Our runway repairs, led by Dave Brown, began a week before with several individuals helping make the saw cuts.
Then, on the Thursday the 5th, Dave Brown, Ralph Doyle, Terry Houts and Rich Taylor removed all the asphalt and moved it down by the road to the levee. Dan Hackman will remove the discarded asphalt and use it to fill gullies. Thursday was a big day with compacting the screenings and putting in reinforcing steel wire mesh and setting forms.
Friday the 6th started with the ceiling fan blades being removed, and plenty of help on hand for the pouring of the concrete. The 80-pound bags of concrete mix seemed to be handled with ease by “muscles” Ralph Grant and Dave Crouch feeding them in the Mud Mixer, and then “Easy” Ed Morrison removing the bags and then burning the bags.  This went on all day with some members coming and going, and some even returning later. They worked till about 9:00 that night when all the pours were finished. Dustin Whitrock drove in from Tennessee overnight to assist this effort…and he did it ALL day and night! Steve Pokorny said if we are going to have some members standing around, we must feed them so he left and brought back a variety of Subway sandwiches, Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Lemonade and Iced Tea. He said he did it…because he arrived late…what a guy!  Ralph Doyle mixed up some driveway sealer and sand for Bob Schmidt, Curt McIntyre and Bryan Aubuchon filling the shallow cracks on the East end of the runway.Â
Saturday was cleanup day. We had 6 individuals working. Tried power washing the dirty areas on either side of the repairs…but stopped realizing the concrete hadn’t cured enough. The pavilion was power washed.   All the tools were collected and we helped Dave load ALL the equipment he provided. We had three trucks with trailer hitches which made for one trip to Dave’s home where we unloaded and put all the equipment in its proper locations. Dave was appreciative.
An email was sent out Sunday morning stating the field was open for flying as the concrete had cured sufficiently. When we get a warm day a driveway sealer will be applied over the concrete thus sealing the edges and splining into the existing sealer.
Words are not sufficient for what Dave has done for the club…he’s an open nerve ending and deserves my vote for Spirit’s Member of the Year!
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March Meeting Minutes
Stay tuned to Club happenings by attending the Meeting the 2nd Tuesday monthly. April sees our return to meeting at Bob Gizzie Field.
