Hawkefield 2024 Fly-In

^{Written by: Phil Lightstone
Photos courtesy of: Phil Lightstone}

Sunday August 25, 2024 saw CAVOK weather in most of south eastern Ontario, setting up near perfect flying conditions for the 28th annual RAA Fly-In at HawkeField (CHF4) in Orono, Ont. The event was hosted by Hannu Halminen and the Recreational Aircraft Association (RAA).  Admission was free, whether you drove or flew in for the event. 

Norm Mills reports that the event attracted approximately 50 aircraft, including one helicopter, with over 75 pilots, 200 plus spectators, 14 volunteers, 30 classic cars, 20 motorcycles, and a few vintage motorcycles.  Gord Mahaffey was the marshalling master and head of communications.  Gord and his volunteers delivered a smooth operation guiding taxing aircraft to appropriate parking spots.

Hot Diggity Dog food truck provided a BBQ featuring hot dogs, sausages, burgers, chips and a variety of beverages. Starting at 11 am, the line up for food was continuous all day.  Fresh sweet corn was served (free of charge) to everyone. Dipped in a pot of butter, the corn was delicious.  In fact, I saw a few folks during the day with butter stains on their shirts.

Owner operator Hannu Halminen has a laser levelled PPR field sporting 3,988 x 80 feet of pristine grass. The airfield has two large hangars and a house at the north end of the field.  With large white runway edge markers, lining up with the runway is easy. However, caution needs to be taken with high tension power lines 130 feet AGL and 0.2NM north of runway 18. With seasonal temperatures and a long runway, departing Hawkefield to the north, most General Aviation (GA) aircraft should be able to avoid the power lines. With large white runway markers along the side of the runway, HawkeField is easy to spot from the air. With published latitude and longitude co-ordinates and with CHF4 in aviation databases including Garmin and ForeFlight and the Canadian Flight Supplement (CFS), flight planning is quite easy. Aircraft parking was in a grass parking area, but a few aircraft parked on the ramp in front of the hangars.

Hannu’s North American P51 Mustang was parked at show centre in front of the main hangar. The P51 Mustang is a stunning and impressive aircraft, with its polished aluminum. The RAA held a draw for a ride in the P51 at $20 per ticket. A 50-50 draw was also held, with an unknown person winning $290, not bad for a $5.00 ticket! The proceeds from the draw and the P51 ride goes directly to the RAA Oshawa chapter.

Robert Bragg, COPA flight member both in Lindsay and Oshawa owns a Cessna C172 on straight floats, but flew into the event with a friend in a C150. Robert has attended the event a few times, but knows many of the regulars. Robert reports: “while all men are created equal, seaplane pilots are better.” Aviation is part of his DNA, with all of his friends being pilots, to the chagrin of his wife. Robert is organizing a fly out to Killarney ON on September 1, 2024, staying at the Killarney Mountain Lodge.

Micheal Green, flew into the event in his Technam P2002 Sierra.  Micheal was licenced in 1973 and has 900 hours in his logbook with 200 hours in the Sierra. In the 1970’s Micheal rented aircraft from a small airport in Maple ON, which like many older airfields in the Greater Toronto Area, have been replace with housing or strip malls. Michael has attended the fly in at HawkeField a number of times and enjoys the comradery of the day.

RAA Chapter volunteers spent countless hours organizing the event. Norm Mills, RAA member, one of the event organizers reports: “this event has been run successfully for so long that planning is now nearly by rote. Of course, the confirmations still need to be done, e.g., insurance is in place, food confirmed, tickets for raffles and marshallers organized. Each person one the team has their own niche, which makes the organization of the event go like a fine Swiss watch. “

For those pilots unfamiliar with grass fields, soft field procedures should be considered for arrival, taxing and departure. The high quality of Hawkefield’s grass provides a turf environment for novices, making grass field operations almost as easy as operating of pavement.  Checkout Gus and Clara Corujo fabulous images taken at the event at www.GusAir.com. The HawkeField fly in will return in 2025, on the Sunday following Labour Day. For further information about next years event, contact: JamesMorrison190@gmail.com;   DougRaine@gmail.com; or RAAOshawa@gmail.com.