Fly-ins Are As Old As Aviation Itself And Everybody Loves Them… Well, Maybe Not Everybody In Oklahoma

Judy Birchler founded the LadiesLoveTaildraggers organization so that she and like-minded women could get together and enjoy their passion for “real” airplanes. Like all aviation minded organizations, fly-ins are a fun way to get together, and you would think any airport would welcome a group like this. Apparently, you would be wrong if you are planning to fly to Oklahoma’s Lake Murray State Park Airport.

Birchler thought the beautiful setting of a lodge, complete with airport, at Lake Murray, OK might be a perfect place for the LadiesLoveTaildraggers to hold a regional fly-in. However, when Birchler made the call to find out about setting it up, the response was, “Don’t bring your fly-in here.” Birchler said, “Don’t get me wrong, their refusal to even consider allowing our group to come to their airport had nothing to do with our ladies. It had everything to do with not wanting any group of airplanes landing at their strip.”

Birchler said it was obvious that the person she was talking to knew nothing about the airport or that they even had one, and had no idea what the term “fly-in” meant. Realizing that she was talking to someone who was, to say the least, not aware of what the state park offered, asked for a phone number for someone that actually had something to do with the airport.

Birchler said on her blog, “I was convinced the conversation I just had was a ‘twilight-zone’ moment and things would get much better when I spoke to Carol, the Park Manager. It did not. Carol, an employee of the State of Oklahoma, apparently views the airport as a liability rather than an asset to the park; something they have to put up with until such time the state closes it, probably due to inactivity. She absolutely refused to discuss the possibility of a fly-in there. Airplanes are apparently discouraged from flying in.”

On her blog Birchler opined, “I got the distinct impression that because it is a state park and not a private enterprise there was no need to worry about the financial success of the airport and maintaining business. Regardless of the fact that our showing up would have increased the utilization of the airport, the lodge, the restaurant, and bucks would have been spent didn’t matter at all. I’m pretty certain that if this had been a privately owned rather than publicly owned airport/resort they would have been happy to have our airplanes fly in, spend money, and use their facilities for 3 days.”

We at ANN are aware that Oklahoma is a very active general aviation state. If there are any other airports in Oklahoma that think they can do better than Lake Murray State Park, we are sure that LadiesLoveTaildraggers would like to hear from you.

FMI: http://www.ladieslovetaildraggers.com/