Monday, July 12, 2010

Arlington Fly-In 2010

I just got back from the Arlington Fly-In.  I spent the week there cam[ping under the wing of my airplane.  Most people had a tent but since I thought that they were not allowed in the piper parking area, so I just draped a tarp over the wing and slept under there.  It was hot and clear the whole time which was a bit uncomfortable but nice. 

On the first day I walked around and found all of the restrooms, showers, and food locations.  I also took some time to check out all of the planes that had already arrived.  I meet a lot of nice people and was greeted by a cold bottle of water and several other Cherokee owners.  I found that the primer line to one of the cylinders of the airplane was broken.  I got quite sunburned that day and had a little trouble sleeping. 





Day two, I woke up to the sound of a hot air balloon being inflated.  Later that day we found several baby birds that had made a nest in the air filter of of one of the airplanes.  We rescued the birds, tried to help them learn to fly and then gave them to the CAP to take care of.  They took them to the animal rescue and I hear that they are doing well.  Later that day we flew out the the San Juan islands on a scavenger hunt that ended at Paine field.  Paine field is where Boeing makes the 747, 777, and 787.  The tour was really great. 

Day 3 and I finally got a replacement part for the primer line and got it fixed.  I sat and watched the airshow and marveled at the number of airplanes coming in to land at any given time.  There were so many airplanes coming in at any given time that the controllers expect you not to use the radio.  Rather the controllers refer to you by color and type only.  You comply by wagging  your wings.  It was quite amazing.





Then I flew home.  I left at the same time as my friend Ben and we departed as a flight of two.  We both lined up on the runway and each took a side.  We took off and stayed in formation until we got to the Portland area and I descended to land.

All in all it was a fantastic event.

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