| Joe Nall For 2003 | |
| What is the Joe Nall? | |
| The Joe Nall is named after a college friend and flying buddy of Mr. Pat Hartness. Joe was a member of the NTSB who died in Venezuela in a plane crash while flying to investigate another crash. 21 years ago about 12 of Pat's friends held the first meet at Pat's estate in the outskirts of Greenville, SC. For 17 years it was held there until the neighbors complained. When he first started he had few neighbors. The last 4 years it has been held in Woodruff, SC on a many thousand acre farm Pat owns. Pat is a man whose love of people, aviation, and radio controlled aviation is yearly shared with the thousands who attend the Joe Nall and other events he hosts. | |
| Who Can Attend? | |
| Anyone who is a member of the AMA and the IMAA can attend. It costs $30.00 to register and you can bring as many planes as long as they are IMAA legal. At night or after 5:00 PM anything goes and can be flown. From fun-fly's to planes with all sorts of lighting both internal and external. Float planes flew on a 55 acre lake but were confined to 3 frequencies to make things easier on the impound. | |
| What Kinds of Planes Flew there? | |
| There were a great variety of planes this year. From the earliest planes in history to several from World War 1 and 11 including German, Italian, Russian and Japanese war birds. There were scale models galore. There was a 1/3 scale Waco bipe, a huge racer from the thirties, a 12 foot wingspan Lancaster bomber, A 20 foot wingspan B-29 which dropped a scale version of the Bell X-1 which Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier. The pilot of the B-29 then flew it in a very unscale manner when he did flat spins, 4 point rolls inverted passes at 10 feet, and snaps. There were several jet engine powered planes and a racing Lancair that went 237 MPH. WOW!! There were over 500 registered pilots and probably over 1,000 planes. Of course there were hundreds of scale and non scale aerobatic of up to 50% in size. I managed to get in 1 flight on each of the 4 days I was there. Fair warning, It is not that easy to fly with the number of planes in the air at 1 time (up to 8) and with the different types of planes flying and with so many hot dogs hovering above the field. There were only 3 or 4 midair's despite all the confusion. | |
| What Else Went On? | |
| There were air shows by Matt Chapman in his
Cap 231 EX, and by Mike Mancuso in the Klein Tools Extra
300. There was precision formation flying by 4 AT-6's. Chip
Hyde, Quique Somenzini, and Jason Shulman along with Frank Noll Jr. flew
as well. Matt Stek and Frank flew 2 beautiful tandem flying
displays. A barbecue for $20.00 was held Friday night. It is
the best Barbecue ever. All in all even if you don't fly, it is a
great event for people and their planes. Everyone had a great time
and there really is such a thing as gracious Southern Hospitality.
Pat Hartness, Mike Gregory, Kirby Kinney, Carol Kinney, Announcer Bob
Sadler and many others worked extremely hard to make the event smooth,
organized, fun, safe, and a joy to be at. This is my 3rd trip, and
Jack Holmgrens' 2nd. I plan on going again and again as the Joe
Nall is a place for plane lovers of all types to come together and
enjoy flying and each other.
Bernie Liskov |
|