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#1
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What is Mentone like?
Could someone please describe the Mentone experience to me. Things like:
how big is the airport, what kind of facilities, are hotels near by, can I fly commercial airlines to mentone, how hard are to get there from here. Would like to fly in early, see the sights, then fly out late that night. Can this be done? Thanks for your opinions, Chief |
#2
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I feel uniquely qualified to answer.
I chaired the first and second PRA convention at Mentone (96-97) Mentone is a small but nice country airport with one runway, north/south, newly repaved, no taxiways about 2500 feet long. with AVGAS sales. Mentone airport houses the PRA world headquarters (a nicely maintained double wide modular home with a large deck) The Archimedes V/STOL museum (A decent collection of vertical/ short takeoff flying machines and memoribilia) and a reasonably large shower/bathroom facility. A "control" tower (announcers stand) Concession stand with covered dining area and a row of open door T-hangars. PRA owns acres of open land around the runway and has developed some near the T-hangars as motorhome type campsites with water & electric. The surrounding land is flat farmland with the occasional stand of trees. Ideal to fly over. The town of Mentone is a few miles away and is a typical small town. No lodging facilities, but good restaurants. 10-15 miles East, West and Southwest are larger towns with ample motels, stores, shopping and entertainment. They are 10-15 minutes away . Mentone is not too far off of a major interstate (I-80) but is not convenient to reach by scheduled airlines. Airlines service South Bend, Fort Wayne, Chicago and Indianapolis in order of increasing distance. From Chicago's O'hare or Midway airports you are looking at a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. I don't think it would be practical to fly-in to a large airport, drive to Mentone and back in a day. There will be at least a full days worth of things you will want to do at Mentone anyway. If you are into sport rotorcraft this is the place you'll want to be. Bensen days is a very close second but is just as bad or worse from a lodging and transportation standpoint. I hope I've helped, Tom |
#3
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You forgot to give the GPS coordinates. ospam (Gyroplanes) wrote: I feel uniquely qualified to answer. I chaired the first and second PRA convention at Mentone (96-97) Mentone is a small but nice country airport with one runway, north/south, newly repaved, no taxiways about 2500 feet long. with AVGAS sales. |
#4
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Didn't committ them to memory
You forgot to give the GPS coordinates. |
#5
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Forgot to mention The town of Mentone is the birthplace of Lawerence Bell of
Bell Aircraft fame. There is a small museum in town. They have several Bell Helicopters in various stages of restoration |
#6
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Here is a link to an amazing site for aerial photographs.
This should take you to Mentone airport. http://www.acme.com/mapper/?lat=41.1...ale=9&theme=Im age&width=3&height=2&dot=No |
#7
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Thanks, Tom. Just the kind of info I was looking for. Chief
"Gyroplanes" wrote in message ... I feel uniquely qualified to answer. I chaired the first and second PRA convention at Mentone (96-97) Mentone is a small but nice country airport with one runway, north/south, newly repaved, no taxiways about 2500 feet long. with AVGAS sales. Mentone airport houses the PRA world headquarters (a nicely maintained double wide modular home with a large deck) The Archimedes V/STOL museum (A decent collection of vertical/ short takeoff flying machines and memoribilia) and a reasonably large shower/bathroom facility. A "control" tower (announcers stand) Concession stand with covered dining area and a row of open door T-hangars. PRA owns acres of open land around the runway and has developed some near the T-hangars as motorhome type campsites with water & electric. The surrounding land is flat farmland with the occasional stand of trees. Ideal to fly over. The town of Mentone is a few miles away and is a typical small town. No lodging facilities, but good restaurants. 10-15 miles East, West and Southwest are larger towns with ample motels, stores, shopping and entertainment. They are 10-15 minutes away . Mentone is not too far off of a major interstate (I-80) but is not convenient to reach by scheduled airlines. Airlines service South Bend, Fort Wayne, Chicago and Indianapolis in order of increasing distance. From Chicago's O'hare or Midway airports you are looking at a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. I don't think it would be practical to fly-in to a large airport, drive to Mentone and back in a day. There will be at least a full days worth of things you will want to do at Mentone anyway. If you are into sport rotorcraft this is the place you'll want to be. Bensen days is a very close second but is just as bad or worse from a lodging and transportation standpoint. I hope I've helped, Tom |
#8
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If you've not been to Mentone, it's well worth going at least once, more if
you're "really" into rotorcraft. Anyway, they've got a very nice airport that the convention is held at. People fly into and out for the convention all the time by private aviation. Mentone airport is a small uncontrolled field so there's no commercial service there although I wouldn't mind watching a 737 "try" to land there! :-o ;-) The times I've been there (4), it was geared mainly toward gyroplanes but helicopters are always welcome and there were usually several examples of Rotorways, Safari's, and the occasional certified model like a Jet Ranger or Bell 47. Most of the major gyro kit manufacturers show up and demo rides are available as well as a long list of seminars throughout the week on just about any subject related to rotorcraft and experimental aircraft in general. Mentone itself, doesn't have a lot in the way of hotel/motel facilities that I know of. I always stayed in Warsaw, IN. which is about a 20 minute drive away. There are other towns around the area that have hotel/motels available, just check the map. Hope this helps! Fly Safe, Steve R. "Chief McGee" wrote in message news:yWtnc.58183$Ik.4473488@attbi_s53... Could someone please describe the Mentone experience to me. Things like: how big is the airport, what kind of facilities, are hotels near by, can I fly commercial airlines to mentone, how hard are to get there from here. Would like to fly in early, see the sights, then fly out late that night. Can this be done? Thanks for your opinions, Chief |
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