Corvair College #33 Relocated To Grassroots Airport

Builders,

This is an important notice for Builders signed up for Corvair College #33, April 17-19. The event was planned for EAA 534 hangar at Leesburg airport, same location were CC#25 and CC#29 were held. With 19 days to go, the EAA chapter sent me an Email, backing out of the event. While this may sound like an issue, it isn’t because the ownership and management of Mid Florida Airport at Eustis, a privately owned, open to the public airport, immediately welcomed the opportunity to host CC#33. I have met them in person, toured the site in detail, and we have all the arrangements made for the college to move forward smoothly in a very supportive setting.

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Above, Grace’s Caddy sits at the main entrance to Mid Florida Airport at Eustis, Although this airport is just 14 miles from Leesburg, it is a world away in setting. Leesburg is county airport, and has all the excessive security layers, the chain link fence, swipe cards, barbed wire and automatic gates that are required at most airports run on Federal money. Additionally, Leesburg has a tower, and all the required radio protocol  I understand why some airports have to be that way, but for a College, and anything I do in aviation, I much prefer the traditional simple welcoming of a simple grass strip in a friendly setting. This is exactly what our new location, Mid Florida Airport at Eustis, is all about. This late change in location is turning out to be a blessing, where we have found the location and local hosts that best suit the mission of the college: Learning in a friendly comfortable setting.

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Above is a look down the runway at Mid Florida Airport at Eustis.  (For all our northern friends, that green stuff is called grass, and it happens spontaneously when something called sunshine strikes the earth at temperatures where H2O is no longer a solid.) Seriously, this place is a green paradise in comparison to almost any county airport. 18/36 is the turf runway, and it is in excellent condition. The owner and manager gave me a full tour of the airport, and pointed out several hangars we were welcome to use, their shady 6 acre green camping area complete with adjoining lake, and support items like a large dining tent, golf carts, and rest rooms.

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As much as I like the airport setting, the people there were the real attraction, even people just walking by stopped to say hello and introduce themselves. I ended up spending two hours with the airport manager Rex Wyatt, a real old school aviator. The airport owner shares Rex’s extensive background, but Rex is modest and down plays this. But in the course of conversation it is revealed he flew F-84F’s, Helicopters out of Pleiku, has done a lot of teaching, and is still an active corporate pilot of complex jets like Hawkers. He is also a grass roots guy with an extensive collection of US classic light planes, and he is a long time EAA member, flying to every Oshkosh between 1970-83. Rex proudly told me his grandchild was about to start at Embry-Riddle, another generation of aviators from his family.  While to seems that the sole requirement to be an airport manager at most municipal airports is having some sort of business degree and perhaps having flown on an airliner once,  Rex offers the polar opposite, the judgment and knowledge that comes with a lifetime of personal experience in the arena of aviation. CC#33 was the original topic, but I later realized that the whole afternoon was time very well spent. -ww.

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Please remember that Corvair College #33 is an Event that requires pre-registration. The event is planned in detail, and fully catered, and to attend, signing up is required. The link: Corvair College #33 sign up closes Sunday 3/29, 9pm EST.

The Airport ‘s identifier is X-55. It is located just off Route 44 in Eustis, FL 32736 It can be seen on Google maps at this link:

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https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mid+Florida+Air+Service+Airport/@28.844731,-81.6324075,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x88e7a3b74e67a3cb:0x211c8fc6d9e9df7f

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