RC welcomes MAT at completed airport
The Michigan Air Tour staged its ?Sunrise Side Shore? tour Saturday with stops at airports in Bay City, Tawas, Rogers City and Cheboygan before returning to Tawas and eventually Willow Run. Up to 34 planes were scheduled to land in Rogers City beginning Saturday at 10 a.m. A small ceremony was planned with presentation of a proclamation from Gov. Jennifer Granholm and a plaque from the flying group. More than 25 cars crammed into the small parking lot at the airport to view the ?extravaganza? but unfortunately the weather, although appearing like a nice northern Michigan day, was a bit too breezy and cold for good flying conditions.
The worry of too much wind and fear of icing kept all but four very brave pilots and co-pilots from making the trip. Others in the group made the trip in vehicles. The weekend event had terribly windy weather Friday, leaving most not even making the stop at Tawas. ?The weather yesterday prevented many people from flying — it was really windy,? said Mike Woodley of Port Huron, the first pilot in Saturday.
?It wasn?t bad today,? Woodley said. ?The wind was just about straight down the runway, so it was nice. The scenery was beautiful coming up here.? Woodley had left Port Huron Friday to meet up with the tour at Marshall, the beginning point, and made it to Tawas Friday night. ?We?re going to do the northern half of the eastern shore today, then return to Tawas after a stop in Cheboygan,? Woodley added.
THE TOUR would last until Sunday when the group landed at Willow Run Airport and celebrated with a banquet. Linda Langrill of Midland hooked a ride with pilot Ron Shablin of Lapeer. Langrill is a flight instructor in Midland. Shablin flew a four-seater Cessna Skyline that can travel up to 150 m.p.h. ?I joined the tour in Alma, then went on to Tawas,? Shablin said. ?Hopefully we?ll go on to Cheboygan then back to Tawas.?
The group had plans to very carefully check the weather conditions before proceeding to Cheboygan. ?We can handle the wind, but the rain and icing is what we?re worried about,? Shablin said. The forecast was for some rain with snow, and none of the planes have de-icing equipment. A caravan of drivers showed support for the tour by making the journey via vehicles and visiting each airport on the schedule.
Jim Brown of Dearborn and Jerry Jesion of Woodhaven made the trek by plane together. Jesion said of the 40-minute flight from Tawas to Rogers City, ?I keep telling him to miss the potholes on the way…he always hits all the bumps when I?m over there trying to take pictures!? ?I didn?t feel any bumps,? Brown said with a smirk.
BOTH PILOTS said the Rogers City airport was very well laid out with good ramp space and was well-marked. Brown explained the pilots use visual landmarks along with instruments to land in cloud-covered conditions. ?When we were 15 miles south of here we could see the quarry, and that?s marked on our charts,? Brown said. Steve Weaver of Ann Arbor and Dave Schrader of Livonia checked their 1978 Seneca plane oil levels before getting ready to take off for Cheboygan. ?We normally have between 35 and 40 aircraft that participate, but it always depends on the weather,? Weaver said.
?We only had six aircraft that made it to Tawas…the others dropped off or didn?t come at all,? Schrader explained. ?Two of the pilots stayed in Tawas because they said they won?t fly in this kind of weather.? Before leaving Rogers City, the tour group enjoyed Knaebe apple cider and doughnuts. They gathered outside while John Paul St. Peter told everyone present the MAT group liked to show support for all the local airports.
?We try to show communities what an airport can mean to them,? St. Peter said. ?In Rogers City alone, there is a $215,000 economic impact on this community annually.? St. Peter then presented Airport Director Mike Jermeay and Presque Isle County Commissioner Bob Schell with a proclamation from Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
?WHEREAS the aviation industry is vital to Michigan, providing more than 101,000 jobs and $9.4 billion in economic impact statewide, and has a major effect on every sector of our economy…we celebrate 10 years of powered flight,? St. Peter read from the proclamation, which also designated October 3-5th, 2003 as Aviation Week.
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?We also have a plaque we?d like to give you commemorating our trip here to your airport,? St. Peter said as he gave the plaque to Jermeay. Jermeay thanked St. Peter and paid tribute to community and economic development agent Mary Ann Heidemann. ?We?d like to thank Mary Ann Heidemann who acted as the liaison between the county board of commissioners, the airport, and the Bureau of Aeronautics. Mary Ann did all the grant paperwork and she just did a wonderful job,? Jermeay said to applause from the gathered crowd.
With the presentation completed, the pilots decided to continue to Cheboygan and piloted their aircraft down the runway before turning and proceeded to launch into the wind. Gaining airspeed almost immediately, the four planes circled the airport and headed for Cheboygan, with the more than 25 cars of viewers watching until the last plane was out of sight.