Flying the L16 in North Carolina

swisspilot

swisspilot

Well-Known Member
Last June I flew this nice L16 while in North Carolina (btw thanks to the JCers that told me about it), the airplane is based at Shiloh Airport N45, North of Winston-Salem almost on the VA border. The airport is really nice, many new hangars and everything looks pretty well kept (the grass seems the one of a golf course), they have a big FBO (nicer then many I saw at fancy airports), a MX facility, fuel and an EEA chapter. I was surprised because there is not really much around the area (just farms), the only planes I saw using the FBO where two private owned SR22 that landed there (that`s probably also, other then us the only traffic at the airport for the day). The owner and CFI of the L16 was really a nice guy, the plane costed me 85$/hour. We took off from the grass right next to the taxiway, closer to the runway there is are the VASIs so you can`t use that space for that. We never touched any cement other then the one of the hangar floor (btw hangars there go for 150$/month!!). We flew to the north and did some landings at a private grass strip, then we flew towards the local mountains and then went to do some landings at a farm, it`s actually a strip, but it`s not on the charts, the landing area is about 1200 with trees on both sides......it was so much fun.

I flew many taildraggers but the L16 is by far the nicest, it`s amazing the forward view you have!! the L16 has also interesting systems, from the fuel and brakes to the fact that it has no mixture.

here some pictures:

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This is the farm strip, with a small WWII hangar
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take off, the trees are close...~1200 feet
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This is the bigger private strip
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alexswisspilot


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That looks like a really cool experience, thanks for sharing! Do you have contact information for that L-16?
 
Ollie said:
That looks like a really cool experience, thanks for sharing! Do you have contact information for that L-16?
Click to expand...

Don Collins is the contact, he also has a Piper cub
http://www.shilohairport.org/pilotsassoc.html

Around the FBO there are many cool guys, lots of former Piedmnot Capts and USAF pilots, the local sheriff is also a really cool guy!!! Nice place Shiloh

That part of NC is really nice! Not far from there, at the twin lakes airport, other really cool place with warbirds and even a USAF T-6 Texan II. To land there it`s pretty hard, you can`t make the usual approach, you have to come in really high and then drop dwon like a rock, the runway is short and in bad shape. The small FBO has a fireplace and boxes of peanuts for pilots hanging out there, the beacon was shut down by some kids (the night before I flew there). The local tobacco company (Raven) owns a c172 (pretty new with dual 430s), you can rent it for 60$/hour dry (fuel is cheap there), the ck out is a piece of cake, and after that you can take the plane when you want, online schedule (I was there for 2 weeks and it was always available).
 
This are some pictures of that C-172 out of twin lakes airport and the wineries in that area

While I was there they sold one of the many private airports, Sugar Valley, had a paved runway built in mid 2000s, lights (VASI too), tons of hangars, a flight school and a lake for float planes all went for 900K dollars.

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Friend of mine flies out of a small strip in NC where there are lots of home-builts and experimentals. Danny (not his real name) was grounded for a while after getting a stent put in and he was at the airport afterwards. One of the old guys mentioned he had not seen Danny flying in some time and Danny said he had temporarily lost his medical. The old guy punched his buddy and said, "What the hell is this medical thang he's tawking about? And why'd ja need one to FLY?"
 
Nice pictures, L16's are a blast to fly. I've flown one once, with a slightly different paint scheme on it. The guy who runs the flight school with it first flew it (this specific airframe) back when he was in the Air Force.

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KSCessnaDriver said:
Nice pictures, L16's are a blast to fly. I've flown one once, with a slightly different paint scheme on it. The guy who runs the flight school with it first flew it (this specific airframe) back when he was in the Air Force.
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the one I flew, back in the days was based in Canada (the guy still has the snow skis), flying for the Civil Air Patrol to spot submarines..
 
Old Dominion Flyer said:
Excellent! I only recognize the place because I was there for a wedding. Yes, it was a JCer. :rawk:
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can you tell me a bit more about the airport? That place is awesome!! I only saw one hangar (btw with an L16 in it), but the guy I flew with told me there are some big t-hangars in the woods. Would be an awesome place to have a small plane based at. Do you live in that part of NC?
 
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