Smashing pumpkins
An explosive end for the orange gourd
Why? But then again, why not? Why do we delight so much in the sound of a pumpkin smashing?
What did that orange gourd ever do to you? But from those rotten teenagers stealing the Jack O’Lantern from your porch and smashing it into the street to the target practice it seems to irresistibly invite, pumpkin smashing is an unofficial pastime in the fall. And pilots join in the delight. Pumpkin drops are held across the country at small airfields from Missouri to Mississippi and from Iowa to Oregon. Aircraft from Cessna 152s to antique aircraft such as biplanes, drop or hurl pumpkins from the cockpit onto targets such as scarecrows, wrecked airplanes, X marks the spot, and even an old boat. People win prizes for closest to the target. The whole experience is governed by FAR 91.15: take reasonable precautions.
Here are a few of the places we know of that traditionally have had pumpkin drops (let us know what we missed):
- Bauman’s Harvest Festival, Gervais, Oregon
- Blakesburg, Iowa’s Antique Airfield (IA27)
- Greater Breezewood Regional Airport, Pennsylvania (P17)
- Chapman Farms, Seattle, Washington
- Dodge County Airport, Juneau, Wisconsin (UNU)
- Grimes Airfield, Bethel, Pennsylvania (8N1)
- Kenai Municipal Airport (ENA), Alaska (The Great Alaskan Pumpkin Drop)
- Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, New York (NY94)
- Smartt Field, St. Charles Flying Service, Missouri (SET)
- Slobovia Pumpkin Drop, Flora, Mississippi (MS71)
