Sierra Vista, AZ Fly-in - October 2025

Some travel destinations are best visited over a long weekend, and this was one of them. The travel distance and the number of attractions made Sierra Vista, Arizona a good candidate for a long weekend.  Arrivals into Sierra Vista were on either Thursday October 16^th or Friday the 17^th. A total of 15 DAFers made the trip in five planes and two cars. The event was hosted by Steve Sappington and Nancy Schunke. 

Those that arrived on Thursday got together for a social hour at the hotel. Then headed to the Tombstone Brewery for dinner, a 4-minute walk from the hotel. 

On Friday, many in the group went to the town of Lowell (just east of Bisbee) for breakfast at the Bisbee Breakfast Club, followed by visits to picturesque mining town of Bisbee. Some took the mine tour of the Copper Queen Mine. Some folks also visited the San Pedro Riparian Preserve.   The planned group dinner was at the Tombstone Brewery Friday Night. 

On Saturday everyone went to the Kartchner Caverns for one or more tours. It was also Bat Fest at the caverns, so we learned about and visited with bats while we waited for our tour times. Some hiked the desert trail that circled the park. Others enjoyed the free solar telescope viewing in the parking lot. 

After the Caverns visit, many DAFers visited the nearby Flying Kite Vinyards for some wine tasting and socializing. Followed by a visit to Copper Brothel Brewery for dinner.  Good weather all weekend and a fun group of travelers.

Calaveras Fly-In - April 2025

Adventure seeking DAFers headed north to Columbia, CA on Friday, May 16th to preposition for a big day ahead at the Calaveras County Fair and Frog Jumping Jubilee! We had four airplanes and one SUV make the trip to Columbia where we met up at the newly constructed “Chicken Ranch Resort and Casino,” for our Friday Happy Hour/Flight Debriefing. We departed early Saturday morning to get to the Calaveras County Fairgrounds and get in the cue to race our frogs at the Frog Jumping Jubilee. Everyone got a chance to select and name their racing frogs and the DAFers did not disappoint the thronging crowds, setting a morning record in the Amateur racing class. Festivities continued with visits to all of the exhibits at a classic country fair, with a wide variety of animals on display. Of course the DAFers didn’t pass up the antique engine displays that were powering a number of farm implements. After the fair we all made our way to Columbia airport as there was an outstanding display of Luscombe aircraft that were having their annual fly-in there. A great evening dinner in the gold mining town of Sonora, capped our action packed day. Everyone had a great flight home on Sunday with 20-30 knot tailwinds and blue skies.

A tremendous thanks to Larry and Jodie Chapman for researching facilities for our fly-in and ensuring that the DAFers had exceptional hotels, transportation, and dining throughout the weekend. It’s volunteers like them that really make these fly-in events so fun and memorable.

Lunch Fly-In to Borrego Springs - March 2025

The Saturday, March 15th lunch fly-in to Borrego Springs was a little different than most of our lunch fly-ins due to some turbulence forecasts enroute to Borrego Springs. Of course our intrepid DAF aviators responded in kind with a variety of solutions to the bouncy forecast. With eleven aircraft departing Torrance, Hawthorne, and Long Beach, we had six aircraft head to Borrego Springs, three aircraft went to El Monte, and two to French Valley. It turned out to be the best decision for everyone involved as all DAFers had a fun lunch somewhere in Southern California and they got to use their airplane to get there! Borrego Springs was a fun destination and the weather turned out to be a perfect 72F there. With about 20 DAFers at the La Casa Del Zorro Hotel Bistro restaurant at Borrego we had excellent food and a great time hiking around on the hotel grounds.

A big thanks to Robert Beckwith for planning the lunch fly-in and for persevering after having the event canceled twice for weather in 2024!

Lunch Fly-In to Oceano - Feb 2025

The Feb 22nd lunch fly-in to Oceano was outstanding! We started off with a morning brief at the Torrance GAC at 10AM where the fog was just clearing and weather was excellent enroute. The DAF flying group arrived at Oceano (L52) beginning at about 11:30AM and after everyone made the short walk to Old Juan’s Cantina, we enjoyed a great Mexican lunch with 26 DAFers and friends in attendance. 

There were a total of 12 DAF aircraft that made the journey and it was a great assortment of flying machines! Here’s the list:

Beech B35, A36 and Sundowner, Cessna 172 and 182, Piper Comanche 180 and 260B, Cirrus SR22, Grumman Tiger, Glasair III, RV, and a Flight Design CTLS. 

After lunch a group of DAFers hiked down to Pismo Beach to do some beach combing and there were plenty of sea creatures to amuse the gang.

A big thanks to Jeanne Shaw for planning the lunch fly-in and for persevering after having the event canceled for weather in 2024!