flying from Wilmot, Wis. In the evening Stephen Hopson arrived from the Detroit area in a brand-new Piper Archer III rental.

The Lee's Summit airport terminal, where manager John Ohrazda and his friendly staff were excellent hosts to IDPA and its pilots.

All three pilots remarked on the stiff 40-knot headwinds from the southwest that kept their ground speed to a snail's pace.

Mark Stern was to have arrived that evening from San Martin, Calif., in his Archer, but in late afternoon sent Henry a pager message saying he'd decided to stand down at Gaston's Resort at Lakeview, Ark., on Bull Shoals Lake, to avoid taking chances with a thunderstorm that had popped up at Wichita. The boomer arrived in the Kansas City area by 8 p.m.; Mark's decision clearly was a smart one.

Sunday, June 17

More pilots arrived, mostly by automobile and commercial flight. Becky Center took a Biennial Flight Review, her first flight since 1994, handling her rental C-150 superbly in stiff and gusty winds. (Welcome back to the cockpit, Becky!) Eric Mansfield checked out in a brand new C-172SP and Wayne Kester did the same in an Archer III.

Becky Center in a rented Cessna 152 at the IDPA-USA fly-in at Lee's Summit, Mo., after taking her BFR--her first flight since 1994.

Jean Hauser, Marie and Bonham Cross, and Cathy Roach discuss weighty aviation matters inside the Lee's Summit airport terminal while waiting for IDPA members to arrive from far and near on Sunday, June 17.

Mark Stern came in at about midday, reporting that he'd been in touch via pager with Alec Naiman and 12-year-old Jay Kowalczyk, who were flying a Cessna 172 from Lincoln Park. N.J. (Denise Kowalczyk, Jay's mother, drove her car out from Maryland.) Because of bad weather, Alec and Jay had to delay their departure until late Sunday and put down for the night in western Pennsylvania.

Mark Stern arrives in his Archer Sunday, June 17, after overnighting at Lakeview, Ark., to avoid thunderstorms near Wichita, Kan.

That evening the IDPA-USA board gathered in the EAA hangar at Lee's Summit Municipal. First the officers presented their reports, followed by Denise and Eric, who briefly outlined plans for the 2002 fly-in at Frederick, Md. Becky did the same for the 2003 fly-in at Dayton, Ohio.

Jack Kelsey and Clyde Smith discussed turning IDPA-USA into a charitable/educational group in order to obtain a tax exemption and benefit from a greater number of corporate and personal donations. In order to do this, they said, we probably would have to lose the "International" in the name of the organization and become a wholly American-based group. After a spirited discussion the board decided to put the matter to the membership meeting later in the week.

Stephen Hopson, Mark Stern, and Joe Stevens look over the newly overhauled Lycoming engine in Mark's Piper Archer on Sunday evening, June 17.

Monday, June 18

In the morning we left en masse by auto caravan for the Garmin International factory at Olathe, Kan. There, over a span of two hours and assisted by sign language interpreters, Garmin executives showed us how their GPS products for aviation were made on the assembly line.

     
Our visit to Garmin International in Olathe, Kan., on Monday June 18, was marked by a friendly and helpful tour of the factory with Jim Brown, left, and an introduction to various Garmin models by Dave Brown, right, shown holding a GPS 295 with color display.

We also were introduced to the panel-mounted GNS 430 GPS unit, with revised software to support datalink (we saw the data cards being made on the assembly line). This datalink software will provide real-time enroute weather reports--text-based METARs and TAFs as well as Nexrad graphics weather charts--to pilots via digital communications. (It won't be long until advances in digital communications enable us to talk with air traffic control via keyboard and text display, perhaps allowing us to obtain instrument ratings.)

Late that afternoon Alec Naiman and Jay Kowalczyk finally touched down after ten hours in the air from Pennsylvania. Mommy Denise and doggy Rambo were very happy.

Rambo, the Kowalczyk's Jack Russell terrier, greets his master Jay and pilot Alec Naiman Monday evening after their flight from Lincoln Park, N.J.

After an evening of bonding over pizza in the EAA hangar, a few pilots went up for local sightseeing in briskly windy conditions (22G35 right down the runway). Joe Stevens took up his family for a couple of hops in Clyde Smith's C-150. Stephen Hopson gave a ride in his Archer to Mark Stern, who gave the newly minted pilot some tips on engine leaning.

     
After refueling himself at the pizza party Monday evening, Bill Pundmann (left, and with Stephen Hobson, right) departed Lee's Summit for St. Charles, Mo., in his Bonanza F33A. Later in the week, Bill would return in a ground search for a school bus.

Tuesday, June 19

Bad weather settled in for the day, forcing us to alter our plans: a flight to Atchison, Kan., and the Amelia Earhart Museum, thence flying to Lawrence, Kan., and a picnic barbecue laid on by Roger Watson of Big Blue Bar-B-Q.

Swiftly Jeff Willoughby segued into Plan B: in the morning anyone who wanted could visit a local steamboat museum, and instead of our going to the barbecue, Roger brought the buffet-style barbecue to us in the EAA hangar. Needless to say, it was delicious and helped make up for the gloomy weather

We couldn't go to to Roger, so Roger came to us: Roger Watson (left) of Big Blue Bar-B-Q brought a delicious barbecue lunch from Lawrence, Kan., to Lee's Summit the rainy afternoon of Tuesday, June 19.

We spent the rest of the day hangar flying at the airport FBO and the Hampton Inn, hoping against hope that Wednesday would bring better weather.

Christine Stevens, Jay Kowalczyk, Eric Mansfield, Nora Kelsey, Rita Cooper, and Jessica Willoughby whiled away much of the rainy day Tuesday, June 19, playing dominos in the Hampton Inn lobby.