Saturday saw the second of three event-filled days of fellowship and flight at the Pine Bluff Regional Airport-Grider Field. Despite inclement weather filling the skies across the country, intrepid aviators winged their way to Pine Bluff, dodging storms from as far away as Seattle.
Twenty single-engine planes, flown by visiting Black Pilots of America members, arrived from 12 states for the 27th annual Operation Skyhook.
Besides honoring the legacy of Black aviators such as the WWII Tuskegee Airmen, Black Pilots of America is fulfilling a vital role in the future of American aviation.
Ten members of the Seattle-based Red-Tailed Hawks traveled to Pine Bluff for the special weekend. Besides two Red-Tailed members taking commercial airlines, eight others piloted three single-engine Cessnas from as far away as 2,300 miles to match skills with fellow flyers from 18 BPA chapters.
Washington native Jesse Hayes led the group of young aviators in their cross-country flight.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We’re the largest BPA chapter in the country, with 155 members,” Hayes said. “We base our success on the fact that we run three flight camps each year and conduct year-round youth camps. We also do a once-a-year Flight Lessons for Youth program to get young people involved and excited about flying.”
BPA event leader Fred Lewis said he’s always excited about Operation Skyhook.
“We enjoy the city and having the opportunity to entertain the people, but above all we enjoy competing against one another. You have to remember, these guys travel far distances to join this good-natured test of skill,” Lewis said.
Lewis shared the winning pilots from Friday’s pylon races. Categories are based on performance and achievable speeds of varying aircraft. Winners included Asher Tungsvik, from Washington state, in cat 2, along with his fellow Red-Tailed Hawk Axel Scale in cat 3. Cat 4 winner was Richardo Astillo II, from Pennsylvania.
Lewis stated how in an effort to get more children and young people excited about flying, a new event — drone races — has been added to the Saturday lineup of activities.
Due to the effect of high winds predicted for Saturday, some activities, including the balloon burst and spot landing competitions, originally slated for Sunday moved up a day, while the flour bombing activity was pushed back in hopes of calmer conditions for the finale.
As a result, the second day of aerial competitions began at 10 a.m. with the challenging balloon burst contest, where pilots fly their propeller through a rapidly rising helium-filled balloon. As of Saturday afternoon, 19-year-old Kendall “Tye” Moore II from Griffin, Fla., was well in the lead, skillfully navigating his prop through a dozen consecutive balloons.
The afternoon competition concluded with spot landings, where each pilot touched down as near an appointed mark on the tarmac as possible.
Following the day’s final competition, another 50+ youngsters took advantage of free airplane rides to become Young Eagles.
Activities at the airport will begin again Sunday at 10, with each aviator making a pass over the airport runway from an elevation no less than 200 feet. Lining up on a 10-foot-by-10-foot ground target, pilots focus all their energies on launching a small bag of flour out of the aircraft window, with the intent of landing the flour bomb as near as possible to the tiny target. Maintaining sufficient airspeed for safe flight while observing the target through the airplane prop proves among one of the greater challenges pilots face over the course of the Memorial Day weekend.
While each day has been well attended, judging from previous occasions, Sunday should see the largest turnout of all three days. The festivities will culminate around 5 p.m. with one final round of free airplane rides for children.
Sunday night will see visiting flyers honored with an awards banquet in the Pine Bluff Convention Center, where the top scorer in all competitions will be crowned “TOP GUN” for 2024.
Saturday competitions featured the balloon bursting contest where pilots fly their prop through a rapidly rising helium filled balloon. (Special to The Commercial/Richard Ledbetter)
Some of the youngest aviators came to Pine Bluff from Seattle, Wash., to compete in Operation Skyhook. (From left) They are Joseph Truss, 22, sponsors Jesse Hayes and Harish Agarwal, 50+, Taylor Clark, 30, Zandar Hamilton, 19, Asher Tungsvik ,21, Vismay Patel, 18, Axel Scales, 20, David Benton III, 24, Wanda V. Neal with Pine Bluff Regional Chamber of Commerce, and James Njane, 27. (Special to The Commercial/Richard Ledbetter)