Hey Kelly,

I thought it would be great to fly out to BM this year (2004) -- but I'd never want to subject my plane to those conditions. A the member of our flying club (SCFC) was one of the unfortunate ones to have crashed on takeoff this past year...

Flying around the Bay Area is a different matter entirely! Check out www.gryphonaire.com/

--d

Hey Kelly, is there anything stopping you from doing it yourself?!?!? Go for it! You might think about going to a local meeting of the 99's. It's an organization of women pilots. There are great resources for aspiring pilots, even scholarships.....and, of course, great friends. Think about it............

Flying at BM is one of the greatest things you can do for yourself and your plane.

Many very nice, and expensive, planes make the trip every year, including vintage Cessnas and V-Tails, Pitts and Skybolts, Twin Bonanzas and King Air 100's and even a sweet Pilatus. In '04 we even had a 210 on Amphib floats.

I've taken rented Skyhawks 3 of the past 5 years and never had a problem. There is a great deal of misunderstanding about what the surface conditions are on the playa with respect to aircraft. Remember, there is no sand on the playa. So, suffice it to say that 100 planes every year cannot all be piloted by lunatics flying piece-of-shit wrecks with wings.

Regarding the fellow who says his friend was one of those who crashed on takeoff, I have to say that there was only one plane that crashed on takeoff in 2003, and it was an oil-leaking POS that did not seem to be well cared-for. I personally cleaned up the dripping fluids from his tie-down area. And to suggest that the playa conditions caused that incident is actually irresponsible. I watched both planes crash in '03 and neither had anything to do with "playa conditions".

But as you already know, flying at BM is great fun and easily the best-kept secret in BRC. You should come out and visit us at the Airport during the event. Many pilots give plane rides. We even have an open-cockpit arobatic biplane in our personal cadre. And let's not even get started on the Mile-High Club flights!

The Black Rock City Spaceport Tribe is a great place to hook up with like-minded souls, as well as the BM Airport List. You'll find a link to subscribe to it on the BM website. And the hospitality of the Black Rock Travel Agency (BRC's official FBO) is legendary and (in)famous.

Hope to see you in '05.

DragonFly!
Black Rock Travel Agency
NW District Senior Agent
Minister of Mile-High Operations
Fixed Base Operators - Burning Man 2005
666 Avenida de La Madrugada Eterna
Black Rock Int'l Spaceport
Black Rock City, NV 00000

Sure... I'm always looking for an excuse to go flying.
My Lancair is at Reid Hillview in San Jose, just a few hangars
away from Kause and his Skybolt.