SWRFI '03: Fly-In a Roaring Success! | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.10.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Thu, May 22, 2003

SWRFI '03: Fly-In a Roaring Success!

300+ Aircraft Pack The Ramps And Flight Lines In New Braunfels, TX

By ANN Correspondent Juan Jimenez

Some twenty five miles northeast of San Antonio is a community best known for a number of water parks which draw their most important resource from the Comal River. The City of New Braunfels was founded in 1845 under German charter, and is classified as a home-rule city, governed by a seven-member council. In 1969, the city acquired what is now known as the New Braunfels Municipal Airport from the US government. The city web site states that the airport is home base to 58 aircraft. This past weekend, that number grew to over 300 aircraft, from gyrocopters to turbine-powered experimentals to highly polished warbirds, all participating in the annual EAA Southwest Regional Fly-In.

The SWRFI was originally founded by general aviation luminary and Texas Aviation  Hall of Fame Inductee Tony Bingelis, this is the first year that the fly-in has returned to its original home in Texas Hill Country.

Over 300 aircraft and 70 vendors made their way from all corners of the country to participate in the fly-in. Aircraft of just about every make and persuasion made the trip to participate in the festivities, and the spectators made it clear they appreciated it. There was no shortage of families and plenty of children walking or riding up and down the flight line in the hay ride shuttles.

Probably the best evidence of the number of aircraft at the fly-in were the very long lines of aircraft waiting to make their way down the taxiways to the departure ends of the two runways. At one point, we saw some 30 aircraft lined up on one taxiway patiently waiting their turn to depart.

It should also be noted that, to our knowledge, there were no incidents or accidents at the fly-in, no small feat considering the size of the airport and the overwhelming number of aircraft at or around the airport at any given time.

There was also no shortage of attendance at any of the more than two dozen forums covering subjects from "Airworthiness Inspection of Experimental Airplanes" to "Women in WWII (WASPs)." All the forums were well-attended and everyone seemed to come out of them after having learned something new.

A number of current military aircraft made their presence known at the show as well, including the Navy and USAF turboprop trainers produced by Raytheon Corporation. Texas is home to a number of military flight training facilities, and the training commands were more than happy to send "ambassadors" to show their aircraft at the fly-in.

Saturday evening the SWRFI held its annual Awards Banquet. The guest speaker for the banquet was General Charlie Duke, astronaut and Lunar Module pilot on the Apollo 16 NASA mission.

All in all, the fly-in was definitely a success!

FMI: http://www.swrfi.org

Advertisement

More News

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (07.11.25)

“Honored to accept this mission. Time to take over space. Let’s launch.” Source: SecTrans Sean Duffy commenting after President Donald Trump appointed U.S. Secret>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.11.25): Permanent Echo

Permanent Echo Radar signals reflected from fixed objects on the earth's surface; e.g., buildings, towers, terrain. Permanent echoes are distinguished from “ground clutter&rd>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.11.25)

Aero Linx: European Hang Gliding and Paragliding Union (EHPU) The general aim of the EHPU is to promote and protect hang gliding and paragliding in Europe. In order to achieve this>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Schweizer SGS 2-33A

Glider Encountered A Loss Of Lift And There Was Not Sufficient Altitude To Reach The Airport Analysis: The flight instructor reported that while turning final, the glider encounter>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Aeronca 7AC

Airplane Climbed To 100 Ft Above Ground Level, At Which Time The Airplane Experienced A Total Loss Of Engine Power On May 24, 2025, at 1300 eastern daylight time, an Aeronca 7AC, N>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC