Cecil Field Airfest

Flyrod · #1 05-05-2008, 01:15 PM

Went to the Cecil Field Airfest in Jacksonville, FL over the Weekend. This was a great event that was well planned and executed. It consisted of Airplanes, classic cars and Motorcycles. It was open to the public and there was no admission fee. The first one was held last year and they raised over $20,000 for MS. They sell raffle tickets and collect donations. RVs played a big part in flying 60 Young Eagles during the event. The Dreamland Squadron put on a nice flight Demo during the event. If you flew your airplane to the event, you received a free lunch and T-shirt. So who says there is no free lunch!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Flyrod01/CecilFieldAirFest

Dave Dollarhide · #2 05-05-2008, 02:53 PM

Robert, As usual, great photos of the Airfest and RVs.

lightning · #3 05-05-2008, 03:28 PM

WOW!! great pics!! looks like i miss an awesome event!

way to go guys!

nucleus · #4 05-05-2008, 03:45 PM

Flyrod, thank you for making the effort with these pictures, it really shows.

One thing: You labeled N3XS as an RV-7, but it is an RV-6.

Hans

lostpilot28 · #5 05-05-2008, 05:54 PM

Thanks for the great pics...that brings back some memories. I was stationed there from '91 - '95 with VFA-203.

In the very first picture (birds eye view of the field) you see a tall tan building in the upper right...that was where they had an F/A-18 simulator that I got to spend some time in. On the outside it was about a 50 foot tall golf ball...the inside was a smooth sphere with the forward half of an F/A-18 in it with fully functional avionics, etc. That had to be the coolest flight sim I've ever flown!

Flyrod · #6 05-06-2008, 08:42 AM

Dave,

Glad you enjoyed them. Thank you, Pat , Dizzy and Bob for putting on a good show and helping all the Young Eagles!

Hans,

Thanks for the correction, It now says RV6.

Sonny,

That simulator sounds like a blast! I live near Pine Castle and have always wanted to yank and bank a F-18......I wonder if it is still there? Cecil field is an amazing, now civilian, facility. Seems like there were plenty of defense contractors still there and I am sure the civilian side of things will continue to grow.

catmandu · #7 05-06-2008, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostpilot28

. . . .That had to be the coolest flight sim I've ever flown!

Sonny, did you get to do a 1v1 with the Nimitz? Nice that the code writers allowed that option, always my favorite way to end a tour (amazing the way that big ship could turn airborne

)!

Rick_A · #8 05-06-2008, 03:39 PM

Great pic's thanks. I did all my flight training out of Craig (CRG) and I use to fly into Cecil regularly. You gotta love that 12,000' runway

Some of the best landing training I ever had was seeing how far I could fly down the runway without landing.

lostpilot28 · #9 05-06-2008, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyrod

That simulator sounds like a blast! I live near Pine Castle and have always wanted to yank and bank a F-18......I wonder if it is still there? Cecil field is an amazing, now civilian, facility. Seems like there were plenty of defense contractors still there and I am sure the civilian side of things will continue to grow.

I went out to Jacksonville for work a year ago and things sure have changed since 1995. It was a bit sad, actually...but nice to see that Cecil Field is still being used. I'd like to fly my RV in there someday (if they allow it).

Mike, that sounds interesting! LOL...I basically just did a few head-to-heads against a Mig of some sort and flew out of NAS Fallon. I remember the small room of computers that ran the simulator...I wonder what it would take to do the same thing today? I'm still hoping someone comes out with a high-res VR helmet (or glasses). I haven't flown in almost a year and I'm jonesing.