Day two for me. 1:26 pm. I got here around 9:00 am and the lot was about half full already! I have been talking to vendors, looking at display aircraft, and just got out of a RV builders information forum. There was one accident that I saw when I got here this morning. A LSA plane tried to land on the ultralight field, overran the runway and ended up down in a ravine about 15 feet below the runway level. Pilot was ok, but I'm sure it ruined his week.
I'll update again this evening with more pictures.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Sun-n-Fun 2009 Day 1 (for me)
I got to Lakeland Linder regional late today and didn't think I'd get to see much. Boy was I wrong. I caught the end of the airshow and then was amazed at the mass exodus of planes! They had them going one right after next for at least an hour.
I was able to get to much of the homebuilt area and some of the vendors, but a lot of people has already closed up their displays. I walked around through much of the vintage aircraft area and the flight line area. I did hang around for some steel drum music at the Sunset Grill and waited for the 8:00 pm program to start in the AOPA pavillion. This program was about two former enemies from the Vietnam War. On April 16, 1972 Dan Cherry and Hguyen Hong My met in the skies over Hanoi and after an intense 5 minute dogfight Cherry in his F4D Phantom managed to shoot down My in his MiG 21. Just a few months earlier My got his first kill of an American fighter. Many years passed and Cherry found himself wondering about the Vietnamese pilot. After many fruitless searches, Cherry contacted a TV show in Vietnam that brought long lost people back together and they found the pilot and reunited the two on live television. Cherry was able to spend some time with his new friend in Vietnam and when he left My asked him to try to find out what happened to the US pilot of the plane he had shot down in January of 1972. This week was My's first time to the US and together they will be telling there story throughout the week at Sun-n-Fun. It was announced at the program tonight that Cherry has located the pilots of the US fighter and they will be reunited with My in Washington next week. It was a facinating story to listen to, rich with history and human kindness that the two have been able to share since there meeting.
I located a wireless hot spot so I should be able to make a few short updates during the day tomorrow, but I'll upload more pictures in the evening.
Check out the Sun-n-Fun website here: http://www.sun-n-fun.org
Whirlwind Travels
I'm in Winter Haven Florida after a couple days of whirlwind travels. I flew out from CVG to Fresno with a stop in Denver on Monday. Tuesday afternoon I flew to Tampa with a stop in Phoenix. I finally got to my room later last night. I'm working in Sarasota today and after ai drop my colleages off at the airport this afternoon, I'm headed over to Lakeland. I am planning on attending the evening program, "An Unlikely Reunion - Reconciliation in Vietnam". This will be the second time two former enemy pilots meet face to face since meeting in the skies over Vietnam.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sun n Fun Mission
I won't be flying this week, at least not in the Diamond. I've got a few days traveling for business then I'm heading to Lakeland Florida for the 35th annual Sun-n-Fun fly in. I'll be reporting on the event beginning Wednesday evening for my local EAA chapter 174 based at Clermont County airport. Check back often late this week or you can follow me at @dalecraven on Twitter where I make frequent updates as long as I can get a wifi signal.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Maneuver review and landing practice
Saturday April 18th
What a beautiful day! Calm winds, sunny, and clear. My two boys where there for the first time to help me with the pre-flight inspection. We took off from Blue Ash and headed to the practice area over Trenton. We practiced a couple power on stalls in a bank and then headed over to Middletown-Hook field. The light wind was almost straight down the runway and I setup in the traffic pattern and made a very nice pattern and landing. We taxxied back to runway 23, took off again, and stayed in the pattern. The second landing was just about as nice and we took right back off with a touch and go. At this point it was time to head back to Blue Ash were I setup in the pattern and Cameron pulled the throttle to idle at the end of the downwind leg and said "engine out". I started a turn to a short final to make sure I made it back to the runway in time. I acually got back with too much altitude as we were halfway down the runway and I was still airborn. We performed a go around and on the next pattern I cut the final too short and again was too high for a landing. Another go around, setup in the pattern and careful control of the altitude, I was in good shape on final and made another good landing.
Next lesson will be April 27 and I am going to be taking a pre-solo written test and will fly with a different instructor for a review.
FAA Medical
One of the requirements for getting your private pilot certificate is passing an FAA class three medical exam. On Wednesday April 15th I went to see Dr. Weisbrot, an Aviation Medical Examiner for my medical. This certificate is also my student pilot certificate and is required prior to a solo flight which will be coming up soon. I filled out the FAA 8500-8 form, answered some medical history questions, got a physical exam and walked out with my certificate. The whole process was much less daunting then I had been preparing for.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Marginal Ceiling
Tuesday April 14th
Today was another cross wind day at Blue Ash. I had been monitoring the weather all day, radar and visibility were good, winds were around 10 knots at 300 degrees and the cloud ceiling was up and down all day. By flight time, the ceiling was reported at 1400 feet so we decided to just do some landing and traffic pattern practice. The plan was to go to Butler County regional for some takeoffs and landings with a better direction for the wind. After departure, we tuned the radio to Butler County weather and the ceiling there was reported at 1200 feet. Since the cloud coverage looked pretty uniform around us and the ceiling was decending, we headed back to Blue Ash to make a couple cross wind landings. My first approach I made all the radio calls after Cameron reported our position at 3 miles out. The pattern was pretty good and I lined up on final on the upwind edge of the runway and held a good crab angle into the wind to maintain the glide toward the runway. I maintained a good glide all the way to the roundout point and made a pretty nice landing. We taxiied back to runway 24 and took off again for another trip around the pattern. The clouds were decending even lower so we began the descent at the end of the downwind leg and made a turn to base and a quick turn to final to stay ahead of the wind. I got downwind of the runway centerline anyway and had to correct with crab angle during the final approach. This landing I fought just a little more and I did not get all of the crab angle correction out by the point of touchdown, but still not a terrible landing for the conditions and my experience level. We tuned to the AWOS and the ceiling at Blue Ash was reported at 1100 feet, so we were done for the day. So far I have only had one good weather day. I suppose that it is good to learn in challenging conditions, it will make the good days even more enjoyable. I'm thinking about setting up a video camera for some of my upcoming flights. I'll keep you posted.
Today was another cross wind day at Blue Ash. I had been monitoring the weather all day, radar and visibility were good, winds were around 10 knots at 300 degrees and the cloud ceiling was up and down all day. By flight time, the ceiling was reported at 1400 feet so we decided to just do some landing and traffic pattern practice. The plan was to go to Butler County regional for some takeoffs and landings with a better direction for the wind. After departure, we tuned the radio to Butler County weather and the ceiling there was reported at 1200 feet. Since the cloud coverage looked pretty uniform around us and the ceiling was decending, we headed back to Blue Ash to make a couple cross wind landings. My first approach I made all the radio calls after Cameron reported our position at 3 miles out. The pattern was pretty good and I lined up on final on the upwind edge of the runway and held a good crab angle into the wind to maintain the glide toward the runway. I maintained a good glide all the way to the roundout point and made a pretty nice landing. We taxiied back to runway 24 and took off again for another trip around the pattern. The clouds were decending even lower so we began the descent at the end of the downwind leg and made a turn to base and a quick turn to final to stay ahead of the wind. I got downwind of the runway centerline anyway and had to correct with crab angle during the final approach. This landing I fought just a little more and I did not get all of the crab angle correction out by the point of touchdown, but still not a terrible landing for the conditions and my experience level. We tuned to the AWOS and the ceiling at Blue Ash was reported at 1100 feet, so we were done for the day. So far I have only had one good weather day. I suppose that it is good to learn in challenging conditions, it will make the good days even more enjoyable. I'm thinking about setting up a video camera for some of my upcoming flights. I'll keep you posted.
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