If Ya Ain't Here, Y'er Missing Out... Big-Time

Is it possible to have TOO much sun and blue sky? One hopes that it isn't, but so far the weather for this year's Northwest EAA Fly-In seems to be testing the potential for good weather overload.

In a word, it's BLUE out here... Big blue skies, wonderfully warm and LOTS of airplanes cranking in already despite the fact that the "BIG" days for this five day aero-orgy don't actually start until Friday (today).

NWEAA's Barbara "Tiger" Tolbert was in a very good mood when we checked with her Thursday evening. "We've got GREAT attendance so far... and it seems to be ahead of, or at least keeping up with, last year. Airplanes started coming in earlier and we expect the weekend to be very strong."

As well it should, Barbara's Fly-In gnomes have put together a heckuva show for this year. Big hits already are numerous Centennial of Flight activities, the turbo-prop Wheeler Express, Kitfox's Sport Pilot ready bird, Aerocomp'sa monstrous Walter-powered people movers, the incredible Velocity XL-5 with an ALL Blue Mountain EFIS panel--nary an old-style gauge in sight (story coming...), a whole gaggle of PFD equipped Cirri, UPSAT's showing off of the new WAAS-Ready CNX-80, a Diamond DA-40 (just begging to be taken home... if ya got the scratch), and an expected public appearance of the LONG-awaited new four-place RV-10 some time tomorrow.

One of the first AAI retrofitted gyroplanes is on display, promising much for the folks who need to update the many problems inherent in the RAF 2000, and promising even more for the folks who are waiting for the all-new Sparrowhawk kit (based on the many mods that were developed for AAI's retrofit of the RAF... and then some) that will be shown at Oshkosh in just a few weeks.

The weekend also plans to offer some pretty impressive guests who may not come for long, but are sure to make an impression... but one a mite more friendly than the impressions they left in Baghdad a few weeks ago. Yes, they're expecting several visits from an F-117 Stealth Fighter/Bomber and at least one serious fly-by of a B-52... If Saddam is hiding in the Northwest Washington area, he should feel right at home.

It's a pretty upbeat feeling around here at the moment, despite the malaise among SportPlane manufacturers created by the much-delayed Sport Pilot regs and the fact that this has created a buyer's limbo that has severely curtailed SportPlane sales activity for over a year. Still; those companies working hard to do good business are managing to survive (even if it means eating beanie-weenies all week long...) and up-ticks in the stock market have made it a little easier for people to feel better about aircraft buying once again... pray that this trend continues, rule or no rule. Some really fine folks have been pretty badly hurt by the hype and delays that promised so much for so long and delivered... well, bupkus.

Well... there's more, lots more, and as soon as I get some sack time, we'll be sure to bring you far more of the best of NWEAA '03 in the days ahead. Keep an eye out...

FMI: www.nweaa.org