David R. Clark, M.D.

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Clark, David R., M.D.

Group photo and history of the Grand Prairie Flying Club came from and includes (second from left) David R. Clark, M.D.

From David R. Clark, M.D.:

Here is an undated photo taken some time in the late 1990s.
We gave the group the name The Grand Prairie Flying Club.
It is mildly amusing how we came up with the name. We were
checking on the availability of a campsite in Glacier National Park
and the park ranger at the gate said they were not accepting individual
campers at that time and were only taking groups.

Without batting an eye, I said, "We are the Grand Prairie Flying Club."

Not knowing how big the group had to be, I added, "The rest of our
group is flying in this afternoon."

Everybody in the picture had a different airplane. The fellow
on the far left was a multi-millionaire but you would never
know it. At the time this was taken he was flying a Cessna
208 Caravan- a single-engine turboprop that could carry as
many as 14 passengers. A very savvy businessman and "horse-
trader," he purchased it for a song from a bankruptcy judge in
Alaska when MarkAir Airlines went under. He went on many
trips with us.

The guy next to him (me) was an eye surgeon and flew a Piper
Twin Comanche- a zippy twin-engine four-seater that had made
the North Atlantic crossing a few years before.

Next to him was a retired aeronautical engineer from LTV. He
flew a Piper Seneca, a twin engine 6-seater. He and his wife accompanied
Donna and me in our plane on many flying adventures including trips to Baja,
and Prince Edward Island in the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

Moving to the right, the next guy was a former Air Force FAC (or forward
air controller) in Viet Nam and then flew four-engine C-141's for 9 yrs before
going to medical school and becoming a local family practitioner. He flew
a Cessna 337 "push-pull" when he was in the flying club.

He and his wife accompanied Donna and me on many wonderful flying trips including
the British Virgin Islands, Chichen Itza, Belize, Grand Cayman, and Key West,
as well as an excursion to Nova Scotia. In addition, we made a one week self-guided
canal boat trip from Lake Champlain to NY harbor. He was also my co-pilot when
we flew the North Atlantic to Iceland and then Scotland. A couple of years
later he flew his plane with another club member alongside our plane when
Donna and I flew to Alaska.

The next guy over was a tech-writer and an IA mechanic. He flew
a single-engine Cessna 175. He and his wife accompanied the GPFC
on a number of trips including the Copper Canyon in Mexico,
Scammon's Lagoon in Baja- to see the Gray Whales calving, and
a float trip down the Colorado River.

And, on the end was a very good friend who was a retired telephone
company executive who started out as a lineman. He and I flew his
Cessna 206 airplane camping on a number of occasions. He liked
"chuck wagon" cooking as much as I did. Our specialty was a pot roast,
some 3-inch thick buttermilk biscuits, and a mean peach cobbler. We
also went fishing together on the White River in Arkansas and a trip,
here again with another club member, to Lake Okeechobee in Florida
where I caught a 10 1/4 lb large-mouth bass.

When the GPFC was not flying, we usually had breakfast together every
Saturday morning at a local mom-n-pop eatery. With time (and aging) we stopped
flying and just continued as a breakfast club. Then in 2020, Covid put an end
to that. Afterward, the crowd had dramatically thinned out and we never
re-grouped.

It is amazing that such an eclectic bunch got along so well and had so
much fun together. I like to think that they have not passed, but as Donna
would have it, they are in witness protection somewhere in Wyoming.

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