Mojave Experimental Fly In 2015

[bruceh]

I ventured up to the high desert from the San Diego area on the first anniversary of my first flight to visit the Mojave Experimental Fly-In. Weather was perfect. Clear and calm. Up to 10,500 and over the top of the San Gabriel mountains towards Palmdale, then around the Restricted airspace of Edwards and into Mojave. I followed an Experimental Cirrus (VK-30). Made a nice landing (whew!) and taxied over to the fly in parking. First person to great me was Roee Kalinsky, whom I had taken flying only the week before. He caught a ride up with Bill Judge in his RV-8. I ran into quite a few people I knew there, and some others who know of my build log. I walked up and down the flight line several times and saw all sorts of RV's and many unique Experimental airplanes.

I took lots of pictures.

I needed to be back home early, so I departed around noon. Very bumpy down low, so I flew up to 7,500 on the way home and went around the mountains to the Cajon Pass. Just about an hour up and another hour back sipping fuel at under 7 gallons per hour going 150Kts TAS. I love this airplane!

[rvmills]

Thanks for sharing the pics and experience Bruce! Sorry to miss it, but looks like some neat aircraft were there!

Cheers,
Bob

[rockwoodrv9]

Nice Bruce. There were some pretty cool planes there. Some I had no idea on what they were. That one ant eater type nose cone was interesting. What a fun day to spend part of a day and be back in time for a nap!

[enielsen]

Nice pics! Thanks! Ya some of those planes... "only their mother could love." Never been a fan of Lancairs ever since I saw them at Santa Paula many years ago. The Glasair III will ALWAYS be sexy. And of course the RV's are about 95% good lookers as well. Like music and food.. it's all subjective of course!

[BaylorAviator]

Does #30 (long ez) in your pictures have drop tanks?

[Infidel]

Nice photos and thanks for sharing.

[krwalsh]

Originally Posted by BaylorAviator

Does #30 (long ez) in your pictures have drop tanks?

Nah, those are baggage pods. The Long EZ is pretty tight, and while it has long legs, getting there without any of your stuff makes it a little tough. There were a couple of Long-EZs, Mike Melvill and Dick Rutan's where they did build similar pods for fuel. They did a round-the-world trip in those two EZs.

[krwalsh]

Originally Posted by rockwoodrv9

That one ant eater type nose cone was interesting.

I think you're referring to picture #39. That is a pressure recovery spinner on a pusher, in this case a Berkut. So more of a tail cone than a nose cone. They're typically credited with a 1-2 knot increase in speed, and cooler cylinder head temperatures because they clean up the exiting air.