GA hospitality (that's both General Aviation and Georgia!)
Posted: Fri May 06, 2016 3:51 pm
Flying from Gainesville FL toward PA yesterday, I happened to make an unplanned stop in Reidsville GA, due to high winds and turbulence. The terminal building was abandoned, and closed - but there was a numeric cipher lock on the door. I punched in the CTAF frequency, and the door opened. Inside, I spied a collection of first solo shirt-tails hung out for all to see. Having nothing better to do while waiting for the winds to abate, I started reading the shirts - and recognized the name of Parker, a member of this community, who had soloed a PiperSport there four years or so ago.
It happens that I had Parker's phone number in my smartphone, since I had done a prebuy examination for him on an Evektor he ultimately bought. Bear in mind that I hadn't known he lived in this small town, and had no idea if his plane was based here - but I rang him up anyway. He drove out to the airport to meet me, we chatted a while, and as the winds picked up he offered me a hangar and helped me put the plane away for the night. We admired each other's airplanes (his was just a couple of hangars down the row from where he parked me). He then lent me a car. As the weather wasn't improving, I accepted his kind offer, found myself a motel room, and later that evening we had a pleasant dinner together. (It being Cinco de Mayo, we opted for Mexican.)
This morning, I left his car and key in the designated location, and flew North. (Wx is still crappy - I only made it as far as Fayetville NC.)
Isn't GA hospitality amazing? (Both General Aviation and Georgia!)
It happens that I had Parker's phone number in my smartphone, since I had done a prebuy examination for him on an Evektor he ultimately bought. Bear in mind that I hadn't known he lived in this small town, and had no idea if his plane was based here - but I rang him up anyway. He drove out to the airport to meet me, we chatted a while, and as the winds picked up he offered me a hangar and helped me put the plane away for the night. We admired each other's airplanes (his was just a couple of hangars down the row from where he parked me). He then lent me a car. As the weather wasn't improving, I accepted his kind offer, found myself a motel room, and later that evening we had a pleasant dinner together. (It being Cinco de Mayo, we opted for Mexican.)
This morning, I left his car and key in the designated location, and flew North. (Wx is still crappy - I only made it as far as Fayetville NC.)
Isn't GA hospitality amazing? (Both General Aviation and Georgia!)