Redone Airport, Fresh Pancakes

Tradition!

Fly-in pancake breakfasts are deeply woven into the cultural fabric of grass roots aviation. Some are better than others, but all help to gather the aviation community together. Involvement of an automatic pancake making machine at a private airport with a 20 foot wide runway simply makes the whole pancake breakfast experience even more interesting.

Sidewalk

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
29 May 2023	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - 17NK (Reading Center, NY) - SDC	1.4	2650.2

It was my first visit to Re-Dun Airport (17NK) since 2019. The Bear was supposed to be flying right seat, but backed out late the previous night. I was solo. I was also faster than most of the Williamson Flying Club contingent flying tube and rag taildraggers.

Under a clear sky, I proceeded through calm air at a meager 2500 feet to my destination. This was unusually low for me and, with increasing distance from Lake Ontario, the terrain rose until I was a mere 1100 feet above it.

The short flight took me due south into the Finger Lakes with Seneca Lake dazzlingly lit by early morning sun off my port wing.

The airport was not in my GPS database, but I found it easily enough. I entered the pattern behind a pair of other aircraft and lined up on the 20 foot wide paved runway 17 for landing. The narrow pavement played some havoc with gauging height above the ground and my wheels made contact just a moment earlier in the flare than I expected them to.

I taxied to parking along the east-west grass runway.

As soon as my ship was out of the way (note my tire marks in the grass), a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser with bush wheels launched from the short runway.

The Super Cruiser was almost immediately followed by a Piper Super Cub (PA-18).

Warrior 481 parked along the grass runway at Re-Dun.

I may have arrived early for the WFC crowd, but no one beats Denny to breakfast. He and his immaculate Champ were waiting for me at Re-Dun.

I do not see many Luscombe examples in these parts and was pleased to find one at Re-Dun. 

As I walked toward breakfast, I stopped to help a couple of recent arrivals push their aircraft back into parking spaces on the lumpy turf surface.

Powerhouse

I paid for my breakfast and, eventually, the line advanced me to where inventor Clarence Sebring's Awe-Ja-Magic automated pancake maker operated. As I watched it work, the only thing lacking was Raymond Scott's Powerhouse theme playing in the background. (The most recognizable bit starts at the 1 minute mark in the linked video and will be familiar to Looney Tunes aficionados and fans of Rush's "La Villa Stangiato".)

This mechanized marvel is designed around a rotating circular griddle that controls pancake cooking time. Batter is metered onto the interior diameter of the griddle. Before each nascent pancake makes a full rotation, it is flipped to the outer diameter where it finishes cooking to perfection. Cooked pancakes are automatically scooped from the machine and distributed to plates via a chute. Unlike my previous visit, I actually received pancakes cooked by the Awe-Ja-Magic.

I ate breakfast with Denny who explained that the entire airport had been moved from a different location. I had always assumed that the "Re-Dun" name came from the airport's location between Reading Center and Dundee, NY. But Denny clarified that the name came from the fact that the airport was literally "redone". Honestly, I suspect that the name reflects a combination of both notions for maximum cleverness. But that's just me.

Gawking at Airplanes

As Denny and I finished our breakfasts, we spotted the rest of the WFC contingent waiting in line. After bantering with them for a time and satisfying our need to engage with the aviation community, we moved on to that other time honored tradition of pancake breakfasts: gawking at airplanes. Unusual airports like Re-Dun tend to attract more interesting aircraft than run of the mill Cessna and Piper Spam Can trikes like mine.

Ray's helicopter.

Looking eastward down the full length of the grass runway.

We Are the CHAMPions

A few aircraft east of mine, I found the rest of the Sodus contingent parked in a line starting with Chris B's Murphy Rebel.

Next was Lee S's Piper Colt.

Colt and Rebel.

The row ended with Alan V's Aeronca Champ.

Between Mike S, Alan V, and Denny, there is quite a Champ presence on our home field.

Back in Our Element

The Warrior is ungainly on the ground. She waddles. Especially on lumpy grass surfaces. But after a rapid back taxi of runway 17, we were back in the air where my airplane is at her most graceful.

The route home was northbound along the west shore of Seneca Lake.

Re-Dun Airport (17NK).

Overflying well above traffic pattern altitude, I caught a few aerial photos of Re-Dun (and even an aircraft on downwind for runway 17).

First in breakfast, first in fuel. In addition to beating me to Re-Dun, Denny also beat me back to Sodus.

Denny's beautiful Champ at the Sodus fuel farm.

All in all, it was a great day for fellowship, taildraggers, Rube Goldberg pancakes, and landing on the centerline!