By: Holger Stephan
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From left to right: Tassilo (my son), Steve Criders, Gordon Seykora, Jim Huber, Gord Hudson, ??. Gord: I did you the favor and blacked out your undies. Oh no - now everybody is looking at you :)
When we came on Saturday around noon the weather was gorgeous, but we were
told it has been quite wet from Wednesday until Friday. So who came this year?
I hope I get this right now: Gordon
Hudson came with his RV, for almost the entire fly-in. Steve
Mahoney is still working on his cowling
and was given a ride on a friend's C-172. He staid until Friday and I am sorry
to have missed him. Dave Anderson
flew in with his BD and had also returned before we showed up. Steve
Craigle lives in Arlington and was pretty busy flying Young
Eagles every day. Fred Hinsch
and Eric Munzer flew in from Canada
with their BDs on Saturday for one day. I'm pretty sure Louis
Bigelow and his wife scored the the longest road trip to get to the fly-in
on Saturday. He kept us up-to-date from the road with emails to the mailing
list. It is too bad we couldn't find him on the field before we headed for
the steak house on Saturday night, I was curious what a Sasquatch orders for
dinner. Peter Miles was there, too
on Wednesday, so unfortunately I missed him. Craig
Evans came in with the big iron from S. Cal. I was looking forward to
his contagious enthusiasm; needed another fill-up to get through the year
until next year's fly-in. He got a hold of two or three potential builders
and did not let them go until we were pretty sure we had them in our bag.
Craig: I did receive a request for the CD from Paul Wilkes in Chehalis, WA,
so I think we're on the right track with the missionary program :). Oh - and
of course there was Jim Huber,
the host of the patch of lawn we gathered again this year. With him Steve
Crider, his neighbor at Crest
Airpark. Steve bought Dave Dotson's airplane, neighbor of Roger Mellema,
and is working on it actively. Also from WA there was Charlie Bernert for
a short while with us on Saturday. Charlie had bought Roger Mellema's plane.
We told about all the gadgets on this plane and that he had to repair some
hangar rush on the tail. He thinks to be finished rather soon. Gordon Seykora
came in from Nanaimo B.C., CA. He and his son had recently bought Allen Sandstrom's
C-FORD.
Interestingly his son is a King Air pilot and says the BD-4 is "the easiest
aircraft to land of all the many aircraft he has flown" (says Gordon).
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There were now two BDs with vortex generators, and both owners swear by it: Fred Hinsch (has had them on for a while) and Steve Craigle. Together with Richard Martin there are three that I know that have had very good success with them. Gord Hudson bought a set of clear plastic VGs last year from the representative of a WA company (forgot the name) that produces it. They looked really nice and cost around $100/set. The representative tried to sell a set to Steve. A futile effort: of course Steve cuts and pounds them himself for a few bucks. I think the BD-4 crowd is just a difficult market, we're all vigorous scroungers. Oh - and we were quick to tell him not to offer them to Jim Huber either: Jim will not let anything near his meticulous wing surfaces (see below).
I missed Steve Nemeth and Lary Seibold. I know Steve is building actively, he probably was at the show.
Thankfully, I didn't hear about any accidents this year on the show.
Click on images to see a larger view.
) Steve Crider(?), Craig, Louis and his wife in front of Fred Hinsch' and Eric Munzer's planes. |
) Jim Huber's BD |
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) Eric Munzer's BD |
) Eric Munzer's BD |
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) Eric Munzer's BD |
) Canadian anti-ice devices :) |
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) Fred Hinsch's BD |
) Fred Hinsch's BD |
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) Fred Hinsch's BD |
) Fred, a bit surprised. My fault, next time I'll ask to pose a little. |
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) Inside Fred Hinsch's BD |
) Fred's car seats |
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) VGs on Fred's BD |
) VGs on Fred's BD |
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) VGs on Fred's BD |
) Fred's vertical. |
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) Craig Evans |
) Craig lifts his cap. Which has the better aerodynamic shape and finish: his bold head or Jim's wing? I didn't see any rivets on Craig's scalp, not even flush, so I'd say this one goes to Craig. OK, Craig, you can put your canvas protection on again. |
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) It's getting late on Saturday, Fred is taking off for the flight back home. He's that yellow spot right over the Honey Buckets. |
) OK guys, this is the flag of my home state: Bavaria! I was so surprised to see it here in Arlington. But of course, it was on a German WWII fighter plane. |
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Throughout the day Steve Craigle had flown Young Eagles. When Tassilo and I headed for the other side of the airport to meet up with him we spotted 777 Lima Charley as she was taxiing out for yet another YE run. |
) Steve Craigle's 777LC turning onto the active. |
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While I was snapping a head Tassilo kept yelling over from the shuttle bus stop. He was concerned we'd miss it. |
) We did make it onto the bus and got there just in time for a group shot of Steve and his YEs. Hey Steve, not so fast! Sheez - no patience those retirees. |
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Signing the YE certificate. |
) She really liked the flight (I had asked) but wasn't so sure why I was taking a picture of her. Like Fred she smiled when I was busy smiling back. |
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Next morning (Sunday) Steve, Tassilo and I got out to 777LC's hangar to take her for a ride. I had signed up Tassilo as YE, so this would be an official YE flight with the kid and the concerned parent (Is this airplane certified??) :) |
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On the runway. |
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A canard on the taxiway. I kindof liked the colors. Have a little patience with my graphics tick. |
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Submarine communication antennas |
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If I had been able to find a plug for my headset I could tell you more about where we were. I'll have to ask Tassilo. |
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Flying over a ridge. |
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Heading back home... |
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All the layers on this pilot |
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) The fly-in looks deserted. I was surprised how many had already left on Saturday. |
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That's our runway. Got a little off-center. Popped a tire on that one again. Second one in two days. *) |
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) Yep, that needs a little bit of a correction. The concerned parent raises an eyebrow... |
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Y.E. Tassilo with his pilot. Thank you, Steve!! |
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) End of this year's fly-in. Tassilo scored huge with a whole pack of magazines. Steve cycled around us the whole time like an AWACS plane. Say Steve, didn't you work on the design of the pole for that mushroom antenna? |
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Tassilo and I headed back home. Steve says good-bye on the parking lot and pedals back to the field. I arranged the photo for you to find him where the arrow points. |
It was a lot of fun this year. Thank you Steve for your hospitality, a great
flight, and the always interesting stories! See you all next year at AWO!
Holger