KR GATHERING 2022—MOUNT VERNON AIRPORT

Approximately 30-40 KR enthusiasts attended the 2022 KR Gathering in Mount Vernon, Illinois from September 8-10.  While attendance was down somewhat from previous gatherings, the crowd who attended had a great time renewing old friendships and looking at some great aircraft. 9 KR airplanes attended. The farthest distance flown was from Hillsboro, Oregon by John Bouyea in his KR-2S though he flew on the wing of Sam Spanovich from Anacortes, WA.  Jeff Scott (a former KR builder and pilot) arrived in his Grizzy Cub and gave several introductory flights.  Several of the KR owners gave rides as well.

Forums were conducted including weight & Balance, KR aircraft general information and a FreeBird update by Mark Langford. 

There was lots of great food during the event including a Thursday evening catered meal by SRT Aviation, the servicing FBO on the field for all attendees, both KR fellows and the entire LSA Expo gang of presenters and prospective customers. Saturday evening many KR attendees dined together in the big conference room preceding the awards program. All the "regular attendees" that couldn't make this years Gathering were sorely missed.

The following photos courtesy of Mark Langford and Rob Schmitt;

Sam Spanovich arriving

Accompanied by John Bouyea

Not sure what John Schaffer was measuring here...

A line-up of KRs, "almost as far as the eye can see..."

Some of the airplanes on the line;

Some cockpit views;

And some detail views of John Shaffer's amazing retractable tri-gear;

Jeff Scott gave many rides to familarize attendees with control charactistics of the Grizzy Cub, just for fun. Jeff has over 1400 hours in KRs and certainly helped teach slow flight concepts to John, Sam and others. You can read about Jeff's projects and planes here; http://jeffsplanes.com
 

An ideallic photo of camping down by the lakeside, home of the KR Campers and evenings for a camp fire and root beer telling stories, jokes and a few lies perhaps...

The Awards Dinner took place Saturday evening.

Awards;

Farthest distance - 133RM John Bouyea

Peoples Choice - 738EM Roger Baalman

Much thanks to Chris Collins and Larry Flesner for co-hosting this great event!

The 2023 KR Gathering will be held in Mount Vernon, Illinois September 14-16, 2023. Chris Collins (the airport manager) will be the primary host assisted by other KR Gathering regulars.