Sport Pilot Talk

The weather finally cooperated for my youngest co-pilot and I to do some fly-in camping! We started with a pancake breakfast at RZR (Cleveland, TN), and then camped at DNN (Dalton, GA). The folks at DNN were wonderful hosts! They let us camp by their bass pond and set us up with a courtesy car (overnight) to make the short trip. We had a great time even though I was out fished 10 to 7

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Nice!

Thanks fellas!

Dale, if you have to holed up somewhere overnight RZR is the place to do it. Very nice pilot lounge there! And yes the hospitality at both RZR and DNN is outstanding.

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hirshr, could you say a bit more about the camping set-up? E.g. how close could you park the plane (and so your camping gear) from where you could pitch a tent? What campground amenities were there (fire pit? wood? grill? how far was the plumbed water? how many sites?) And was there a shower in the FBO that might be available? Many thanks!

Jack,

You can see the bass pond in the top center of the aerial pic. It would be an easy walk from the field if it wasn't for the perimeter fence - so we borrowed one of the courtesy cars and just drove around ariport road and parked on the shoulder near the pond. The camping is primitive, we set up the tent near the pond, and had a small campfire on the rocky shore. There is a decent walking path around the pond and a covered picnic area that is somewhat run down. You can camp with your plane on the airfield where there is access to bathroom facilities 24-7, but we prefered to "rough it" by the pond and have the oppurtunity to fish. The good folks at Dalton had advertised a fly-in with the option of camping by the pond and fishing about three weeks ago, but the weather had other ideas and they canceled. I saw the flyer at my home airport and that gave me the idea to ask, they said we were their first campers - but they hope to have more in the future.