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Eye in the Sky

Capitalizing on the business of aerial drones

Story by Jim Smothers
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

You can thank General George S. Patton if you’ve seen a small UFO buzzing around Lake Logan Martin recently. Chances are good you were watching one of David Smith’s remote controlled copters. Smith and his son, Cameron, have three copters set up for taking videos and still photos, and they hope to get in on the ground floor of potential business opportunities using the small flying machines.

What does Patton have to do with it?

The colorful general put one of his ivory-handled pistols to the head of Smith’s father, Walter, during one of his infamous fits of anger during World War II. That evening, motorcycle courier Smith saw a sign in the mess hall asking for volunteers to sign up for the Army Air Corps, which seemed a much more attractive place to serve.

Smith flew 49 missions in B-17s, most of them in a bomber he named for his wife, the Birmingham Jewell. That plane flew 128 missions, a record at the time.

Smith returned to Alabama to operate an aviation business that inspired his sons to learn about flying, a family tradition now reaching down to his great grandson.

David Smith seemed destined to get involved with today’s generation of remotely controlled aircraft. His background includes remotely controlled aircraft, he’s been a licensed General Aviation pilot for 30 years, he worked as an electronics communication technician for a number of years, and more recently he has worked as a videographer for ESPN. If you’ve seen Chris Fowler and Desmond Howard on ESPN’s College Game Day, you’ve seen his work. He hasn’t missed a national championship game in 20 years.

Smith started flying string-controlled model airplanes when he was seven years old, and graduated to flying radio-controlled airplanes as a teenager. He and his brother, Walt, once mounted a small camera in the cockpit of one of their models and succeeded in taking photos during flight using old-school technology.

Call them what you will — drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, multirotor systems or remotely controlled airplanes and helicopters — they’ve gotten a lot of attention in the past few years. Military uses first caught the world’s attention, with pilots comfortably and safely operating surveillance and weapons systems from a safe distance, sometimes a half a world away.

Now there are remotely controlled copters so small and inexpensive they are being sold as toys and recommended for indoor use only.

Flightworthy units are also becoming more available and more affordable, opening the doors to new opportunities for recreation and service to more people.

Smith sees a number of ways to use the machines as flying camera platforms to provide valuable visual information in a number of ways. The regulatory environment is currently something of a gray area. The Federal Aviation Administration has been given until next year to propose rules and regulations for the small flying machines, and Smith wants to get in on the ground floor of providing low level aerial photography services.

He’s a member of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), and he’s taking pains to be responsible with his flights.

“We don’t fly higher than 400 feet, we always keep a line of sight on them, and there’s always a spotter with me,” he said. “We also have $2 million of liability insurance.”

When taking a copter up, Smith is the pilot, and Cameron is the photographer. Cameron also makes sure his dad isn’t interrupted while flying.

“If you’re out where other people are around, sometimes they’ll want to come up and talk while you’re flying,” he said. “Cameron talks to them until we get it back on the ground.”

Smith said they’re careful not to fly over people, and to get permission before flying over other people’s property.

He and others interested in using the new technology are concerned that negative publicity could result in overregulation that would impair growth of a the new industry.

“The Association (AUVSI) estimates that by 2018 there could be 70,000 jobs created and $2 billion changing hands,” he said.

As for how they could be used, Smith said they could be helpful in many ways.

“Farmers could fly these over fields to survey crops and see if there are any problem areas, such as where water is needed. They could be used for inspections for cell phone and radio towers, solar panels and windmills without having to send a man up there,” he said.

They could also be used to assist in the inspections of bridges and steeples, reducing the danger and expense of putting a person at risk. Aerial photography can be used to monitor progress at construction sites, to survey tracts of property, and in providing detailed mapping. They could also be used in searches for missing persons and surveying damage after a storm or flood.

And of course, there are more traditional uses of the airborne cameras, providing new angle for photos and videos of landmarks, recreational activities, landscapes and more.

“There are thousands of ways these things can be used to make our lives better,” Smith said. “I see them all the time in movies and reality TV shows, too. You can tell. These can’t be flown higher than 400 feet, but airplanes and helicopters aren’t supposed to fly below 1,000 feet. There’s a much more detailed view at the lower level.”

But he has concerns about how negative publicity could result in unreasonable restrictions being placed on their use.

Even though they’re being used all over the country and around the world, most of the time news articles are written when there is a problem with them.

Smith mentioned a case in Serbia when someone flew a remote copter onto a soccer field carrying an Albanian flag during a match between the two countries.

“That just about caused a riot,” he said. “I don’t want to see idiots ruin it for the people that want to make a living doing this.”

He said reactions to the machines have been mixed. Most people seem to be interested and impressed by what they can do. Some see them as a threat to privacy.

“These things are as noisy as they can be,” Smith said. “I don’t see how you could use them to spy on anyone. But like anything else, it’s all in the hands of whoever is using it.”

Smith has used his copters to capture videos of windsurfers on the lake, unique views of Bald Rock at Mount Cheaha, of watching the floodgates open at Logan Martin Dam and many other scenes.

While there are toy remote copters available very cheaply, those capable of carrying higher quality cameras cost a bit more. The Smiths currently have three copters and accessories valued at about $30,000. Two of the units are DJI Phantom quadcopters equipped with GoPro cameras. The third is a more expensive and more powerful octocopter, which carries a Canon digital SLR. The camera mount for that copter — the gimbal — is equipped with servo motors to provide movement for different angles of view, and is so finely balanced it works only with one specific camera model and one specific lens. The gimbal alone was a $3,000 expense.

The octocopter with the camera mounted and batteries installed weighs in at 22 and a half pounds and provides about 15 minutes of flight time on a set of rechargeable batteries, which cost about $600.

The models he uses are equipped with GPS sensors that can detect their precise launching point. In the unlikely case that the remote control should fail, they are programmed to return to that spot on their own. They also sense their own battery levels, and are programmed to return to that spot before they lose power.

Smith said he typically spends about three hours on maintenance for every hour of flight time. He uses a torque tool to check every screw on every copter, and keeps logs on how many times each battery is used and charged. And like any good pilot, he uses checklists to make sure he’s not overlooking anything that could result in a failed flight.

Editor’s note: Smith expects his website to be up by the time this edition of Discover is published, where viewers can see some of his videos. Check it out at StarAerial.com

Features

St. Vincent’s St. Clair Three Years

Surgical Services above equal

Story by Graham Hadley
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

It’s been three years since the dream of a new hospital in St. Clair County officially became a reality when the new St. Vincent’s St. Clair opened its doors just across Interstate 20 from the center of Pell City.

The underlying goals were to create a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art medical facility that had a warm, welcoming — and comforting atmosphere, all of which are part of the overall big-picture goal of better serving the people of St. Clair County and surrounding communities.

To that end, St. Vincent’s has gone beyond all expectations and continues to do so, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the on-site surgical facilities and services.

“St. Vincent’s St. Clair offers a very unique opportunity to a growing community,” said Dr. Jeffrey D. Lawler, an orthopedic and sports medicine surgeon. “Being centrally located, St. Vincent’s St. Clair allows patients to have world-class care without having to travel. Having a surgical procedure can be a stressful experience. St. Vincent’s staff, operating facility, and state-of the-art equipment help eliminate a lot of these stressors and make for a positive experience.”

A new day for surgeons …
And patients
Because of the forward-looking approach the hospital designers took back in the early planning stages, St. Vincent’s is able to offer surgical procedures to residents in the region that before would have required a trip to Birmingham or another big city.

According to Director of Surgical Services Kara Chandler, St. Vincent’s St. Clair offers colorectal surgery, epidurals, gastroenterology, general surgery, gynecology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, otolaryngology (ENT), pain management, urology, vascular surgery and more.

“In the near future, we will start performing minimally invasive weight-loss surgery, including lap band, laparoscopic gastric bypass and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy,” said Dr. Jay Long, general and bariatric surgeon.

“There are 24 specialists on staff here at St. Clair — 16 surgeons in the ORs, and eight gastroenterologists work in our GI Labs,” Chandler said.

Not only are these procedures available right here in St. Clair, but because of advances in medicine and surgical technology and techniques being implemented at St. Vincent’s, they can mean a much shorter stay in the hospital and, in many cases, a less painful and quicker recovery for the patients.

Foremost among those advancements is the continual honing and perfecting of laparoscopic surgical procedures. Where before, surgeons would have to literally open up a patient, cutting through many tissue layers and muscle with large incisions, now they can make several small incisions and, with the aid of a flexible scope and tools, perform many surgeries in a much less invasive way, said Dr. Scott Smith, a general surgeon and medical director and section chief of Surgical Services at St. Vincent’s St. Clair.

That means a better outlook for the patient — fewer complications and a much faster recovery. Some surgeries that would require a week or more recovery in the hospital now only require a two- to three-day stay. After most surgeries performed at St. Vincent’s St. Clair, the patients can leave after a day. Some surgeries are even done on an out-patient basis.

“Laparoscopy has been one of the most revolutionary things in medicine, especially when it comes to patient recovery and decreased post surgical pain and discomfort,” Smith said. “What was a former six-week recovery for gall bladder surgery now can mean a return to normal activity in a week. … Colon surgery can be done with a three-day stay instead of seven-day stay.”

Many of the most common procedures — appendectomies, hernia repair, gall bladder surgery and other basic gastro intestinal surgeries fall into those categories.

In a similar vein, the hospital also can do endoscopic GI procedures, sometimes in conjunction with the laparoscopic surgery. St. Vincent’s utilizes laparoscopic and endoscopic equipment that is cross compatible with the hookups in the operating rooms.

“We have two GI Suites that are designed with identical equipment so the physicians are comfortable in both rooms. Our GI Suites are state of the art with high-definition digital endoscopic equipment and video tower systems. Our video screens are suspended from the ceiling to allow maximum room and convenience,” Chandler said.

Attention to design
That cross compatibility did not happen by accident. St. Vincent’s St. Clair has two operating suites and two gastrointestinal suites — and their design could be called an industry-setting standard.

The large operating suites have all of the major equipment suspended by booms over the surgical areas. This means nurses and doctors have plenty of room to move around and work on their patients without bulky equipment getting in the way.

“The rooms were custom designed with the equipment centrally located around the surgical table. The equipment is suspended on towers from the ceiling and move in any direction to accommodate the visual needs of the surgeon. This allows for optimal positioning of the healthcare team without requiring them to maneuver around the equipment,” Chandler said.

For orthopedic surgeons — another common surgery performed at the new St. Clair hospital — that is of primary importance. Those surgeries, in particular, use lots of equipment that requires a lot of space.

Thanks to the large operating suites at St. Vincent’s St. Clair, they have all the space they need.

“We have a luxurious orthopedic surgical suite that is significantly larger than the other room to accommodate orthopedic surgery, which requires a great deal of equipment and instrumentation,” Chandler said.

To further cater to the special needs of the surgeons, nurses and other doctors and staff involved in the complicated surgical process, the hospital sets up the rooms identically — the equipment and the surgical tools are in the same place in each room. That makes it much easier for them to move from one surgery to the next without having to readapt to a different surgical environment each time.

The laparoscopic surgery is the future of surgical medical care, and the equipment at St. Vincent’s reflects that. The fiber-optic light and camera are connected to the latest high-definition monitors so the surgeons can see exactly what they need to while operating remotely through flexible laparoscopic sleeves.

Because not all surgery can be conducted laparoscopically, surgical theater lighting is of the utmost importance. Like the high-definition monitors, the better the lighting, the better the surgeons can see what they are doing.

Replacing the traditional doctor’s halogen lights are new low-shadow LED lighting systems that not only provide doctors with a good view of what they are doing, they generate much less heat than the older lighting systems — something that is very important during longer surgeries.

“The lights in our operating rooms are innovative technology. The lights hover from a boom over the operating room table. They are simple to position and have shadow control. The lights are designed for heat reduction so the surgical team does not become overheated during the surgery,” Chandler said.

As a bonus, the modern equipment is infinitely more energy efficient than its older counterparts.

Those advances carry over to the GI labs, said Dr. Owen McLean, one of the gastroenterologists at St. Vincent’s St. Clair. “The equipment is excellent, and the staff are well trained to work with the surgical and endoscopic cases.”

In addition to scheduled surgeries, the surgical staff is on hand to support cases that come in through the emergency room. Though they are not a trauma center, they provide whatever surgical procedures are immediately necessary and within their scope, even if the patient ultimately requires transfer to Birmingham for more specialized trauma care.

All about the care
What ultimately makes the difference at St. Vincent’s St. Clair is the quality of the staff and the importance they all place on patient care and serving the community’s needs. With all the new equipment, all the special considerations the designers made when planning the surgical suites and GI labs — as amazing as all of the technology is — it still comes down to quality care. And they all are benefits patients receive locally without a long drive to a big-city hospital.

The new hospital boasts a wide array of talented physicians who bring a growing number of specialties to the table, from general surgery to pediatric care and orthopedic medicine.

A big part of what is attracting this deep pool of talent to St. Clair is the cutting-edge facility and the hospital’s proactive approach to patient care.

For Smith, who “practices the full scope of general surgery,” the decision to come to Pell City was easy.

“With the move to this facility, it became clear there was a need in this community. There were new industries, new population. There was a population here that did not want to go to Birmingham,” he said.

“The facilities are on par with any facility I have operated in. The advanced equipment is here to do the laparoscopies. The staff and the expertise to do that are here, so it was an easy choice for me to come to St. Vincent’s St. Clair.”

The other side of that is the experienced and professional nursing and support staff, who make it their No. 1 concern to work with the physicians to provide the best patient care possible.

“Here at St. Clair we have the most wonderful surgical team any hospital could ever ask for. Our registered nurses hold dual certifications for both adults and pediatrics and offer over 100 years of combined nursing experience,” Chandler said.

And for the people who make St. Vincent’s St. Clair the top-notch medical facility that it is, serving the local residents who depend on them is the ultimate end game.

That they can do it here in Pell City, providing premium medical care to people not just from St. Clair County, but surrounding areas as well, is a testament to just how well the dream of creating this new hospital here has succeeded.

That achievement is reflected not just in the growing medical offerings at the hospital, but the continually positive response those associated with the hospital receive from the surrounding community, patients and their loved ones.

“I think the community has been receptive to the increased service line here at this hospital. I continue to hear good feedback from people and their families who have been patients here, and not just people I have treated, about the quality of care here,” Smith said.

For the doctors, nurses and staff, nothing is a better measure of St. Vincent’s St. Clair’s success.

“We just want to offer a high level of health care here locally so patients can feel like they are getting first-class medical care at their doorstep without having to go to Birmingham,” Smith said. “With the facilities here and the influx of medical specialties, we are providing that.”

Chandler agreed, “This team is more than a team — it’s a family, and they have one mission — to offer our patients the highest standard of care and services. They collaborate each day regarding each and every case, making sure they have everything they need for the patient. They help each other in every circumstance — they are partners.”

Take to the Skies

Destination:
St. Clair Airport

Story and Photos by Jerry C. Smith
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Peeking through a fence at Pell City’s St. Clair County Airport, 9-year-old Aaron Mathis already knows without a doubt what he wants to do for a living: he will be an airline pilot. For Aaron, this little country airport would soon become a field of dreams.

Established a few years after Logan Martin Lake was first created, St. Clair Airport, known officially as KPLR Hugghins Field, would one day cater to young Aaron’s aspirations, along with many others bitten by the aviation bug.

In 1966, Dr. Horace Clayton, an aviation medical examiner, secured a tract of farmland from Marlin Hugghins, a St. Clair businessman whose family still runs Hugghins Sod Farms. It was officially designated as airport property under a lease/payoff agreement with the newly-formed St. Clair County Airport Authority.

The airport’s infrastructure was built by insurance magnate Kyle Vess, under the name of KV Aviation, including the field’s first flight training school. KPLR was a deluxe operation from the start. The opening-day ceremony in 1966 was attended by Gov. George Wallace.

The runway, taxiway and airport grounds were kept in immaculate condition. No expense was spared to provide the best facilities and services available. Vess even built a control tower in anticipation of a great increase in air traffic, but it was never used except during air shows.

Robert Waldrop, who worked there as a lineman before moving into aircraft mechanics, tells of actually rolling out red carpets before the doors of visiting aircraft, while other linemen worked at clearing windscreens and leading edges of wings from dirt, smears and bugs, then waxing them for smoother airflow.

Robert got started in aviation at Talladega Airport as a lineman and general helper for $15 a week plus one hour of flight time, but soon moved to St. Clair, where he enjoyed a lifelong career of some 56 years in aircraft maintenance.

Discover St. Clair photographer Mike Callahan, who also worked at the airport in those days, recalls that Kyle Vess was one of those truly charismatic people whom everyone liked and trusted. He was a large man, very tall and weighing in at more than 400 pounds. Everyone appreciated the way he treated employees and customers. Many who knew Vess agree that, generally speaking, no nicer man ever ran a better airfield anywhere.

KPLR’s aircraft maintenance and avionics shops were so well-equipped and proficient that planes were brought in from hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away for service. Birmingham-based Bill Woods Beechcraft routinely used these shops. All of Vess’ aircraft technicians were also rated pilots who could test-fly their work. Mike relates that the shop’s manager, Gene Tuggle, was very easy to work for and understood young people.

According to Mike, one of Tuggle’s top priorities was teaching his men to avoid walking into spinning propellers, which is more common around airfields than one would think. His workers and other airport personnel got reduced rates at the flying school. Vess would also help them go to college. Mike says the avionics shop, managed by Horace Diehl, operated around the clock in times of special need.

A popular hub
St. Clair Airport became a base for several military reserve units, such as 87 Maneuver Area Command (aka 87th MAC), and the 121st Aerial Recon Wing. Military versions of civilian aircraft were kept there, including Beechcraft Queen Airs, UH1 Huey helicopters, DeHavilland Beavers, L19 recon planes, OH58 Bell Kiowa helicopters, and a host of related equipment. One of KPLR’s Hueys was later recognized by its tail number in a news film as a copter being shoved off the side of a ship during the Vietnam evacuation.

The now-defunct Pine Harbor Golf & Racquet Club also had an airport connection. You knew you had become part of the local inner circle if you had a membership at PHG&R, a home on the lake, and an airplane at St. Clair airport. The club also had a seaplane facility at its Lake Logan Martin pier.

Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass visited KPLR in the 1980s in a plane emblazoned with a saxophone emblem.

However, Vess’ dream of an aviation empire would soon be halted by a process better explained by accountants and lawyers. In the mid-1970s, the field was transferred to St. Clair Airport Authority, which has owned and controlled it ever since. Sadly, Mr. Vess went to jail.

After the changeover, a southeastern distributorship for Cessna aircraft and a new flight school were established under the aegis of Sunny South Aviation in Florida. The flying school kept Handy Ellis and two other instructors busy training new pilots and re-certifying others with former military air service.

Present airport manager Bob Brown ferried new Cessnas from the factory to Sunny South in those days. He often stopped for fuel and a layover in St. Clair, never suspecting he would one day manage the airport.

Although a little belt-tightening became necessary, St. Clair Airport remained in service as a general aviation field which would soon became a mecca for area recreational pilots.

$50 hamburgers
Aaron is in Seventh Heaven. Having arrived at Sammie’s Touch & Go just after the doors opened, he is soon surrounded by dozens of veteran pilots, weekend patch pirates and hangar bums. The grassy field in front of Sammie’s hosts three or four dozen small aircraft, vintage warplanes, ultralights, even a powered paraglider. Aaron’s left ear is glued to a hand-held aircraft scanner as even more pilots fill the local Unicom frequency with radio chatter as they vie for landing clearance.

Sammie’s Touch & Go was named after its founder, Sammie Moore, and for a practice maneuver familiar to all pilots. Founded in 2000 as a place where Sammie could meet, eat and mingle with his flying buddies on a regular basis, it soon evolved into a fine public restaurant, patronized by hundreds. Their motto was DRIVE IN OR FLY IN, offering flying visitors a large, grassy aircraft parking area just off the north taxiway.

Local Chapter 1320 of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) was also formed in 2000, for the benefit of dozens of recreational flyers and home-made aircraft builders who frequented St. Clair Airport. Membership quickly swelled to about 85, and the chapter was very busy for the next five or six years with all kinds of flying events and sponsorships. Sammie began holding monthly Fly-In Breakfast events to sponsor EAA1320 and to provide yet another reason for his flying friends to congregate.

Places like Sammies are where the term “$50 hamburger” originated. Pilots often traveled hundreds of miles to visit plane-friendly cafes, and since there is no cheap way to fly any kind of aircraft, it was often joked that the hamburger they ate for lunch cost them at least 50 bucks. These days, though, it’s more like a hundred-dollar burger at the few such places that still exist.

Tommy Thompson, local general contractor, plane builder and pilot, said, “Everyone loved coming (to Sammie’s). It was a friendly local hangout for pilots and has contributed a lot to general aviation in central Alabama.”

Sadly, Sammie lost his life in March 2002 when his Breezy experimental plane took a sudden plunge into the ground shortly after takeoff. It was a devastating blow to the community, resulting in one of the largest funerals in St. Clair history. But his charisma lived on, and so did Sammie’s and the monthly Fly-Ins.

On a nice Saturday morning, it usually hosted 30-40 small planes, their pilots and friends thronging the restaurant and grounds. For a small sum that went to benefit local EAA programs, visitors could gorge on eggs, biscuits, gravy, grits, pancakes, juice, hash browns, omelets and coffee while enjoying abundant camaraderie. Local folks also loved to gather at these Fly-Ins, fascinated by all those often-strange aircraft and the people who flew them.

Your writer recalls getting up before the crack of dawn to fry 18-20 pounds of thick-sliced Royal bacon, bake a hundred or so biscuits, and help with logistical chores shared by folks like 1320 President Tommy Thompson, Lynn and Bill Glenn, Terry Richmond, and any others who could be lassoed into volunteering.

Legendary landings
It was truly a wondrous place for aviation buffs, often visited by living legends like Joe Shannon and the Henley brothers — a magical environment in which young Aaron Mathis began putting a fine edge upon his chosen future in aviation.

The national EAA sponsored a program called Young Eagles, which provided funding for youngsters’ first airplane rides. One fine Saturday brought a visit from an intrepid young man who was going to fly a Cessna Skyhawk around the world. Aaron was chosen to take his official Young Eagle flight with this adventurer.

Actually, Aaron had been aloft in a small plane once before at St. Clair as a gift for his eighth birthday, but on this day he was actually allowed to handle the controls during the flight!

Bill, Lynn and Chris Glenn hosted many Young Eagles’ functions in their superbly equipped hangar near Sammie’s. Bill is a retired United Airline pilot, and Lynn is a pilot and expert aircraft restorer. They have since relocated to a private airfield near Wilsonville, but during their tenure at KPLR, the Glenns’ hangar was the hangout of choice when Sammie’s was not open.

Another noteworthy denizen was Ed Stringfellow, who holds ratings on more types of airplanes than he can recall all at once. Ed had the largest hangar at the airport — some 12,000 square feet. At one time, this cavernous building held a Mitchell B-25 bomber, a North American P-51 Mustang fighter, a North American AT6 Texan advanced trainer, a Piper J3 Cub and a BSA motorcycle. Ed loved old planes and employed expert mechanic Ted Campbell full-time to maintain his flock of collectibles. Robert Waldrop has also worked for him. Over the years, Ed has owned a Cessna 310 twin and several Beechcraft Staggerwing biplanes, plus a number of other small craft.

He came to St. Clair in 1978 looking for a place to hangar his 310, which he flew in connection with his lumber business. Over the years he’s racked up thousands of flying hours, and holds every rating possible for propeller-driven aircraft, including certified flight instructor.

Ed built his first hangar at St. Clair in 1988, later erecting a much larger one to hold the B-25 bomber he had just bought. But his pride and joy was Tiger Lily, his beloved P-51 Mustang. People used to rush to the airport every time they heard him flying overhead because they knew he always made a sizzling, low-level, high speed pass over the field before landing.

P-51s were the hottest fighters of World War II, the best ever built. To hear one pass by just a few yards away at full speed, its engine ablaze with raw power, is an unforgettable experience. Ed’s Mustang fly-bys were the highlight of many a weekend day at St. Clair.

Now 86, Ed still flies. He, too, relocated to Wilsonville, but has reduced his covey of vintage warbirds to a single Boeing Stearman WWII-era trainer biplane.

Tommy Thompson’s ¾ scale Loehle P5151 Mustang was a superbly crafted knockoff of the real thing, much admired at air events. Tommy has built and sold three of them, and was working on a ¾ scale Spitfire based upon the same fuselage, but was unable to complete it due to various events that would forever alter the field’s persona.

Change in the wind
True to the axiom that the only real constant is change, in recent years KPLR has gradually evolved from its previous, free-wheeling format to more of a mainstream player in general and corporate aviation. The old FBO (air terminal building) where all gathered to chat, drink stout coffee and critique each other’s landings was torn down and replaced with a new building constructed to current FAA standards and the needs of a modern air facility.

Fly-in breakfasts gradually faded away as attendance fell off for various economic, personal and logistical reasons, finally resulting in the dissolution of EAA Chapter 1320 and a turning point in local interests. Some hangar tenants relocated, while others sold their planes and moved to other ventures.

The good folks at Sammie’s later tried to revive the Fly-Ins to benefit a local charity, but that effort was short-lived. Eventually, Sammie’s closed its doors to the local daily dining scene, but Sammie’s daughter and son-in-law, Michelle and Craig Frickey, still use this unique venue to host receptions, holiday parties, meetings and other catered affairs.

Vital modifications were made to the taxiways and runway, a large parking apron was built in front of the new FBO, several large, improved hangars were added, and an automated weather-reporting system tower was installed in an area once used as a landing zone by a skydiving club.

It’s a place with great potential. Terry Capps, Airport Authority member and former field manager, says KPLR will always be a general aviation airport, plus, the FAA now has it officially listed as a “reliever” airfield for larger airports like Birmingham. There is a new flying school on premises, Etheredge Aviation and Flight Training Services, to fill the void left by long-time instructor Jim McLeod, who has retired to Tampa, Fla.

Ed Stringfellow helped negotiate for state and federal grants to fund these improvements, often dealing with Aviation Commission Chairman Gene Tibbets, son of World War II bomber pilot Paul Tibbets, whose plane, the Enola Gay, dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. No doubt the P-51 rides Ed provided for various notables helped smooth the way.

Even with its changes, St. Clair maintains a lot of the old spirit and fellowship. Pilots still gather for coffee at the new FBO and its spacious pavilion overlooking the apron and runway. Many hangars still shelter experimental and light sport aircraft. New aviators still learn to fly and still get their shirttails cut off upon completing their first solo flight.

There are several familiar faces there, folks like former Pell City mayor Bill Hereford, who once owned three planes at St. Clair but is now down to a single Piper Archer named Baby. He got his license in 2003 at age 63 under the watchful eye of his instructor, former Pell City Councilman Donnie Todd.

Ron Gilmer is another St. Clair stalwart whose favorite thing was taking kids up in his superb Cessna Skyhawk, 53Romeo that every local pilot, your writer included, loved to fly. Other flyers include Joe West, retired Birmingham fire chief and ultralight pilot; Discover St. Clair photographer, Wally Bromberg with his Piper Tri-Pacer; Terry Capps, Airport Authority member and Ercoupe pilot; and attorney Erskine Funderburg, who is also chairman of the Airport Authority.

Other Authority members are Mike Fricker, Joe Suttle and Pell City Police Chief Greg Turley. The airport facilities are currently managed by Robert Brown, a retired Delta Airline captain.

Bob has impressive credentials, having spent most of his adult life working around airports and aircraft. With more than 20,000 hours of accident-free flying time in airliners, freight haulers and numerous smaller craft, Bob knows about airplanes and aviation.

He got his wings in Miami in 1963, earning his license in an Aeronca Champ. After serving in the Air Force, he flew freight service in a Lockheed Electra, hauling varied cargoes from racehorses to bundles of new shirts being delivered to Bogota, Colombia.

After taking his position at KPLR about a year ago, Bob has made several safety improvements, such as daily runway inspections to remove foreign objects and debris that might cause damage to aircraft and their engines. Fuel tanks and supplies are monitored daily for condensation and tampering. He also provides full training for linemen in safety and fire fighting. Bob is working with the city to get a full-time fire truck on premises.

He says that around 90 airplanes are based at St. Clair. The field has proven very useful for search-and-rescue operations, aerial real estate showings and utility/power line surveys as well as a base for banner tow-planes, advertising blimps and crop dusters. There are two large corporate hangars on field, and companies are encouraged to build their own, using a ground lease arrangement.

Ron Gilmer’s nephew, Rickey, now operates an airframe and engine repair service called Gilmer Aviation in a large hangar once occupied by Christine Beal-Kaplan’s SARCO (Small Aircraft Repair Company). Holder Aviation handles avionics services in another hangar.

And what of our wide-eyed youngster, Aaron? Well, he soloed in 2012 at St. Clair under the guidance of Jim McLeod, proudly sacrificing his shirt tail to hang on the wall at the FBO.

He’s 19 now and well on his way to a commercial air transport license. A student at Wallace State in Hanceville, Aaron is involved in an intensive aviation syllabus involving dozens of flight hours each month.

He says the time is right for new transport pilots because most of the Vietnam-era crossover pilots are now retiring. He feels that commercial aviation is leading the recovery from America’s general economic slump.

No doubt he will always treasure the days spent at KPLR as a child, looking through the fence, not over it, and dreaming of the day when he would say, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Mathis. I’d like to welcome you aboard our flight to. …”

Hearing that as an airline passenger would certainly make my day, too.

A Farm With a View

Faulkner Farms has million-dollar
views, precious memories

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Head down County Road 33 in Beaver Valley, and it’s like a Sunday afternoon ride in “the country.” Rolling hills and wide-open pastures with towering pines and hardwoods forming the picture-perfect backdrop greet you with the familiarity of an old friend.

It feels like home — or at least the one dreams are made of.

A sign along the road says, Faulkner Farms, Est. 1972. A wooden, split-rail fence encircles a lush green pasture — its only residents an old barn and a covered arena where rare cattle from these parts once went to the highest bidders from around the country.

Realtor Lyman Lovejoy remembers the pasture packed with vehicles and people, “guests” of Dr. Jim Faulkner, who had traveled from as far away as Canada, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas. He would hold an annual auction, the “Southern Gentlemen Sale” in spring at the Ashville farm.

“Part of the pleasure was having the sale here once a year,” said Faulkner, who noted that he formed lifelong friendships with many who visited. His bond, too, was with the Simmental cattle he raised. “The worst part was selling them.”

The love of farming and the outdoors goes back to childhood, he said. He was born in Georgia in 1927 and raised in Montgomery. “It was during the Depression. Nobody had anything, but we didn’t know we didn’t have anything,” he mused.

He had kin in nearby Pineapple, and his uncle would pick him up on the weekends to work the farm. “I plowed a mule and picked cotton. It was a great raising up,” he said. He attended Auburn University, joined the Navy in World War II and later graduated from Vanderbilt University. Medical school took him to the University of Tennessee at Memphis, and after an internship in Greenville, S.C., he returned to Alabama, doing his residency in orthopedic medicine in Birmingham at the Hillman Clinic, now part of UAB Hospital.

After years of a successful practice in Woodlawn on Birmingham’s eastside at Slappey, Faulkner & Morris, he decided to buy a farm. He asked old friend, Joe Meacham, if he knew of a good place, and he pointed him in the right direction. He bought the land — more than 500 acres — in 1972 and hung its first Faulkner Farms sign, handmade in Maine.

His son, James Jr., lived there for a few years, building the fences, planting the grass and clearing the woods until he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor.

In 1976, Faulkner built the house with Western Cedar logs from northern Michigan near the Canadian border. All the logs were numbered and smooth on the inside. It became his family’s retreat built on Beaver Creek, which meanders nearby. Today, it is a two-story home overlooking a vast expanse of pastureland and woods with a few head of cattle or a horse or two passing by in the distance.

A rustic, covered porch frames the entire breathtaking view.

At first, Faulkner raised cattle as a hobby. “It ended up a business,” he said. Once a year, “cowboy buddies” would venture to Beaver Valley for a two-day event that culminated in the selling of cattle whose origin was another valley far from St. Clair County — the Simme Valley in Switzerland.

In a 1984 Gadsden Times story about Faulkner and his Simmentals, it said this farm of “valley and ridge may be as close to the Alps as Alabama will ever come.”

Faulkner bought his own cattle in Germany and England with a bull bringing the highest value at auction, $6,000 to $8,000. At one time, he had close to 200 head.

“It was really a great thing. We would invite people a few months ahead.”

On Friday nights would be a barbecue at the farm or dinner at a nearby restaurant. The next morning, 100 to 120 people would gather in that front pasture, and a tent would be set up with a catered brunch. At noon, “we were ready to start,” Faulkner said.

A brochure told them what was available, and they chose what they wanted. Auction bleachers were set up underneath the covered arena so buyers could get a good look. “They were a great bunch of people,” Faulkner said. They were good family-type people. You could deal with them.”

Faulkner retired from practice in 1990. His wife, Rose, passed away, and he has traveled the world doing mission work. He remarried an old friend, Diana, whose husband had passed away, and they are a loving couple who see the value in each other and the world around them. “She saved my life,” he said. “He’s a sweet, good man. He’s a prince,” she concluded.

As he looks around what is now 472 acres of Faulkner Farms, he appreciates the time spent building a farm, a business and a life there. Gazing out from the porch, where rocking chairs are the best seat in the house for enjoying the aesthetics, Faulkner chooses his words with an undisguised awe: “It’s God’s creation in its fullest.”

Welcome Home for Christmas

Holidays at the Capps
house a special treat

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Michael Callahan

When Deanna Capps and her late husband, Curtis, were planning their new house, they wanted something light and airy that would bring the outdoors inside.

Curtis didn’t have a whit of architectural training, yet designed a two-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath home with spacious rooms that flow easily from one to another. Although Deanna has changed the function of a couple of those rooms, the design retains its original intent.

“This house floats” is the way Deanna describes it. “I like to entertain, and people can float from one room to another.”

It’s difficult to describe the style of the house. With its stone steps and pillars, stucco walls, wide, wrap-around porch and clerestory windows, Craftsman cottage meets Mediterranean villa comes to mind. Deanna says she doesn’t have a theme to her decor, either. She likes to mix things up so she doesn’t get bored. That’s why some kitchen cabinets are brown, some are black. Some drawer pulls are in the shape of roosters, others are plain. Kitchen counter-tops are granite and marble in three different color combinations.

African animals are repeated, but not enough to become a theme. The great room is home to a mother elephant and her baby, an adult giraffe and a zebra. A baby giraffe guards the loft bedroom. There’s a ceiling fan with pond-frond blades in almost every room. And everywhere, on almost every wall, is Deanna’s artwork. Three-dimensional musical instruments hang over the piano in the Great Room, while landscapes, animals, angels and crosses are everywhere.

“Angels are my signature,” she says. “I started painting when my husband was sick. It kept me busy and my mind occupied on spiritual things.” Curtis Capps, who owned Royal Foods next door to the house, died in July of 2013 after a two-and-a-half-year illness.

Deanna’s right about the house floating. The great room that runs the width of the front leads into the eat-in kitchen, which leads to a hall that’s flanked by pantries the size of small bedrooms. Down that hall is the master bedroom. A series of pocket doors open the bedroom into a bath, the bath into another bedroom, and that bedroom into a back hallway that, in turn, leads to a bathroom-cum-closet and large laundry room. Of course, guests don’t wander into the master bath. But if they did, they could hold a party in that room alone.

“The master bathroom is bigger than my bedroom,” Deanna admits.

A 109-year-old grand piano dominates one side of the great room. A whimsical polyresin butler stands silently in one corner, between the powder room and the stairway leading to the loft. “He doesn’t wait on anybody, he just holds our instruments,” Deanna says, pointing to the bowed psaltery in his outstretched hands.

A long, farmhouse table separates the seating area from the music area. While the table seats 10, Deanna frequently sets up smaller tables to accommodate larger crowds. “I used to bring folks home from church for Sunday dinner, to get to know them,” she says. Her church is First United Methodist of Pell City, where Deanna is keyboardist for the contemporary service.

The seating area has a red leather couch and two matching love seats that face a stone fireplace with the television mounted into the stone above it. “We don’t have a problem with the piano at one end and TV at the other, because we don’t use both at the same time,” Deanna says.

A powder room under the stairs features a crown bowl with bamboo-style faucet and fixtures and has faux-painted walls with a ceiling of gold and gold leaves. Local artist Laura Darnell painted the twig-themed red wall behind the sideboard next to the powder room door to pick up the red in the sideboard.

Overlooking the Great Room is a loft bedroom with twin “swing beds,” as Deanna describes them. The beds are held to the ceiling by chains, but are also attached to a wall and held up by floor posts. Sateen quilts with gold-threaded patches of bright turquoise, hot pink, blue and orange cover the beds, while a Tiffany-style lamp tops a small table at each head. A bath and closet are at the far end of the loft. “The grandchildren always loved this room,” Deanna says. “They’re 18 and 20 now, but they still use it when they come to visit.”

In the kitchen, pendant lights with glass prisms hang over a bar-height table. In fact, the house is full of prisms, another way of bringing light inside. “The glass in the front door was cut to reflect lights,” Deanna says. “It’s particularly beautiful at night when car lights reflect as colors. The window above the front door has prisms around its perimeter, and the kitchen blinds are silver-reflective, like metal. I can sit in my breakfast nook and see who is coming up the drive by looking in the window next to it.”

The slate flooring starts in the kitchen, then continues through the hallway and into the pantries. It’s repeated in the master bath and dressing room, the back hallway and laundry room. One of those pantries measures 10 feet by 7 feet and serves as a preparation and clean-up area when Deanna hosts dinner parties. It has an ice maker, sink, dishwasher, toaster-oven and other small appliances. “It’s like a second kitchen,” Deanna says. “The prep and clean-up can be done in here, which cuts down on the visible mess and leaves the main kitchen free for serving people.” Across the hall is the butler’s pantry, with a second refrigerator and storage for china and glassware.

The hallway leads into the master bedroom, which Deanna also uses as her office. It has a curved desk for her computer and shelves in one corner, and twin, horizontally-mounted Bogie fans Deanna never uses. “They’re strictly for looks,” she says. “I’m afraid to use them, because they aren’t balanced.”

Dominating the bedroom is the mural that covers one wall. Another creation by Laura Darnell, whose signature is Genesis. It’s a blue sky with fluffy white clouds and flying doves. Deanna’s own small painting of an angel, which is her signature, repeats the sky motif in such a way the painting melts into wall, as if they were one.

The master bathroom features not only his-and-hers sinks and vanities, but his-and-hers toilets, each in its own little marble cubicle with twig sconces. The double shower is large enough to dance in, and Deanna recently removed a leaky hot tub from one corner of the bathroom to add a walk-in tub.

Behind the bath is what Deanna calls her Pink Room. Originally a sitting room, it became Curtis’s sickroom after he suffered a stroke. Pink was Curtis’s favorite color, so after he died, Deanna moved out the hospital bed and moved in iron twin beds with pink bedspreads. The beds face an electronic keyboard where Deanna sometimes practices for Sunday morning worship in the middle of the night when she can’t sleep.

“It soothes my soul,” she says.

Behind the keyboard is the carport that the Capps screened in to become a sunroom before Curtis died so Deanna could wheel him through the French doors to enjoy the fresh air and scenery. Off the back hall is the laundry room and a former bathroom that she turned into a closet. “I needed storage space more than another bath,” she explains.

Outside, behind the screened carport, Deanna has an outbuilding that she calls her flower house. It’s where she stores seasonal decorations and silk floral arrangements, which she designs herself. She normally decorates for Christmas before Thanksgiving, and leaves the decorations up until February. Why?

“Because I enjoy them,” she says.

Deanna Capps House

68 photos

Features

Where the Road Takes You

Driving directions to
St. Clair’s scenic spots

Words and Photos by Michael Callahan

For many of us growing up, the Sunday evening drive was something both parents and children looked forward to. It became something of a ritual down through the decades. I was fortunate that my father was something of an explorer. He never found a main or side road that he did not want to investigate. As my Mom often said, “There is not a pig trail” in this county your father has not been down. This was a trait he passed along to this writer/photographer son.

Somewhere between finishing high school, furthering my education, marrying and the demands of life, my spirit of adventure and my father’s beloved Sunday evening drive got lost. Add to that Arab oil embargoes in the mid-1970s and for so many of us, a wonderful tradition was all but lost.

The good news these days is that oil prices are on a decent downward trend. Add to that fact we live in a beautiful county with diverse landscapes from the northern to southern county boundaries, and we have the makings for many a great Sunday evening drives.

So this writer/photographer, armed with a full tank of gas and ample photographic gear, spent many days traversing scenic roads in the northern part of our county to capture some new memories. Why the northern part? Well, elevations bring out a bit more color during the Fall season. What I want to leave you with is a sense of, “Hey that looks like a great way to spend a couple of hours on Sunday evening.”

Starting out on U.S. 231 from Pell City, I made my way north toward the Ashville area. As I passed the city limits of Ashville and started my climb up Straight Mountain, the views were becoming exactly what I had hoped for. At the top of the mountain, I turned on to County Road 12. I drove roughly 100 yards and turned on to County Road 24 for a short but winding trip of about two miles. As I rounded the final curve, an immense vista of St. Clair County lay before me. It is a view you will want to relish and just stand and soak in. Bring a camera. You will need it. Too soon I had to move on. As I started back down Straight Mountain into the valley, the mist made for some wonderful viewing.

At the bottom of the mountain, I turned hard left onto County Road 35/Gallant Road and immediately was in awe of the views unfolding before me. Further down the road, I turned left onto County Road 44/Camp Sumatanga Road. As you can see from our pictures, you must take the Camp’s loop road. Back onto Gallant Road, awesome views were around for many a mile.

Wanting to explore further, I came back down Gallant Road and turned onto County Road 42/Chandler Mountain Loop Road. After ascending the mountain, Horsepens 40 invited me to make a short visit. What a place. Rock climbers from all over the world come here to try their skills against some of the incredible rock formations — a must see.

Continuing down the loop road, I was treated to wonderful scenic views of the rim of Chander Mountain to the east. Just a quarter mile down the road, the tomato fields stretched out before my windshield for hundreds of acres. Stopping by a roadside produce stand, I was able to buy some of the last succulent Chandler Mountain tomatoes of the season. You can also grab a five-gallon bucket and pick them right out of the fields yourself.

As I made my way back down to U.S. 231, I knew my next drive would be U.S. 411. Just go to the square in downtown Ashville and head northeast on 411. Beautiful farms and huge expanses of “Big Sky” await you. While driving down 411, I decided to turn right onto Mountain Spring Road leading over to County Road 33. I was rewarded with scenic farms and large expanses of sky. Well, it was getting time for me to head back and wrap up my drive and returning down to 231, I came across the turn-off to County Road 26. I had to stop and capture some of this beautiful valley before I wrapped up the afternoon.

Just so you folks that take short drives don’t think we have left you out, I have included some short but really nice drives you can do close to home. So go ahead and treat yourself and your family. Just sit back and enjoy the drive in this breathtakingly beautiful county we call home.

Photographer’s Note: Thanks to Mr. Roland Thomas, who inspired this article, and Jerry Smith of Discover Magazine, who served as a tireless tour guide for my camera and me.

Scenic St. Clair Drives

53 photos

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