[N941WR]

What did you see or do at SnF that made the trip memorable for you?

I ran into to Claudio Tonnini almost the minute we walked in the door. He just finished his RV-8, Purple Passion II that replaced his purple RV-4 which he sold to someone in South America.

In the Vendor booths an old friend and his wife, Dixie and Mary Walker, were selling autographed aviation collectables. Dixie and I used to fly together 12 years ago. Good guy and very interesting. He used to be on Bob Hoover's ground crew and has some wild stories to tell. Like riding with Hoover when he tail slid the Sabre Jet in practice.

In addition I met Mahlon, Ron with Dynon, the Van's crew, and more.

The disappointment was that there were others I had hoped to meet but did not.

Seeing the P-51 do a fly-by with the F-22 and F-15 was very cool.

 

[medic311]

froze my ass off because I forgot my sleeping bag...bought a nice parachute from Allen Silver (post-Tucker bail out), met Van... did I mention froze my butt off?

 

[FlyerJumper]

Columbia 400 Aerobatics

I thought Sean Tucker's quick aerobatic routine in the Columbia 400 was pretty impressive. Don't see that everyday in a non-acro certified production airplane.

But the Heritage flight was the icing on the cake...

 

[N941WR]

Mark,

Thanks for the pictures. That fly by was so cool!

 

[FlyerJumper]

You're welcome

Mark,

Thanks for the pictures. That fly by was so cool!

My pleasure

 

[jonbakerok]

Side trip to "Fantasy of Flight"

I hate to admit it, but for me the highlight turned out to be the side trip to the "Fantasy of Flight" museum on Saturday, because we had to stay an extra day to wait for the front to come through. I hadn't been since '99, and man, had it changed. It's becoming sort of like a "Disney World" for aviation buffs.

I'll say this -- Kermit Weeks is one REEAALY rich guy who knows how to properly spend his money. Besides all the planes on display, the guy's got over 150 planes in storage for lack of room to display them all (including an entire Lancaster bomber and TWO B-29's!). When we toured "the backlot", the engine room had over 50 Allison's alone -- and everything else you can imagine, from a 1910 Anzani to the jet engine from a Glouster Meteor.

In the afternoon, he pulled out a Grumman Duck and flew it around the pattern a few times and then hung out with the crowd afterwards. Great guy.

The planes were amazing. The WWI era planes were so authentic that they still smelled like castor oil. There was a display of the only two flyable Gee Bee "Super Sportsters" (a "Z" and an "R2") and the only flyable Laird "Super Solution". Too much else to mention.

Definately worth a look if you're in the neighborhood.

 

[Kahuna]

The heritage flight, pics above, moved me the most.
The Aeroshell Guys Rock, Im bringing my own food next year, still washing the black sand out of my sneakers, too many EFIS vendors to survive, SnF has lost is grass roots feel, you CAN get an IFR clearance in on a Friday morning, newbee ?'s on the line are still fun to answer, tumbling edge 540s are boring, wish I had a penny for every "whats a super 8"question (its embroidered on my seat)...
End of Report

And I read this morning that, by far, the sexiest plane at SnF, crashed in a fire on its way home(I assume) from SnF. Damn shame. This plane was a work of art. Pilot survived thankfully.
It was this plane
Best,

 

[jclark]

<<<SNIP>>>

And I read this morning that, by far, the sexiest plane at SnF, crashed in a fire on its way home(I assume) from SnF. Damn shame. This plane was a work of art. Pilot survived thankfully.
It was this plane
Best,

That's a REAL downer!!!

I spent quite a bit of time with the pilot, drooling over the plane. 300+ knots with the "new" Lycoming. Capable of having an IO720 (!!!) hung on the front.

But as you say we are to be thankful that the pilot survived.

Where didyou read this Kahuna? I would like to go take a read.

James

 

[Kahuna]

Part of my daily passes of surfing is this site

Was on APril 12.

 

[n714b]

Wow, what a shame. Kevin built a beautiful NXT which we sponsor at Reno. I've had the pleasure to work on Relentless and I must say that he did a BEAUTIFUL job even before it was painted. Thank God, Kevin is OK!

Bob
-8A
Almost done!

 

[medic311]

gosh - hard decision to make - try to land or bail out...hypothetically, what would you have done since the aircraft was on fire? One of those cross that bridge when you get there kinda situations I guess.

 

[N941WR]

gosh - hard decision to make - try to land or bail out...hypothetically, what would you have done since the aircraft was on fire? One of those cross that bridge when you get there kinda situations I guess.

Having flown an aircraft with smoke pouring out of the vents, you wouldn't believe the thoughts that run through your mind before you get it on the ground.

Only I had my wife riding with me screaming in my ear to make things even more unpleasant.

Here's the short version of the story:
My wife turned on the cabin heat just as we started climbing out and smoke started billowing in. I declared and emergency, flew the entire pattern at 200? AGL, landed, shut everything off, and jumped out, leaving the plane on the runway. As quickly as I did that, my wife was nowhere to be seen. I?ll say this much for her, she wasn?t dumb.

In my case it was some dumb a$$ A&P thought it would be funny to poor a bunch of oil into the heater muff of the rental plane.

I almost killed that SOB when I found out he did it as a joke. Should have turned him into the FAA but that was a long time ago and I got some free flight hours out of it. In hind sight I guess I shouldn't have flown their planes after that but I was young and dumb.