Letter to the Editor

Farmington NM Cost Awareness

I’ve been flying to and from Farmington (FMN) from the Phoenix area since 1980 and have watched the slow demise of aviation at many of these grass roots airports. It’s of little wonder to see what is happening to general aviation when you look at what is happening to places like Farmington. On my most recent trip to visit family, I fuel planned so that I would not have to pay the extreme fuel prices at FMN. I planned to add enough auto fuel in my STC’d C182 to make it as far as back as Winslow. Much to my surprise, I was charged $71 to park myself, tiedown, unload and load my own baggage! This price included a ramp fee, tiedown fee, and some kind of security fee. I spoke with the very friendly staff at the Airport Manager’s office to see what other options I had for future visits. They informed me that the city has a number of free tiedowns to the east of the FBO. After you land, just ask the ground controller where the city tiedowns are and they will give you directions. If you are up to a short flight to Animas Airpark on the south edge of Durango, you can get much more reasonably priced fuel. You will see in Jim Timm’s article this month what the Gateway FBO is doing to discourage general aviation activity. What’s one to do?

April’s APA Happy Hour at Harold’s!

by Mary James & Susan Wearly

Our Spring Social at Harold’s Corral in Cave Creek on Thursday, April 28th was loaded with fun, food, and lots of stories! We hosted sixty-eight pilots, spouses, aviation enthusiasts, and honored military people. Guests came from all over the Valley and even from Tucson. It was wonderful to see old friends chatting and new friendships forming. Tables were set with red, white, and blue flowers, toy and wind-up airplanes, flags, and more. APA President, Tommy Thomason, welcomed everyone and helped announce the winners of the Question Board Raffle. Two questions were posed and Question #1 had 6 correct answers. Tommy drew from these 6 and congratulations went out to Tim Greer for correctly answering the question of who founded the Arizona Air National Guard – Barry Goldwater. Tim and his wife Lynell took home a liter and a half of Maker’s Mark Bourbon as their prize. Question #2 had 3 correct answers and kudos to Robin Gerblick for her winning answer to the question of who owns the Gray Ghost – Tommy Thomason. Robin and her husband Jim walked away with a fifth of Glenfiddich Scotch. Way to go, Tim and Robin! The party went on well past our 7 pm ending time! It was a great way to welcome in the Double Circle Ranch Fly-In scheduled for April 29-30.

Organizers Susan Wearly and Mary James wish to thank Tommy and all of the APA staff for allowing them to run with their party planning and for helping. $140 was raised toward our Scholarship Program. We had a great showing of just how impressive the APA is as a volunteer organization.

Watch for news of a Fall social later this summer – this could be habit forming!!

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