2010 Spencer Iowa Air Show

[rander]

Spencer Iowa Air show and Flight Breakfast
The 25th annual Spencer flight breakfast was Sunday June 13th in the Center hanger. The flight breakfast tradition is strong at the Spencer Airport and is always well attended. Starting bright and early at 7:00 am until 11:00 am. The breakfast features delicious pancakes and sausage, bright bold hot coffee, fresh orange juice, and smiles for miles to all who attend. The hanger will be full of friendly faces and the display aircraft can be viewed from the open hanger door. Come early or late and bring your friends and family. There is not better way to start an airshow then a great morning of pancakes.

The Performers



Mike Niccum
Mike's dedication to competition aerobatics led to a coveted spot on the roster of the prestigious U.S. Advanced World Aerobatic Team. Placing in the top tier of both National and World competition events, Mike excels when demonstrating the pinpoint accuracy and thrilling performance of Unlimited Aerobatics. His style of high performance and visually dynamic maneuvers instill a level of exhilaration and inspiration to any air show or competition crowd.

Mike realized his dream to fly back in 1985 by earning his Private Pilot Certificate. Already an aircraft technician and inspector, he developed a keen awareness of the flight environment by restoring his own Piper Clipper from the ground up. As the aerobatic bug began to bite, he quickly developed a knack for competition by mastering the famous Pitts Special.

Watch for Mike this summer performing his smooth and aggressive style of precision aerobatic demonstrations!


Jon Melby
Jon Melby first learned to fly at age 8, when he created a pile of leaves in his Duluth, Minnesota lawn, climbed onto the roof of his 2 story home, and jumped like a bird into the leaves! He has been hooked on flying ever since.

At the age of 12, he had the opportunity to meet the legendary airshow pilot Bob Hoover at a local airshow. Bob Hoover's sincerity and great personality gave Jon the inspiration to pursue his dream of flying. When he was financially able, Jon made it a goal to achieve his solo in a glider before his 16th birthday. In only 8 flights, he achieved his goal by riding his bicycle 45 miles each hot Arizona July weekend to the nearest glider airport.

It was this type of determination that inspired Jon to purchase an airplane at age 19, and then hired an instructor to learn to fly it! He received his pilot's license by flying every day for a period of 3 weeks, yet eventually yearned to do more in an airplane. After owning several Cessna passenger type aircraft, in 1996, he purchased a Pitts S2B Bi-plane and spent 3 months training to compete in aerobatic contests.

During his first competition with 23 pilots, Jon achieved 3rd place, and in the next two contests he won first and second place, awarding him enough points to become the Arizona State Sportsman champion his first year of competition flying. It was then that Jon knew that aerobatics was his love.

Now, flying "extreme" freestyle aerobatics, Jon enjoys flying Airshows, so he can encourage both adults and children to pursue their dreams, much like Bob Hoover did for him.

When Jon is not flying his airplane, he is a computer systems analyst (Web ASP.NET and SQL Database for a major stock brokerage firm.
The Machine.
The aircraft Jon flies is the awesome looking Black/Yellow factory built Pitts "Muscle" Bi-Plane. With a 330+ H.P. six cylinder Lycoming motor and 3 bladed "Claw" Propeller, this aircraft has all the ingredients for a great performance. With a single seat and light weight, it provides a perfect platform for flying high energy aerobatics! It cruises at 195 MPH which makes Jon's "aerial commute" from show to show very quick. Fuel capacity on this aircraft is 28 gallons in the main tank, with a 5 gallon reserve used for fuel and/or smoke oil. He uses two on-board GPS navigation systems, both providing moving map display. Jon flies his Plane to any show in North America.

Susan Dacy
A Salute to the Golden Age of Aviation . . .
Step back in time as Susan Dacy puts her 450 horsepower, Super Stearman, 'Big Red' through its paces with a dazzling display of barrel rolls, slow, slow rolls, Cuban eights, hammerhead turns, loops and much more, in a style reminiscent of the barnstorming era of flying.

Susan is one of only a few females performing airshows in a biplane, and is the only woman flying exhibition in the Super Stearman. Attending airshows as a child, Susan remembers being in awe of the big, loud, smoky biplanes. As a teenager, yearning to fly, Susan felt the only way to fly a Stearman was to have one of her own. At the family airport, located in Harvard, Illinois, Susan worked in the office, fueled planes, and eventually acquired a rebuildable Stearman Project. While in high school, every spare hour was spent restoring the aircraft, which she still owns and operates today.

At sixteen Susan learned to fly in a Piper Cub (her Stearman wasn't yet ready). She attended Southern Illinois University, where she earned a degree in Aviation Operations and Systems, along with aircraft mechanic's licenses. Following college, Susan pursued flying jobs throughout the country. Scurrying cancelled checks before midnight deadlines in twin engine airplanes, flying for commuter airlines, and even pipeline patrol was eventually rewarded with a job offer from American Airlines. Susan is Chicago based Captain, currently flying 757/767. Susan has flown more than sixty different types of aircraft, and has logged more than 28,000 hours.

Big Red
Big Red started life as a World War II trainer for young naval aviators. Originally powered by a 220 h.p. engine, Big Red is now outfitted with a powerful Pratt & Whitney 450 h.p., supercharged engine. With injected fuel systems, and inverted fuel and oil modifications, Big Red is 'at home' both right side up and upside down. Other additions to the aircraft include a canopy, wingtip strobes, lights, modern radios and removal of the front cockpit to make room for the inverted fuel system, and environmentally safe airshow smoke. Weighing in at over a ton, Big Red has a wing span of thirty two feet, and is more than twenty five feet long.

The weather was cool and rainy all day. The flying started about an hour late when the ceilings got up to about 1200 feet. The SNJ flew first, made 4-5 low passes then landed. Mike Niccum was next in his Staudacher S-300D. Then Jon Melby flying his Pitts S-111B. Lastly Susan Dacy in her Big Red Super Stearman.

The display aircraft, The SNJ also flew pics in my next post.
 

[rander]

Some pics of the SNJ taxiing and flying.

[rander]

A few shots of Spencer Iowa Air Show Performer Mike  Niccum flying his Staudacher S-300D.

for more info see the link
http://mikeniccumairshows.com/

[rander]

Will post some pics of Jon  Melby and Susan Dacy soon.

[Midnight Mover]

Looks like fun

[rander]

Looks like fun

Inspite of poor weather, it was a fun air show that had breakfast of sausages and large plate covering pancakes coffee and orange juice.  3 very outstanding aviators and their aircraft that did a great job of flying with heavy cloud cover and a 1200 foot ceiling. i'd estimate the croud for the air show was about 2000 people.
Mike Niccum, Jon Melby, and Susan Dacy all did well planed out individual performances. Mike and Jon went up an did a squirel in the box thing where one aviator did like a 4 point roll, once clear of the box the other aviator had to do the 4 point roll. Mike and Jon were up for about 40 minutes doing this. The entire conversation of the 2 aviators was broadcart over the loud speaker system for the crowd to hear.

[rander]

Some pics of Jon Melby flying his Pitts  S-1-11B "Muscle" Biplane.

For More info about Jon click on the link
www.jonmelby.com

[rander]

Some pics of Spencer Iowa Air Show performer Susan Dacy.

[rander]

A few last pics of Mike and Jon