Thanks to all of you that came out to participate in the March Grapevine camping weekend. Despite some weather challenges, we had a great turnout. A special thanks to George Luscombe Driver for a fantastic job showing Maverick – Top Gun after dinner. Everyone had a great time. Our next Camping Weekend will be April 19 – 21 and will be the last for this season. Come out to see us – we look forward to seeing you there!
Unfortunately, I do have report that we are starting to see some vandalism at Grapevine. This includes trash, broken locks on our storage containers, and bullet holes in the runway information signs. To say this is frustrating is a gross understatement. A lot of organizations including the APA, RAF, and the US Forest service have put a lot of sweat equity into bringing Grapevine back to life and making it available to the general aviation community. If you are planning to fly into Grapevine, or any of the airstrips that the APA maintains, please take a few minutes to review the Safety Brochure located under “Pilot Info” on our website. Remember to practice “leave no trace,” fly out what you fly in, and be courteous to those that will use the strip after you leave. If you see something that needs attention or that we should know about, please reach out to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. All our backcountry airstrips are treasures, let’s not risk losing access to them.
Our annual membership meeting is scheduled for Saturday, May 11th, so please mark your calendars and save the date. The meeting will be held at Highlands Church, 9050 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, near KSDL. We have a full agenda lined up and we’ll have some great door prizes as well. Randy Brooks, Executive VP of Flight Operations for Aviation Performance Solutions, is our guest speaker and will share his experience as an Advanced Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) instructor. We’ll be getting the meeting specifics out to you beforehand, and we look forward to seeing you there!
Fly Safe!
Chris