Cats take occupancy of any empty cardboard box as soon as the contents (play toys, catnip, climbing towers) are removed. Children gather in tree houses. Boys hide in their tree forts. The Irish meet in pubs, Americans in bars, Canadians at Tim’s. Soldiers meet their buddies in the mess. Sailors have conversations in the ship’s mess. Veterans gather at the Legion. Christians, Jews and Moslems gather in their churches, synagogues and mosques. (I have no idea where Agnostics buddy up.) Everyone should have a place to socialize. What’s yours?
My favourite place to rub shoulders with aviation folk is the pilots’ clubhouse. I recently spent time at the Hawkesbury Flying Club’s meeting place at the Hawkesbury airstrip. Its grass/snow single runway is only1.775′ in length. In contrast, CYYZ (Lester B. Pearson International) airport has a 11,050′ runway.
Their homey member-built clubhouse is nestled between a long row of modest wooden hangars that shelter their Pipers, Cessnas and a variety of home-builts. Before the more than two-dozen attendees of the end of February fly-in arrived, a wood stove had made the large room cozy. The club’s chef had the coffee perking and the sloppy joe filling simmering. There was no difficulty in finding a way to chill the cans of soft drinks and bottles of water. The room’s many windows offered a view of visiting aircraft landing and taking-off.
Attendees were local and from places such as Ingleside, Bainsville and Ottawa. The age profile reflected the unfortunate decline in recreational aviation. Gray hair and balding heads dominated. It was reassuring to see a ten-year-old present as well as several women.
The buzz of conversation called ‘hangar flying’ included things such as, “Our cross-country to Smiths Falls went well”, “We’re having some trouble doing the wing’s fabric”, “Jacques is looking for a partner on the Stinson he’s thinking of getting his hands on.”
My contribution to the gathering was to add more photos to the ones already posted on the clubhouse walls. Most were taken at previous fly-ins. The guys know that I drop hints such as, “I’m always looking for opportunities to take air-to-airs of any aircraft that will add to my current total of 361 different types I’ve flown in.”
