The Saturday before Halloween, the Trenton Flyers held their annual candy drop. This is a chance to get local kids out to the airport for some Halloween fun! An Acey Deucy, specially outfitted with a candy chute controlled from inside the cockpit made several low passes down the wide taxiway at Trenton, dropping candy each time. To ensure that no kids got left out, each drop alternated between the older kids and the younger kids. All appeared to have a great time, with many excited children and parents.
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| The Acey Deucy with candy chute |
On the aircraft side, the Trenton Flyers have this well coordinated. They have a nice loop set up where the pilot can take off from the main runway, turn and drop candy over the taxiway and then land back on the main runway in a very efficient pattern. Volunteers on the ground keep the kids off the taxiway until the plane has cleared the drop zone, and then it becomes a race for them to go grab candy. While this is happening, the plane lands, taxis to a truck with candy laid out in bags in the right amounts to fit in the chute, and reloads for another run.
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| Candy drop! |
A couple of my coworkers actually brought families to the event and were thrilled! They had a great time and said they would definitely be coming back next year!
After the event, all the kids and parents had a chance to meet the pilot and see the plane. He was mobbed!
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| Meeting the plane and pilot after the candy drop |
Once all the excitement had died down, I decided to fly over to Twin Lakes Airpark (S17) with a Stearman. This was a neat little airpark with a vibrant and active flying community. Everyone rides golf carts around to go visit each other. If my dream of having a private airstrip on a ranch doesn't work out for me, this might not be a bad alternative!
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| Twin Lakes Airpark |
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| Parked at Twin Lakes |
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