Longhorn Flight 38
General Membership Meeting
10 June 2010

The Daedalian General Membership Meeting was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in North Austin on Thursday, 10 June 2010. It was a dinner meeting with coat and tie that began at 1830 Hours. The Hotel provided a Cash Bar.

At 1915 Hours, after the cocktail period, Colonel Mike Rhodes, Provost Marshall, requested all members and guests to please be seated. Colonel Dan Waddle called the meeting to order.

The invocation was given by General Williams, and the Flight Captain led the pledge of allegiance. The Flight toasted departed Daedalians and the Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States.

The Flight Captain thanked all members and guests for coming to the meeting, and he called on members to introduce their guest going from table to table. He told us that our Speaker would be introduced later.

A list of guests follows:

GUESTHOST
Marion DefordW. Gregory
Joanne HendrixWill Hendrix
Darrel BurrisN. Stanford
John BraunDon Cook
Jane DayArt Day

Honored Guests were toasted. The Flight Captain requested everyone to be seated and to enjoy their dinner. The entrées for dinner were Prime Rib and Chicken Cordon Bleu. Each entrée was accompanied by roasted new potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and rolls There was a garden salad. The meal was finished with chocolate cake and ice cream.

The Flight Captain temporarily adjourned the meeting for a 10-minute break.

Colonel Dan Waddle reconvened the meeting and called on the Adjutant to read the Minutes of the last meeting. A motion was made to accept the Minutes as written. The motion was seconded and approved by the members.

There were three raffle drawings with the profits going to our Scholarship Fund. Ticket sales were $130.

The Flight Captain introduced the Speaker, Colonel Stu McCurdy.

Our speaker, Stu McCurdy, has led formation flights at the Oshkosh AirVenture Air show that have set two world records. He built and owns a Vans Aircraft RV-8. Vans Aircraft is the most popular kit plane company with over 6000 finished. Stu flies out of the Georgetown airport and his flying team, Falcon Flight, has performed in many states and at Oshkosh for 12 straight years. At Oshkosh each year there are about 800,000 spectators and about 12,000 aircraft. He formed Formation Flying Inc (FFI) and is approved by FAA to evaluate and certify formation flying in Experimental airplanes.

In 2007, he decided to form a 35-ship formation flight to celebrate the 35 year anniversary of Van's Aircraft. The documentation was submitted and approved to be a Guinness World Record as the largest civil close formation. In 2009, the 10th anniversary of the FFI, he set another record with 37-ship close formation performance. The pilots from around the country, all FFI members, rendezvoused at the nearby Whiteside County Airport where they briefed and practiced 4-ship, then 16-ship, and then the 37-ship. On Sunday, they flew to Oshkosh and conducted the 37-ship flyover for the new Main Gate dedication at the Air show.

For the show, the group took off 4-ship line-abreast flights with the next flight releasing breaks when they could see air under the wheels of the preceding flight. After joining into two 16-ship and a 5-ship, they conducted a crisscross entry over Oshkosh, then reformed into the 37-ship formation and made four passes, changing the shape of the formation each pass into Triple Diamond, Arrow, Cluster (a well known formation), and the Large Diamond. The landing was also done 4 ship line abreast.

His Falcon flight also performed during Showcase at Oshkosh in a shape changing routine in an inclined Figure 8 pattern as part of their show conducting: Double V, Arrow, Airplane, Eze, Delta, Cluster, the Bomb Burst up over the top of the crowd, then rejoined in a 180 turn to Double V for a Photo Pass followed by a Pitch Up to downwind to land.


The Flight Captain thanked Stu for his interesting presentation, and he was toasted by the members and guests. A motion was made to adjourn, and the Flight Captain closed the meeting at 2120 Hours.

ATTENDANCE
Members35
Guests  5
Total40

FUTURE MEETINGS

12 AUG 10 ……CROWNE PLAZA DINNER (Thud pilot)
14 OCT 10 …….SAN MARCOS AIRPORT (FLIGHTLINE MEETING)
09 DEC 10 …….ONION CREEK COUNTRY CLUB (CHRISTMAS DANCE)

J R Howard
Lt. Colonel, USAF (Ret)
Adjutant