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Fly-Ins & Air ShowsVORs – and the ink barely dry on mynew instrument ticket. After a missedapproach to accommodate an inboundNorthwest flight, I opted for betterweather towards the south. The TwinCities went down, but Eau Claire wasstill okay, and further south, better yet,so I had options.When I got 100 miles south ofDuluth, there was an opening in theclouds and directly below was Rice LakeMunicipal Airport, and the runwaylights were on. I made my approachand when on short final, the runwaylights went out, and the ground and skyturned black. Apparently someone hadjust landed, and the lights timed out. Iquickly keyed my microphone and thelights came back quickly and bright –too bright. In my haste to get the lightsback on, I clicked two too many times,but I didn’t really care. I had lights andlanded.Carrying two young children, wewalked into the airport office and therelaid Carl Rindlisbacher on the couch,sound asleep. “Hey Carl…Dave here. Isthere a hotel nearby.”A little startled Carl awoke andasked where I had come from. “Musthave fallen to sleep, Dave,” he replied.“Just a block down the street is a greatBest Western Inn with a pool andeverything.”So we grabbed our bags, walkeddown the street and checked in. Thekids were happy…the wife was happy…and it felt good to be on the ground.The next day the weather was perfectand we continued our trip to Duluth,but we could have just as easily stayedin Rice Lake and enjoyed one of dozensof resorts and hotels, and the manyrecreational activities. Rice Lake is theclassic northern Wisconsin vacationdestination, offering the best of allworlds, from great fishing, hiking,biking and ATVing, to shopping andlive theatre. Rice Lake is north of Eau,and northwest of the Twin Cities. Foradditional information on visiting RiceLake, refer to ricelakewis.com.In 1995, the airport was movedfrom close to town to the outskirts andrenamed Rice Lake Regional Airport –Carl’s Field (KRPD) in memory of CarlTanis Announces New President/CEO At AirVentureEDEN PRAIRIE, MINN. – Tanis Aircraft Products has named DouglasJ. Evink, President and Chief Operating Officer. Bob Krueger will remainChairman of the Board and active in the company, which he solely owneduntil now. Among Tanis’ many aircraft and helicopter standard typecertificates is their recent approval to install the Tanis preheat system onthe Cessna Skycatcher 162 Light Sport Aircraft.Tanis has a manufacturing facility in Glenwood, Minnesota, andcorporate sales offices at Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.Other members of the executive staff include Dirk Ellis and ChristineWetherell.Rindlisbacher, who had passed awayby then. There are two runways – one6700 feet long by 100 feet wide (01/19),and a crosswind runway 3500 by 75feet (31/13). There are ILS and GPSapproaches, and AWOS. Just rememberthat it is “right traffic” for Runways 01and 31.The modern 4,000 square footterminal building has all of theconveniences, including an executiveconference/training room, pilot loungeand showers, passenger waiting room,and heated hangars. Rice Lake AirCenter is the full-service fixed baseoperator on the field, and there is a fulltimeairport manager. There’s still over900 acres waiting to be developed on theairport property, so plenty of room togrow.The airport held its annual fly-inAugust 11, 2012 and the turnout wasexcellent. It was nice to return underbetter flight conditions.For additional information on RiceLake Regional Airport – Carl’s Field,contact airport manager Jerry Stites at715-458-4401.q(L/R) Bob Krueger, Doug Evink, ChristineWetherell, and Dirk Ellis at their outdoorexhibit at EAA AirVenture-Oshkosh 2012.30 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012 MIDWEST FLYER MAGAZINETanis Aircraft Products is the leadingmanufacturer of preheat systems forgeneral aviation aircraft. Since 1973,Tanis has been the innovator in aircraftpreheat systems, delivering reliablesolutions for critical aircraft operations.For additional information call1-800-443-2136 (U.S. and most ofCanada) or 952-224-4425 worldwide(www.TanisAircraft.com). q