The eight pilots on the "Fiddling Around America" trip pose in front of the 1938 Douglas DC-3 with airport manager Paul Fullerton (second from right) after doing a live online broadcast inside the terminal in St. Ignace Wednesday, May 27. Pictured with Mr. Fullerton are (in no particular order) Dan Gryder, Jim MacFadden, Gerry McCarley, Jeff Pritchard, Bruce Russell, Gerry Smith, Tony Smith, and Bill Ziesenitz. In the background is Mr. Fullerton's dog, Sally.

Employees at the Mackinac County Airport received a surprise call the night of Tuesday, May 26, from a group of traveling pilots hoping to land a vintage DC-3 airplane.

 

After landing, the group introduced themselves as eight pilots from the United States, Canada, and England, and Russ Niles, the editorin chief of AVWeb.com, an online news magazine aimed at pilots.

These modern-day adventurers are living day-to-day, following good weather while visiting several areas of the United States during their nine-day trip aboard the 1938 Douglas DC-3 aircraft.

The plane, while sitting in front of the terminal in St. Ignace the next day, created quite a stir among residents, since rarely does such a large plane land or take off from the Mackinac County airport.

Airplane owner Dan Gryder (left) and champion fiddle player Jeff Pritchard entertain an audience of about 1,500 during a live online broadcast in St. Ignace Wednesday, May 27.

"I've been here since 1980, and I've never seen a plane this big here," said airport manager Paul Fullerton.

 

Mr. Fullerton's sons, Joe and Sam, even got a chance to climb up in the cockpit of the plane after it landed in St. Ignace.

"It was real fun," Mr. Fullerton said of the group's visit. "They're good guys."

The tour, called "Fiddling Around America," has the group making Web broadcasts during their stops as well as in the cockpit, some of which feature bluegrass music from fiddle player Jeff Pritchard accompanied by plane owner Dan Gryder on guitar. These broadcasts also include interviews with local personalities and are streamed live on the AVWeb site.

Many of the pilots compared this journey to that of the barnstormers in the 1920s. Mr. Gryder said they fly the plane very low, sometimes as low as 100 feet, and can see people on the ground waving to them.

The seven members besides Mr. Niles and Mr. Gryder are pilots from various locations around the globe, including North Carolina, London, New York, British Columbia, and New Brunswick. Some say they got involved after reading about the trip in magazines like Flying, while others found it online or heard about it from those in the industry.

After refueling in Kalamazoo May 26, they headed to St. Ignace. The group was debating where to fly next, although Duluth, Minnesota, seemed the best choice to avoid inclement weather. One place they know they will be is Gaston's White River Resort in northern Arkansas over the weekend of May 30.

The trip was devised a year ago by friends Mr. Niles and Mr. Gryder, and the wireless access is being sponsored by Verizon, which allows the group to broadcast from both the ground and the air, although streaming video in the cockpit has been difficult to achieve effectively, said Mr. Niles.

He said the tour has been successful so far, with increasing interest in the online broadcasts. The show they broadcast at St. Ignace received 1,526 views when he checked it 10 minutes after it was available.

The seven pilots on the trip with Mr. Gryder, Mr. Niles, and Mr. Pritchard were Bruce Russell, Gerry McCarley, Tony Smith, Jim MacFadden, Gerry Smith, and Bill Ziesenitz.