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Bruce Herrington
President of SNAG
Every two years at the fall fly in we elect officers. This year Bruce Herrington became president of our organization. Bruce is a second generation Navion pilot and is a member of the board of directors of the American Navion Society.

  
For those of you not following SNAG Facebook posts lately, let me bring you up to speed with the latest news. The 1st Annual Presidential Open Fly-Out has progressed nicely. In attendance was Bobby Herrington, Kevin "Two Weeks" Domingue with his wife Phyllis, Carl "CJ" Jenkins, and myself. Arrival was interesting to say the least into the rally point, KSRR (Ruidoso, NM), with severe dust storms, reduced visibility, and 25-40 kts headwinds from west Texas to the destination. Everyone arrived safely, and we waited two days for conditions to improve. The flight line staff at Ruidoso made every effort to accommodate our needs with hangar space, storage for camping gear (which we didn't really need due to incliment weather), and overall outstanding customer service.
  When the weather improved we proceeded to KSAF (Santa Fe, NM) to await "CJ" who arrived in NM two days late due to weather in Dallas and technical difficulties. The gremlins resurfaced, and "CJ" never made his way past KSRR. During the overnight stop at Santa Fe we ate the world's greatest nachos at the Blue Corn Brewery. The next morning we departed early for Monument Valley (UT25) with flyby's at Shiprock (5V5) and several orbits over the 4-Corners monumnet.
  Arrival at Monument Valley was uneventful except for the gigantic mesa at the end of runway 16 that precludes going around. Landings are to the south on 16 and takeoffs are to the north on 34. The view is spectacular from the air and our landings were routine. The next morning we awoke to calm air which lasted through a leisurely breakfast and stroll to the flight line when we were hit with a sudden 25 kts quartering tailwind for takeoff with a density altitude of 6000 ft. While questioning our sanity and judgement we proceeded to depart with "Two Weeks" in lead as the first lamb, Bobby second, and Myself as Tail End Charlie. We found ourselves in a long shallow climb over the valley with a gradual turn into the wind for climb to altitude.
  One last overflight of Monument Valley and then it was on to Page, AZ (KPGA) and the Lake Powell area. Some of the most beautiful scenery to behold was beneath us. Those of you who have never flown the Lake Powel area should put this one on your bucket list. Bobby and I formed up loosely on Kevin and dodged sightseers in Otters and Helicopters over the area and while landing at KPGA with an overhead arrival.
  During the next windstorm that grounded us for two days we explored the area by car and by foot. While hiking up and down hills at 6000 ft we learned that this country is not for "old men from the flatlands." We spent two full days touring the local attractions and beautiful scenery of Glen Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Marble Canyon, Lower Antelope Canyon, and Lake Powell.
  Wednesday we flew out over Horseshoe Bend to Meteor Crater in Arizona. We confirmed that there is no meteor to been, but there is a very large hole in the ground. Our next stop was Ruidoso where we finally met up with "CJ" who finally had his "technical difficulties" resolved, courtesy of spare parts form Greg "Big Dog" Young. Carl was finally ready to fly along with us enroute back home across Texas.
  This trip took eight days, 400 gallons of AVGAS, 25 hours in the left seat, and covered 3200 miles. We are now all safely home and looking forward to another adventure in a different part of our country next year. We hope you will join us for next year's adventure.

Bruce "Keys" Herrington

Fly In Photos
President's Message