Pancakes for Independence!

Tradition!

The Penn Yan Flying Club has been hosting a pancake breakfast on July 4 for over 60 years. Founded in 1940, the organization predates the Williamson Flying Club by over a decade and a half. Penn Yan's Independence Day fly-in / drive-in pancake breakfast is a big tradition in the heart of the Finger Lakes, often serving 2,500+ breakfasts on the morning of the event. Happily, the breakfast returned for 2022 after a pandemic hiatus and several WFC pilots decided to go.

To minimize conflicts with air traffic and -- perhaps most importantly -- the amount of time spent waiting in line for pancakes, we launched at 7:00 am.

Trust

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
04 Jul 2022	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - PEO (Penn Yan, NY) - SDC	1.2	2474.0

Mike S and Caileigh flew with me that morning. Mike and I have been friends for several years and, though I have flown with him in his Champ a couple of times, it was his first time flying with me. As Mike is one of the mechanics that helps take care of Warrior 481, I thought it was a good sign that he was not only willing to fly with me, but to have his fiancé join us. En route, I learned from Caileigh that I was the first pilot she had flown with besides Mike. I was honored.

Warrior 481 on the ground at Penn Yan.

The air was cool and calm when we departed. It was the kind of morning where the airplane is content to fly hands-off without any atmospheric perturbations to distract it from holding the course. On arrival, we were the third to enter the pattern and first of a line of five WFC aircraft bound for Penn Yan.

Taildraggers parked in the grass at Penn Yen.

Insert Eyeroll Here

I followed a Comanche and a Skyhawk into the pattern. With multiple aircraft either in the pattern or inbound all actively indicating intentions for runway 28, we heard the inevitable broadcast from a Cirrus: ten miles north, landing runway 19. Typical. Unfortunately, those helming their Cirri continue to reinforce these negative "me first!" stereotypes out in the wild. Even Brad, who flies a Cirrus SR-20, will agree that Cirrus pilots are the worst.

This is why pilots should listen before they speak. To his credit, the Cirrus pilot changed his plan to follow the established pattern before anyone chided him over the radio.

Tom and Alicia (in Two Six Romeo), Ed (in Four Four Papa), Brad (in Cirrus Two Mike Sierra), and Mike B (in Eight Seven Whiskey) landed behind me and we reconvened as a group before entering the breakfast line.

Mike B's borrowed steed, Eight Seven Whiskey, and Brad's Cirrus.

The Comanche, Skyhawk, Warrior 481, Two Six Romeo, and Four Four Papa.

Arrival order for early arrivals was explicitly cataloged in the parking area.

Breakfast

Unlike my previous visit, the air remained cool and we arrived early enough that we only waited in line for about 15 minutes. I talked to another WFC pilot who arrived later that morning and waited an hour before giving up and flying away without breakfast. I heard some grumbling when I pitched an 7:00 am departure, but that anecdote convinced the others that the early start was worth it.

Even with an early arrival, the dining hangar was quite full of people. We were surprised to encounter former WFC member Dean cooking breakfast for the Penn Yan Flying Club, but it was great to see him. My breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and eggs really hit the spot. I simply have not had opportunity to attend many pancake breakfasts in the last few years and it was a lot of fun to attend this kind of event again.

Caileigh, Alicia, Tom, me, Blayne, Ed, Marcus, Brad, and Mike B. We lost Mike S at
some point, but found him before departure. Photo by WFC instructor Brad S.

A glider visiting from Harris Hill was all decked-out for Independence Day!

I have seen this Stearman at the Penn Yan airport every time I have visited. I do not know who owns her, but she is a beauty.

Where's Paul Winfield?

A pair of Stinson Reliants caught our attention. The tan aircraft is based at Penn Yan and I have seen it at other fly-ins before, but I was not familiar with red and white one.

This particular Stinson Reliant was built in 1939.

Along with the Cessna 195, the Reliant is a beautiful example of 1930s art deco style translated to aircraft.

Wandering

An obligatory part of every fly-in, especially a big one like Penn Yan's, is wandering the parking area to see what's there.

It vaguely looks like the Cessna 150 I earned my certificate in, but this "Texas Taildragger" is a wildly mutated critter.

A nice looking Piper Super Cub.

Because it lives in the hangar across the aisle from my previous hangar, I know Jim's amphibious Taylorcraft well. He described taxiing to parking on the grass that morning as being akin to driving a shopping cart. Jim has regularly flown this airplane as far north as Labrador. 

Exodus

At some point, we collectively determined that it was time to go. Caileigh, Mike S, Brad, Tom, Alicia and I set off for our aircraft.

Brad heading back to his Cirrus.

A Cirrus on grass! Now I've seen everything.

Ray performed the much needed task of shooing non-flyers away from our aircraft as we cranked and taxied out in a line. Arrivals were still landing on runway 28, but everyone was departing on runway 19. Mike, Caileigh, and I departed right behind Denny in his Comanche and followed him back to Sodus.

That was fun! I am looking forward to doing more of these in 2022! Who's in?