Post-Pandemic Pancakes
Perhaps second only to hyperbolic "there I was" stories and debates over which type of aircraft wing placement is superior (low, obviously), fly-in pancake breakfasts are deeply ingrained in general aviation pilot culture. During the 2020-2021 flying seasons, fly-in breakfasts were among the many social casualties of Covid 19. Despite the return of these time honored events, my subjective sense is that pilot participation is not what it used to be. This was certainly the case when Jamie and I ventured to one of my favorite recurring events, the Labor Day fly-in pancake breakfast at the private airport Re-Dun Field (17NK) in Reading Center, NY.
Under a Vivid Sky
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 02 Sep 2024 | N21481 | SDC (Sodus, NY) - 17NK (Reading Center, NY) - SDC | 1.4 | 2909.1 |
Despite some sporty surface wind, the air was smooth at 2,500 feet as Jamie and I cruised southbound along the western shore of Seneca Lake toward toward Re-Dun Field, a private airport no longer charted in my GPS database. This made it a perfect destination to exercise some classic VFR pilotage skills. Ed flew a few minutes behind us in his Archer.
I have no idea what Jamie said while I was taking this photo, but it must have been pretty funny!
As we continued southbound, terrain surrounding the Finger Lakes rose until our cruise altitude nearly merged with Re-Dun Field's traffic pattern altitude. This greatly simplified descent planning.
Closer to the south end of Seneca Lake, the moody clouds finally broke. To our surprise, the ubiquitous calls from airplanes inbound to a popular fly-in breakfast were absent, causing me to double check that I set the correct frequency. Re-Dun has a primary 20 foot wide paved runway 17-35 (though FAA sources still indicate it to be grass 60' wide) and a grass crosswind runway that is typically completely lined with parked fly-in airplanes. As we approached the airport, I counted only three airplanes parked on the crosswind runway. Knowing that I had the correct advisory frequency tuned in, I began to wonder if we had the wrong day. Then I saw all the cars parked at the airport and knew that the event must be happening.
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| N21481 and N4344P at Re-Dun. |
Jamie and I landed first with Ed just a few minutes behind us. I had never parked so close to the airport buildings at this fly-in before and we did not make a crack of dawn arrival.
Paging Mr. Goldberg...
Re-Dun's claim to fame is the Awe-Ja-Magic automatic pancake machine created by the late local inventor Clarence Sebring. Batter is metered onto the inner portion of the rotating griddle, allowed to cook, then flipped to the outer diameter of the griddle to cook the other side. It is an exercise in time and temperature resulting in perfect, repeatable, golden brown deliciousness. Of course, the mechanism requires babysitting and is not as efficient as a single, spatula-wielding cook working a large rectangular griddle. Most of the pancakes produced at Re-Dun are made conventionally rather than on the Awe-Ja-Magic. It was my third visit to Re-Dun, but my first time getting pancakes from the Awe-Ja-Magic.
Airplane Browsing
With only a puzzling handful of fly-ins -- perhaps due to a gusty wind -- we were left with only a few aircraft to peruse after breakfast.
I was impressed by the paint job on this homebuilt Van's RV-7A. (The "A" suffix denotes a tricycle gear version.)
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| N21481 and N4344P at Re-Dun. |
The new owner of this vintage Aeronca Champ described for us the trials of his journey home after picking it up in the south two days earlier.
I had never encountered an Aeronca Sedan (15AC) before, a beefier four seat version of the Champ. This 1956 version was for sale.
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| A 1951 Cessna 170A arrived just before we departed. |
Sidewalk Departure
Operating from a narrow runway increases the stakes during take off in a gusty crosswind, but I doggedly maintained centerline until the Warrior broke ground, the nose crisply snapping into the wind to maintain a 20° crab on climbout.
Fields on the way home were already transforming into their harvest colors as we followed Ed's plane back to the Williamson Sodus Airport. While I was disappointed by the size of the fly-in crowd, it is always a treat to land at Re-Dun, to fly with my good friend Jamie, to watch the wacky pancake machine born from a steampunk vision of tomorrow's kitchen, and to fly through clear air on a crisply beautiful day.
