Green Sea Airport (S79) is a sleepy jewel of a rural airstrip, 3,600 feet of coastal Bermuda grass only 25 miles inland from the tourist center of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Only one airplane is hangared at the field and the plane’s owner, Cody Herring, decided a fly-in would be a good way to stimulate aviation activity in the area. He tried first in 2019 and half a dozen planes and a handful of visitors showed up.
Undaunted by the light turnout, Herring sent out invitations again this year, expanding his fly-in announcements to social media outlets and pilot publications. And on a sunny Saturday morning in early November 2020 his persistence was rewarded when 60 aircraft and at least 200 visitors showed up for one of the liveliest fly-ins of recent years in South Carolina.
Aviators from throughout the Palmetto State, plus flying visitors from as far away as Maryland, began arriving at S79 early Saturday morning Nov. 7. For a private-public use airport that averages perhaps a dozen operations over an entire month, the 10 aircraft in the pattern at one time around 10 a.m. was a big tipoff that something unusual was underway.
“Last year at the fly-in we ended up with seven planes, mine and four other Kitfoxes plus a Piper Clipper and a Piper Pacer,” Herring said. “This year I told my wife Megan that if I had 30 airplanes I would be happy. I had over 50, probably 60 since I didn’t get a good count until after some planes had departed.”
Herring, who began flight lessons in 2017 and earned his private pilot’s certificate in 2018, purchased a Kitfox in 2019. He built a hangar at S79 and looks after the grounds of the airport for the sons of the late Bud Shaw, founder of the airport.
“Loren Shaw and Billy Shaw both live in Florida and I maintain it for them,” Herring said of the 85-acre airfield section of the 340-acre farm.
Herring did not charge admission and spent his own money to ensure the facilities and food measured up for the fly-in.
“We had a food truck that had a line most of the morning and also an ice cream truck with free ice cream for kids,” he explained. “I also arranged for a bathroom trailer. It was far superior to a porta-potty. The overall feedback on everything was good.”
Visitors David and Sandy Amsdell said it was their first fly-in since moving from Ohio to South Carolina. They flew approximately 120 miles in their Cessna 170 from their home airport, Gilbert International Airpark (SC45), a grass airfield a few miles west of Columbia, S.C.
By contrast, local pilot William Cox III had to cover only 16 miles from his private airstrip, Cox Field (81NC). Cox and a friend, Alex Newsom of Cheraw, S.C., had the most impressive arrival in a formation flight of their two Bucker Jungmann biplanes.
Cox, flying N351BJ and Newsom in N1017U, crossed at midfield, turned downwind and then executed precision landings in their aircraft.
Legend Cub pilot Joey Humphrey, who flew the short distance from his home field at Bladenboro, N.C. (3W6), said he enjoyed the opportunity to attend a fly-in.
A few aircraft away Hank Grenfell, who flew his Breezy, N29JK, over from neighboring Hardee Airpark (SC21), spent time answering questions about his no cockpit, high wing pusher aircraft.
“This year four aircraft owners camped out overnight for the event and I hope that number will increase for the next fly-in,” Herring said. “We had quite a few RVs. We got a nice fly-by low pass from Al Allen in a Thrush Ag plane. One guy flew all the way from Southern Maryland in a Bellanca Scout. He stayed until Sunday.”
Herring, an agronomist, said, “I had an interest early on in flying, particularly during my time before service in the National Guard, but it was later in my 30s when I flew with a neighbor to survey local flooding that I really got interested again. That got me started and I got my private pilot’s certificate and am working on my instrument rating. I bought a Kitfox, N9294Y. It’s a 1995 Model 4 with a 100 horsepower Rotax. And I now have about 300 hours in my logbook.”
The aircraft came with floats and Herring says he lives along a wide, nearly mile-long stretch of the nearby Little Pee Dee River.
“I hope to get my float plane rating and one day tie up my plane on a local sandbar,” he said.
The Herrings have become a flying family.
“I’ve flown my wife Megan to the Bahamas for vacation in a rental Cirrus,” Cody noted. “Our boys, Finn, 6, Spencer, 4, and Shep, 2, already have flight suits. And Finn already says he’s going in the Navy and fly jets.”
Another of Herring’s flying goals for 2021 is to get multi-engine rated.
“We would like to get a Cessna 310 so that we can travel,” he said. “When I flew Megan to the Bahamas in the Cirrus that opened her eyes on how much smaller the world becomes in an airplane. She is 100% supportive, which means a lot.”
Megan Herring is a nurse anesthetist at an area medical center.
Herring said he dubbed the 2020 event the inaugural Green Sea Fly-In.
“We’re already planning for a better event next year,” he said.
Because the comments seem to be getting unbalanced on the side of masking, I’ll jump in here on behalf of the unmasked. This looks like a freedom-loving crowd, enjoying themselves on private property. I applaud the fact that this event happened at all, given everything else this year has folded to hysteria and/or government oppression. As I said in my earlier comment, well done America, we need more of this.
I love flying and people who fly. I was a military and airline and fun pilot. My wife is a front-line physician and chief of medical staff in a rural hospital. If you could see her beloved patients die day after day you wouldn’t spout nonsense about “mental health” when someone speaks of masks. Masks worn by everyone is necessary until we get everyone vaccinated. Otherwise people will die unnecessarily decades before they’d naturally expire. Wear a mask at airshows and anywhere you’re outside your home and around others.
Agreed. As pilots, we should base risk assessment on reality and risk management on good judgment. No need to create an aviation mini-version of the Sturgis super-spreader event. That said, this event appears to have been all outdoors, fairly low density, and it may have been that folks kept well-distanced from non-family members. Tough to tell from the photos. Still, given what I’ve seen since April, I sure haven’t attended events without a mask.
Always good to see people dealing with the Pandemic in a positive way. Looks like not everyone was onboard with masking? It’s not that big of a deal wearing one when you are around others and it does save lives…. all pilots should be united on this simple act of common sense and basic risk management….. It should not even be a debate among aviators.
Mr. Herring and the 200+ attendees were not scared off by the pandemic. To the contrary, there were likely immeasurable mental health benefits, as all got up in the air and gathered together (safely, of course!) away from the stressful topics of network and cable news shows and the Internet. Hope Green Sea 2021 is even bigger and better!
This is so awesome, America at its best!