WINGS AND WHEELS

You've heard of it raining cats and dogs, but ping-pong balls are something new. That's what happened at the Plains airport last weekend when Dan Normandeau and Jimmy Miller tossed 200 colored ping-pong balls from an airplane some 100 feet in the air.

It was one of several contests at the 3rd Annual Wings and Wheels Fly-In at Penn Stohr Field in Plains Saturday morning. Normandeau flew the plane, a home built Pietenpol open cockpit airplane, while Miller

let the bag of balls fly. The balls spread out over a 300-yard area, but once they hit, it wasn't long before a horde of kids ran out to retrieve them. Each child that got a ping-pong ball received a handmade clothespin airplane made by Sheila Shaffer of Plains. There were also four money balls, although only two were found. Makayla Pennock, 14, of Butte, retrieved 55 ping-pong balls, the most picked up, for a $10 prize.  

Planes started showing up right at 8 a.m., the start of the four-hour fly-in. In all, Nita Deardorff, one of the chief coordinators, believed there were 42 aircraft at the show, including a 1928 Travel Air Model 6000 former airliner, which draws big crowds around it every year. Pilot Hank Galpin of Kalispell even took groups of people for rides in the single engine aircraft, which served as a passenger plane until the 1960s and still has a working toilet and sink with running water.

Another popular plane was the Alert II Pilates PC-12 emergency medical aircraft out of Kalispell. "We get lots of people swinging by asking questions," said Reece Roat, the flight paramedic, one of three crew members, which also includes a pilot and a flight nurse. He said the most common question from kids is how fast the aircraft goes and from adults, it's how far do they go. The aircraft cruises at 300 mph and has transported patients as far away as eastern Pennsylvania and Tennessee, he said.

The smallest airplane at the fly-in didn't carry passengers or even have a pilot. It was only about a foot long and was owned by Rick Manning of Thompson Falls. He was one of seven members of the Clark Fork Valley Flyers Remote Control Club of Plains that displayed a dozen RC planes at the fly-in.

The smallest real plane was a 1984 two-seater Thorp, owned by Plains resident Joe Wengerd. He said it was the first all metal home built airplane. It was Wengerd's hangar that was used for a pancake breakfast, which cost $5 and included ham, coffee and juice. Pilots who brought their planes to the fly-in got to eat for free.

The planes came and went throughout the day, but at one point there were 31 aircraft on tarmac at one time. This was the first time attendance for the Civil Air Patrol of Missoula, said its pilot, Adam Davis, who had two CAP cadets with him. The fly-in began in the 1970s, said Randy Garrison, the airport manager, who added they used to have air shows that featured fighter jets, biplanes, seaplanes, and even a Russian MIG. In 2006, the fly-in had 91 aircraft, the most the event has ever had.

For the last three years the fly-in has rotated between Plains and Thompson Falls, although last year's show had a dismal turnout due to inclement weather, said Deardorff. The planes at the show this year came from all over western Montana, Idaho and Washington, one as far away as Palouse, Washington. The Sanders County Pilots Association sponsored the free admission event, which included a car show coordinated by Todd Logan. There were no trophies or competition, just a chance for people show their cars, said Logan. This year, there were 11 vehicles, including three motorcycles, a custom chopper belonging to Ned Beighey of Plains, and two Harley-Davidsons, a 2007 and a 1953, both owned by Plains resident Kelly Kenyon.

The oldest car at the show was a 1930 Ford Model A owned by Dan and Pete Normandeau of Thompson Falls. The newest car was a 1965 Ford Mustang owned by Plains resident Ruth Crabtree. "I like the cars better than the planes," said Christine Ebsen, who drove from Coeur d'Alene for the fly-in.

The fly-in once again included a flour drop contest for the pilots. A dozen planes competed. For the first time, for $5 people could put their names in for a drawing to be the flour drop "bombardier." Pilot Mike Lindemer of Seeley Lake was the winner of the first heat, hitting 29 feet, 7 inches from the target. Heat two went to Dallas Deardorff, 40.2 feet from the target. Deardorff and bombardier Dennis Olson won the final heat at 32.3 feet. Winners received a $50 gift certificate. Olson and his wife, Glenda, were the cooks for the pancake and ham breakfast, which raised $665.

Organizers raised a total of $2,204 that will go toward an aviation scholarship for a Sanders County high school graduate. The biggest single fundraiser was the drawing of a new remote control airplane donated by Bob Rice of Thompson Falls, which fetched $1,265.

"It was a great fly-in," said Deardorff, who estimated that about 250 people attended the event, which will be in Thompson Falls on the third Saturday of June next year. "I thought it was fantastic. We had a lot of people come to watch and a lot of planes come in and that makes for a good fly-in," said Deardorff, who added that she believes the bombardier idea went over very well. "I think people really wanted to get up in the air." She also plans to have the ping-pong drop again in 2020.