AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2022 - 14

LETTERS
Mom-Made
Readers share memories from
their favorite mom-made airport
restaurants and say goodbye to a
Rhode Island staple.
I loved Julie Summers Walker's story on good
airport restaurants ( " Mom-Made, " November
2022 AOPA Pilot). My brother and I would fly
our Bonanza to Chino Airport (CNO), tank our
airplane with fuel at a place for $1.55 a gallon,
then walk 50 yards outside the gate to Flo's
Airport Cafe, and eat just what Walker wrote-
chicken-fried steak (and eggs), biscuits and
gravy, and yes, one of those cinnamon rolls. They
were huge and good!
After consuming all those calories, we all
needed exercise so we would walk Chino Airport.
On one side was the Planes of Fame Air Museum.
Perhaps the best part was their restoration shop
which, if careful, you could walk through. But
that's not all. There were at least four more big
hangars on the field that did warbird restoration,
and you could walk through those as well.
By the time we got back to our airplane we were
ready for another cinnamon roll and more coffee.
Chino was a 15- to 20-minute flight from
Burbank, but Flo's, the airport, and a couple of
miles of walking was at least three hours.
Larry Weitzman / AOPA 504833
Hurricane, Utah
It's ironic that as the November AOPA Pilot hit
the mailbox singing the praises of Bethany's
Airport Diner at Block Island. Bethany's served
their last in October. The Rhode Island Airport
Corporation's RFP for future service at the
location contained terms that were so onerous
to potential lessees that no one bid to rent the
space, including the incumbent. The Airport
Corporation is reformulating the bid document
and promises new service in the spring. On the
basis of past performance and a restaurant space
that has lain empty at Westerly (WST) for years,
no one is holding their breath.
Graeme Smith / AOPA 6968542
Newport, Rhode Island
Stealth in Palm Springs
Twenty-one years ago we were attending the
Dobbins Air Reserve Base airshow in Marietta,
Georgia. There was an F-117 in attendance, well
14
AOPA PILOT / December 2022
roped off with armed guards to keep observers
at a distance. After the show was over, attendees
had to wait in a mile-long queue along a taxiway
to board busses for the parking lots. As tired and
bored attendees inched along at a snail's pace,
along comes the F-117 up the taxiway. Of course,
when spotted, thousands of cameras start clicking.
The crew chief was in the open cockpit
waving his arms and yelling, " No pictures! No
pictures! " Did he really think you could tow
an airplane as exotic as the F-117 along a milelong
line of bored airplane geeks and expect
them not to take pictures? I haven't been to the
Palm Springs Air Museum since the late '90s.
Nice to know that we can now see an F-117 up
close without admonishment ( " Briefing: Fly in
for History, " September 2022 AOPA Pilot).
John McGrew/ AOPA 1210726
Missoula, Montana
Healthy Flying
While at Disney with family-including two
grandkids-I caught up on some aviation reading.
Dr. Brent Blue's article in October ( " Flight
MD: Healthy Flying " ) was spot on. As I read, I
thought, he has written this just for me. I just knew
Dr. Blue saw me at EAA AirVenture in July. As a
71-year-old pilot with 37 years of flying (a Cessna
172XP for most of those years), I appreciate his
I'm sorry to report that
Bethany's Airport Diner
on Block Island (BID)
has closed. The FBO
informed me that she
had lost her contract
and someone new will
be taking it over.
David Esposito /
AOPA 11255133
Roslyn Heights, New York
SWEEPSTAKES P.32 / NEWS P.33 / FIRST LOOK P.34 / HISTORY P.34 /
PEOPLE P.36 / WATCH LIST P.39 / MUSINGS P.40 / TEST PILOT P.41 / YOU CAN FLY P.42 /
MILESTONES P.43 / DESTINATIONS P.44 / PRODUCTS P.46 / AIRCRAFT P.47 / EVENTS P.48 /
BRIEFING
Compiled by Julie Summers Walker
Photography by Chris Rose
and David Tulis
ELLICE WEAVER
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2022
