Pumpkin Drop

October 29, 2011

I arrive at the airport around 11:00am to find a lot of vehicles parked, many people walking about, and a giant pile of pumpkins. It was our 3rd Annual Pumpkin Drop Competition and Open House. We had flight simulators, a bouncy house for kids, music, and Women With Wings  set up a booth in the hanger. On the other side of the airport, the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) had a Corvette car show, a couple military airplanes on display and food. It was quiet the event and many people came out to enjoy it.

I register early for the competition. My boyfriend Dion was to be my bombardier. He has a college background of physics so this gave him the opportunity to use his skills in a fun way. He made some pre-calculations then planned on using the math to determine when and where to drop the pumpkins. He arrives about 12:30 and I show him around, then his family came out to visit. We walk around a bit, I show them the planes I fly, then it's time to get ready. Dion and I were in the first group to compete. The winds are directly from the west, however they request the pilots to use the north runway because the target is next to that runway. This meant we'd have a crosswind. Dion hasn't flown with me in at least six months, and never in this airplane. We're both pretty excited to go.

The first plane takes off. We wait to allow for spacing, then away we go. After climbing to pattern altitude of 1200ft, we follow the pattern around. Once onto final approach, we descend to 800ft that they required, line up with the target, he opens the window, holds out the first pumpkin, and lets go. Five seconds later, splat! We miss. The target is a circle with a 100ft diameter. You get three drops then scoring is based on the distance from the center of the scoring area in feet. Example: 25' = 25 points. If the pumpkin lands outside of the scoring area, you get 50 points. The winner will have the lowest cumulative total from all three bombing runs. Since we completely missed, we're at 50 points and have two more attempts.

We come back around, Dion guides me where he needs me to fly, then drops the pumpkin. A few seconds later, we hear from the ground crew that we hit! That was only 23ft from the center, giving us a total of 73 points. I fly us back around, then away he drops our final pumpkin. Unfortunately, we have no idea where this one went. There were many other competitors left to go, so it would be hours before we got the final results. We come back to land and as we're taxiing to the ramp, we see his family waving at us. I park the plane and we get out. Wow that was fun!

Now it was time to pay it forward and take up a student. When I did the bomb drop competition earlier this year, I didn't have my private pilot certificate yet which meant I couldn't participate unless a pilot took me up. It meant so much to me then, that I decided I would do the same for someone else. I taxi us out to the runway, then explain the rules. We're now ready to go. After all three drops, we come back completely clueless as to how well we did. It's now 2:30pm and I have to clock in to work dispatch. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to visit much with family, see the airplanes on display, or even grab a lunch. It was still fun nonetheless.

Shortly thereafter, I hear the announcement on the radio that the B-25 is getting ready to drop its large amount of pumpkins. I'm inside so I can't watch, but I hear it fly overhead. It's like music to my ears; that's the way a plane should sound.

The event wraps up and most people have left. They finally announce the winner. Dion and I placed 4th out of nearly 50 competitors! For our first time, we were very pleased. But next time, we're definitely going for the win.