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Touring Motor Gliders Association (TMGA)

TMGA Fly-In - East - Melbourne, Fla


Richard Pearl

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The East Coast Fly-In is shaping up and the attendance sheet is starting to be populated. This fly-in is for all you Easterners who looked at the Rockies and the Sierra for the trek West and said: maybe not!

We’ve got a great fly-in planned for our event home base – Melbourne, Florida (MLB). Sun, Sea, great flying, and great camaraderie…it doesn’t get any better.  The official dates are Thursday April 7 thru Sunday April 10. Our experience with the West Coast events is that many pilots arrive a day early.

We’re working to get our event hotel to be on the beach.  As usual, everyone makes their own reservation so staying elsewhere is always a personal option. The travel time from the beach to MLD is only 15 minutes. More on this to follow.

Here’s the basic itinerary:

Thursday – arrival. Lunch and dinner on your own. There is a huge number of restaurants in the area. We’ll be coming up with suggestions.

Friday – AM briefing on the day either at the hotel or the airport. Dinner will be arranged at a Melbourne-area restaurant.  Activity options:

o   Fly-out Option:   Sun-N-Fun expo, which is only 45 minutes away by air. Airport options are landing at the expo airport (somewhat complicated) or a nearby airport and shuttling to the Expo.

o   Non-Flying Options:  Ground tour of the Cape Canaveral Space Center or Drive to Sun-N-Fun.

Saturday – AM briefing. Saturday night is our Fly-In dinner.  Activity options:

o   Fly-Out Option:  Fly the approach to the landing runway at the Space Center. 200 feet off the deck. WOW! Lunch at an airport within reasonable striking distance of MLB.

o   Non-Flying Option: Airboat ride in the Florida wetlands. The departure point is only 30 minutes from MLB.

Sunday – AM briefing. Departure for home.

To sign up go to our new website (www.motorgliders.org) and Navigate to ‘Events’ > ‘2016 Melbourne Sign-Up’. Remember, the sign-up spread sheet column for Attending has menu options for Yes, Probable, Maybe, Unlikely, and No.  If your goal is to come, please hit the Yes. We understand about weather and mechanical issue cropping up at the last minute. If you’re thinking “possibly”, then hit either the Probable or Maybe buttons, depending on how strong your feeling is.  

Best Regards,

 

Richard Pearl

Chair, TMGA

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 3 weeks later...

Definitely bring your Vivat. The last one I saw was located at Spruce Creek. Sold in 2015. I've got 700 hours in the back seat of the L-13...now departed as a viable aircraft   :-(   

I haven't seen your entry in the Event spreadsheet. Please do so ASAP.

We're planning on an in-trail formation flight down the runway at the Space Center, and perhaps to Sun N Fun.

 

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East coast Fly-In Participants,

We’re now just short of one month away from the event, April 7- 10, 2016, so it’s time to clarify your intentions. Remember, if your intention is to come, please record it as a yes. We understand last-minute mechanical issues and weather restrictions, but now is when we need to start getting some hard attendance data.

1.    We made arrangements with the Melbourne Hilton Rialto Place for $109.00 per night, plus tax. Call reservations at 800-445-8667 and reference TMGA as the booking code or use this link: http://bit.ly/1puzFLE to book directly. The hotel is very close to the Melbourne Airport and about 15 minutes from the beach. They have a shuttle bus but we’ll be having some internal vehicles for our own shuttling. See below for personal car rental services.  IMPORTANT: you should book the Hilton right away. We have a block lock only through 3/15. If you think there is a chance you can come, book now.  You may cancel up to 24 hours before arrival with no charge. Telephone/email NOW!

Also, if you haven’t signed up yet, please enter your data into the website sign-up spreadsheet (Events > 2016 Melbourne fly-in) ASAP, and then make your hotel reservations.

2.    We’ll be setting up some fun dinners at restaurants for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but they won’t be of the closed-group type we’ve had at other fly-ins. Knowing the number of participants coming to Melbourne, and when, will help us with the reservations. Dinner payments will be the responsibility of each participant. Specifics to come.

3.    Flying in to Melbourne (MLB). Tell Melbourne Tower "Parking Atlantic Jet Center" on initial call to the tower.  Atlantic Jet center has tie downs for $8/night waived with a fuel purchase.  Jim Lee, Phoenix dealer and our “boots on the ground” in Melbourne, has some hangar space reserved for $20/night for those who want this option. Contact Jim directly on this:  jimlee@phoenixairusa.com

4.    If you want to reserve your own car for personal transportation, there are numerous options at Melbourne Airport. I checked via the website “Kayak” and rates for the period April 7 - 10 are the the $90 to $120 range for the period; numerous major rental firms.

5.    Registration fee for the fly-in is $25 for the aircraft and pilot, plus $10 for co-pilot or each non-flying participant. Since we’re not setting up for pre-paid dinners or activities, I’ll just collect the fee at the fly-in via our Square.  

6.    Fly-out activities - At this time we’re still planning on doing the Space Center fly-by and the Sun N Fun excursion. Jim Lee will be setting this up but he’s at a soaring contest now and we’ll get more intel out shortly.

7.    Non-flying Activities - There’s plenty to do in the Melbourne area: land tour of the Space Center, Disney World and other “destination locations”, and of course the beach. If anyone wants to do these activities, drop me a personal note and I’ll work on some coordination.  

Please advise if you will be getting your own car. Also, please send me a personal note about your attendance status, and update the information on the website excel spreadsheet.

I’ll be on site Thursday. My cell number is listed on the sign-up sheet (you must log into the website).

Richard Pearl
Chair, TMGA
richard.pearl@motorgliders.org

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  • 3 weeks later...

Fly-In Pilots

We’re only a week away from the fly-in and it looks like we’ll have a nice crowd: 8 aircraft registering with a Yes plus another three Probables. Also 6 attendees coming sans aircraft. Between 16 and 20 people in total.

Current itinerary:

1.  Thursday arrival - Dinner at the Mansion of Melbourne, Fla. About 10 minutes from the Hilton Rialto. Reasonably priced food and drink in a great setting. We’re planning on rendezvousing there at 7:00 pm.

2. Friday - AM briefing at Jim Lee’s hangar (see below). 9:00 am. Fly-out to a lunch location (TBD). There is a rocket ship lift-off (Dragon X) scheduled for 4:43 pm from the Kennedy Space Center. We will try to be airborne in the vicinity at that time. Following the area going “cold” we’ll do a Runway fly-by. Dinner at the Crown Plaza on the Melbourne beach. Rendezvous at 7:30 pm at the Crown Plaza

3. Saturday - AM briefing at Jim Lee’s hangar. 8:30. Possible fly-out to Sun N Fun. Jim will brief. Dinner at the River Rocks Restaurant. Rendezvous at the restaurant - 7:30 pm.

The dinners will be in the regular seating areas for each restaurant, although we will attempt to get large tables together. We were not able to make the minimum number of guaranteed diners for a separate room without incurring a possible loss on the evening, so it’ll be somewhat free-form. This has worked out well at our western fly-ins. You are, of course, free to go elsewhere on your own.

Please respond to me if you plan on attending which dinners so I can give the restaurants a heads-up.

Jim’s hangar is #10 in the North Condo Hangars. The security gate is #N386V.  The address for GPS nav to the gate is 1481 General Aviation Drive.  An alternative is to go to the Atlantic Jet Center also on General Aviation Drive, and have them shuttle via golf cart to the hangar.  Inside the security area, non-badge holders must be accompanied at all times.

Anyone arriving can call Jim or Kathy on their cell phones for tie down, shuttle, or hangar assistance.

Per Jim, the weather from today throughout the fly-in looks extremely favorable here, and enroute from most of the US.

Also, the Hilton has a shuttle from the Airport to the hotel. It doesn’t seem like everyone has made reservations at the Hilton. If you need a ride to/from the Airport or to/from the restaurants, please advise me ASAP. Jim has a few cars, and I’ll be driving also. It also looks like several people will also have cars.

Advise with any other questions.

 

Richard

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Hi Abby

It was included in the e-mail that Richard sent to those registered to attend, but I generally try not to put personal cell phones on public forums.  To help out, they are now listed on the sign-up sheet, which requires you be a registered user of the website to see the information.

Steve

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Hi  My son, Max and I will be driving up from West Palm via Rental car- Some time around 2 230 ETA  Where/how should be connect with others? Head to the Hanger? 

We are looking to possibly buy learn more about motor gliders we are both Lic glider pilots He will have his power lic shortly. Love to go up and fly with others if we can. 

   

 

Thanks !    Lee and Max Lareau   

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Great event!  Hope everyone else gets home safely.  Thank you to Richard, Jim, and Kathy for all the planning and support to all the flyers.  

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