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Flash?s Summer Adventure

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
Doug - Flash asked me to forward this for him....

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Dear Dad,

Vacationing with Uncle Paul is really fun. I remember when you let me go to Houston with him when I when I was little, and we had a great time going to the ocean, and the space center, and looking at rockets – that was swell! Now, he and Aunt Louise took me to Minnesota! I didn’t even know that was what you had planned! When you left me the other day, you said that I was going to have to spend a few days in a dark hangar in Oshkosh, so I was really surprised when they came by and said that you had told them to take me along with them on vacation. I realized that something special was up when I heard them talking about taking me along. I know that Paul and Louise are good pilots, and I have heard about the adventures they have with Mikey and Val, so I looked forward to going with them for a week. I know you were going to come and get me, but they are cool….

It’s also nice that Matt Burch came along – I know that he’s an expert on my new instrument panel, and he helped a lot getting us to the Twin Cities.

Talking about the Twin Cities, it was really fun seeing all the lakes around here – and they’re not shaped funny like all those lakes back in Texas – you know, the ones that look sort of like Christmas trees. In Minnesota, they have lakes that are round, and oval – and some that are even square! And the water is so blue and clear – this is a wonderful place, and the temperatures are nice and cool.

I wasn’t at all worried when we left Oshkosh – Louise did a great job of flying me, and Matt did a great job with the instrument panel. The runways were really busy early in the day, but it was dead by the time we left. I was wondering what happened to Uncle Paul, but Louise told me that he had to drive to Minneapolis – as a matter of fact, he left about four hours before we did, and we met him there. Flying over Wisconsin reminded of when you and I went out west, with lots of trees. No mountains though – just lots of short hills. It was really green – I think they had a lot of rain not long ago.

When we landed in Anoka, Louise said that she had arranged a really nice hangar for me for a few days. I was sorta’ worried when the line guy put me inside with a bunch of big white business jets. I really felt out of place, and they were kinda’ ignoring me. Then a Citation came over and looked at my instrument panel. He called all the other jets over to look, and they were impressed – they think I’m really cool, and they kind of adopted me. I think I’m going to like staying here until Paul and Louise come to fly again. This big Gulfstream even asked if I wanted to play some games with them tonight. I’m looking forward to that – but can you tell me, does a straight flush beat a full house? And Dad, do I have a pink slip?

I’ll write more when we go flying somewhere,

Flash
 
WOW

That is so cool!!! If only your planes could talk---the stories they would tell (differerent from yours??), the geography lessons, science classes, even little things like weather!
If only planes could talk------hum do space shuttles have stories like this?
Tom
 
Huh?

That is so cool!!! If only your planes could talk---the stories they would tell (differerent from yours??), the geography lessons, science classes, even little things like weather!
If only planes could talk------hum do space shuttles have stories like this?
Tom

We all talk, you just have to listen!

Boy, what a shock to hear that Louise is flying Flash after promising to take me to Oshkosh and then leaving me behind! :mad: She'll have some explaining to do when they get back to Houston. Louise, you ARE planning to return to Houston, aren't you??????

Sure wish I had been there. :(
 
Between the front page blurb and this thread, I'm totally NOT understanding why Doug is in Texas but his plane is in flyover country.

Maybe planes are smarter than people....it's 105 degrees in Dallas, only 80 in the Cities...where'd YOU rather be?!;):D

Paul
 
If any of the various combination of fairey pilots.....or is that ferry pilots.....who are escorting Flash around the Upper Midwest end up in Wichita on the way back to Big D, and find that they need a ride to/from the airport to catch a big ol' jet airliner somewhere, let me know. With enough notice I can provide a passable taxi service for free.
 
Next year....

Hi Flash.

Thanks for the post. I really enjoyed it! (my Norwegian RV-7 owner read it to me)
I'm sure you'll have great time before you're back home again.

If you and Doug are up for a REAL adventure, then what about taking a trip to Norway?? Yeah, I know, it's pretty far away, so you'll need extra fueltanks somehow, but it can be done.
Or better still: with all those contacts your father has, I bet he can convice Uncle Sam to let you ride overseas on one of them big aircraft carriers when they are going over to Europe!

Then you can meet a few of the Norwegain RV's and show them your fancy new panel.

As a teaser: the second weekend of August each year is the time for the annual RV-fly Inn at H?ganes in the SW Sweden.
RV's from Scandinavia, UK and Germany is coming every year.
Maybe something to plan for in 2011?

Have a safe trip home.

Regards "Wilco" (I'm pretty proud that I was the first flying RV-7 in Norway, and now there's two of us flying around here.)
 
Maybe planes are smarter than people....it's 105 degrees in Dallas, only 80 in the Cities...where'd YOU rather be?!;):D

Paul

Maybe plane not so smart - dewpoints in the 70's, temps 90's in MSP this week...

Or, maybe the weather followed smart plane?
 
Nice post, Flash. You know, you write better than your builder ... :D

[ed. Amen brotha. dr]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Photos

I made it back home, following a harrowing day of commercial air travel. It doesn't help anything to get mad at the airlines for weather or mechanical delays, but I still couldn't help thinking that in the time I spent waiting around in various airport terminals, I could have flown there and back at RV speeds.. heck, I could have driven home faster! Oh well... how about some photos?

We pushed our RV-10 showplane out to Aeroshell Square around 3PM. The long stream of aircraft getting fuel and jockeying for a place in the line was an exercise in controlled chaos, but the ground handlers did a great job of getting everyone where they needed to go. In contrast, when we pushed Flash out at 6PM, things had calmed down a lot:

20100801_flash1.jpg


However, we still had to be on the lookout for maniac golf cart drivers!

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The guy hustling to fill the tanks told me "I have an R/C model of this airplane." I asked him if he meant he has an RV-6 model. "No, I mean I have an R/C model of Doug's airplane Flash." How cool is that? So here you go Jason, now you can prove you gassed up the 100% scale version (and thanks for the quick fuel delivery!).

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I didn't get any photos of the takeoff, since I was on traffic-spotting duty. Compared to the height of "Oshkosh rush hour", things were a lot calmer when we departed, although we still had to keep our eyes moving... if for no other reason than to watch for the DA-20 that took off without permission right in front of us! Louise got us airborne and we went winging away across the Wisconsin farm fields (transponder off for the first few miles, please).

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Louise flying Doug's airplane:

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Everything in the panel worked to get us to our destination and keep us away from the afternoon buildups, although Doug will be getting a squawk list from me later this week that'll contain a short list of wire connections that seem to have been missed during the pre-Oshkosh push!

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Seems like maybe Louise and I should have swapped hats here? (and wow, what a terrible photo of me!)

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Flying into the sunset... Closer to MSP we got a traffic call-out from the GTX 330, saw the target on the G3X moving map and synthetic vision display, and then spotted a pair of USAF T-6A's headed eastbound, too fast to get my camera on them. What do you know, this traffic stuff really works!

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Louise gave us a nice landing at Anoka to end our flight, and the helpful controller steered us to the FBO. The line guy was super excited to see N617AR taxi up, asking me "Are you Doug?!" He seemed a little bummed when I told him I was just some other guy. I tell you what, the celebrity reception you get when you fly on Reeves Airlines is amazing. Maybe I should paint my plane just like Flash so I can get the red carpet treatment wherever I go! Anyway, if Mike from Key Air is out there, this is for you:

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Big thanks to Louise for giving us a safe flight out of Oshkosh, Paul for the "shuttle" service from the airport to the hotel (sorry about the tip, better luck next time) and Doug for the chance to experience the Doug Life for a couple hours. :)

mcb
 
Scenes From A Fuel Stop

Paul and Louise are flying and driving from Minnesota to Texas today, and they met up here for some 100LL and some good old Kansas City barbeque. Paul sure does not look like he's prepared to eat that entire plate by himself!

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After a quick tour of HQ - sorry, no photography - they are now back in the air (Louise) and on the highway (Paul).

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I'm sure they will have more and better pictures when they check in tomorrow... for now, call this Scenes From A Fuel Stop.

mcb
 
Louise and Flash are "home" safely

I landed Flash at Polly Ranch (Houston) about an hour ago. Thanks, Matt, for the tour. I really enjoyed the visit. And, a huge thanks to Doug for the use of Flash. It really made our trip home a lot easier and more fun. What a treat to fly behind Flash's G3X panel!

Flash told me that he wants to write a Doug another letter but is too distracted tonight. As I passed through the hanger, unloading, Flash, Mikey, and Valkyrie were excitedly exchanging tales of their recent exploits....Flash to Oshkosh, Mikey to Oregon, and the Val to Big Bear. It looked like it would be an all night party in the hanger tonight. :)
 
Letter from Flash

Doug - Flash asked me to post another letter for you - he's waiting patiently at Polly Ranch for you to come get him from "Summer camp"....;)

Dear Dad,

I had a really great day yesterday! Paul and Louise flew me all the way home to Texas ? but not both of them at the same time. It was a lot of fun, and I learned about weather and even visited our friends at Garmin along the way. Matt gave my new instrument panel a little checkup, and he was happy that I am still doing fine.

It was hard to leave the gang at Keyair, but I was happy when the hangar door opened and they line guys started pulling me out. They said that Uncle Paul had called ahead and asked them to get me ready for an immediate departure because weather was moving in from the west, and he wanted to be turning before it got there. I learned lot from the guys in the hangar this week, Dad, and I can really help you get that instrument rating now! I learned about air filing, flying circling approaches, busting minimums ? all that stuff the guys do when they get to go out on trips. It?s funny though ? I didn?t see hardly anyone go out all week. I think some of those just don?t get out very often. They might get to go a long ways, but I like how we go out all the time, even if it is for short trips. They all talked about carrying their big-wig bosses, and even a few celebrities, but when I started asking them about aerobatics, and landing on short grass strips in the mountains, they actually got quiet and started listening to me. It was cool ? I think some of them wished they were smaller, and could fly more often.

The BIG hangar at KeyAir:
IMG_0671.JPG


It was about 0700 when I got tugged out, and they all said I could come back anytime, and they seemed impressed that we were launching with a line of storms moving in. But Uncle Paul briefed me on the roll, and said that we were going to deviate east of course to stay clear. I hope the other guys didn?t hear that ? I don?t want them to think that we were running from the weather, but once I saw what was on the radar, and looked at the dark clouds, I was kind of? glad that Paul decided not to file IFR, stayed low, and keep the sunlight in view. It?s not that I?m chicken you know, it?s just, well?.you know?.I didn?t want you to be worried!

The Radar Picture as we cleared the weather:
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What it looked like for real!
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Uncle Paul said that we were going to meet Aunt Louise in Kansas City, and she was going to take me home from there. It was really flat all the way ? we stayed low for the first hundred and fifty miles, because the ceilings were only about 4,000 feet, and the storms on our right were moving fast. But we could see for a long ways, and there was sunshine to our left and (if I squinted) far ahead. When we got to northern Iowa, we left the black clouds behind, and climbed up for the rest of the way to a little airport at Gardner. Paul had fun playing with all the new stuff in the panel, and I think he took a bunch of notes to give to our friend Matt. At least I saw them talking when we got to Gardner, where they left me to catch my breath for a couple of hours. I got to watch a bunch of Champs, and even a lot of RV?s playing on the grass runways there while I waited. When they came back, Louise was with them, and she was all business getting me ready to go to Houston. We landed on the paved runway when we got there, but Louise used the grass to take off, and it was really sweet! It felt good on my feet ? can we do that more?

Louise and Paul Swapping ?Rides?:
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It?s a long way from Kansas to Texas, but I had fun with Aunt Louise. She climbed up and set the autopilot, and I think she was a little sad because she couldn?t figure out how to get the music to play. I wanted to help her, but I don?t know if you hooked that up yet. We stopped for gas once when we got back in to Texas, and I was surprised when she passed up Dallas ? I thought we were going straight home to be with the Doll, but she said you were going to meet us in Houston to get me, so we got to go to see the ocean again! I?m OK with that, but it?s been a long time since I was home, and I?m about ready for summer camp to be over, so don?t take too long to come and get me, OK? I am staying with Mikey and the Valkyrie, and they are pretty cool too. Not as expensive as the guys in the big hangar at Keyair, but being RV?s, they understand me more. We have the same kind of stories, and they are more like me.

Clouds on the way home with Aunt Louise:
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Come and get me Dad - I am ready to start teaching you about instrument flying, and I sort of miss you!

Flash
 
Hi Flash...

Flash.....I saw you parked at Oshkosh (I was looking at 'my dads' pictures) I saw many people poking their noses into your cabin and looking at all the cool stuff in your panel.....I was parked in HBC and was chatting with all the great RV's around me (I'd never seen so many in one place before).
My Dad went to the Van's banquet and said he listened to your Uncle Paul talk about the Space Shuttle program.....He said it made him all excited ! He wanted to say hello to your uncle Paul but had to leave cause we were leaving to go back to Canada at 0:dark thirty the next morning. I hope that we meet someday, I have a lot to tell you about where I live....your friend....FRVE (my Dad really otta give me a better handle....I'll work on that)
 
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