Yup... We Love this Place!

Even though the weather has tended more to the overcast than the CAVU; the cool temps and the high (enough) ceilings are pulling flyers away from their home dromes in great numbers this weekend as Arlington 2004 hits the weekend high gear.

Saturday featured great fly-bys by the Blackjack Squadron, lots of warbird action, some amazing flight demos, and a really first-class airshow. Activity in the lightplane area continued to be active, with excellent narration by ANN's good buddy Vern Peckham, who has staked out a name for himself as a first class announcer for the sport aviation community. Heavy action is coming from the conventional SportPlane industry, with some visible growth from the trike groups (who are building some beautiful hardware these days, I kid you not... especially now that the four stroke engines are coming to the fore), and some visible decline in the fortunes of the powered parachute industry (who's fortunes seem to be pretty much a result of their own actions -- there are more than a few who are not putting their best foot forward).

In the main exhibitor area, hot products that are making themselves known include Dynon's compact EFIS system, Seattle Avionics Voyager flight planner and SmartPlates software products (more on that shortly), Para-Phernalia's Softie line of emergency chutes (Don't leave the ground without it...), ANYTHING sporting a WxWorx interface, and Surecheck's Trafficscope. Companies that reported good business at this year's event included Lockwood Aviation's Phil Lockwood, who is moving quite a few catalogs for his sport aviation supply business, AirFleet Capital's Jim Blessing who has spent a lot of time explaining the current aircraft financing climate (and the remaining tax incentives that are available for a few more months--hopefully to be renewed by Congress shortly), and I-K Technologies, who produce a colorful, graphic-intensive Aircraft Information Monitors, that is becoming quite popular.

Traffic has been streaming in all day... with the pattern staying busy, but surprisingly organized no matter how heavy the influx. The FAA temporary tower staff handling the Fly-In's traffic has done an exceptional job this week and has managed a very safe event with great expertise. I've spent several hours flying in the area this week, doing everything from test flying to high-speed (and I DO MEAN high-speed) fly-bys -- and never once had to repeat myself, go-around, or question an instruction... they've worked rapid-fire and been pretty cheerful about the whole thing. Very professional.

This year's airshow was a darned good one. There have been a great variety of acts presented, ranging from highly modified Pitts style bipes, to Sukhois, to a Long-Eze, a T-6, a Harmon Rocket, a classic Chipmunk, a Zlin 50, a P-51, plenty of warbird fly-bys and some amazing formation routines from Bud and Ross Granley--in dissimilar airplanes. Pacing was fast, there was precious little "dead-air" (thanks to Airboss Steve Soper's staff) and the caliber of the flying was top-notch. Jerzy Strzyz's routine in the Su-26 was fast-paced and heavy on lots of rolling vertical action... leaving no seconds wasted. Greg Anders' P-51 flights gave everyone a full ration of Mustang sights and sounds -- and some VERY smooth flying.

But... the hit of the show (as usual) were the flights of the Granleys. Bud Granley is known to many of you who read ANN as we have long praised the amazing skill and versatility of this highly-experienced airman... who flies more routines in more types of aircraft than anyone I know. Bud flew a beautiful routine in a stock Chipmunk Saturday that allowed we DeHavilland fans to ooh and ahh to our heart's content... but the performance of the day was the extraordinary dual "ACROdesiYAK" routine done by Bud and his son Ross (a former Snowbird). Flying very dissimilar Yaks (a four-place -18 and a single-place -55), Bud and Ross kicked ass. Tight formations, excellent opposing maneuvers, and speedy rejoins were the order of the day while the action came fast and furious. One thing I have to note, though, was the flying done by Ross (shown below). I've known his Dad for years and lauded him far and wide as one of the finest airshow pilots I have ever seen (that's my story and I'm sticking to it)... but I watched Ross closely today, flying a Yak 18 he's been restoring over the last many months and came away REALLY impressed by the smoothness and precision of his flying. The Yak is a bit of a brute and while it's a LOT more agile than it's ungainly appearance might suggest, Ross worked that baby like there's no tomorrow. I really don't think I've seen the Yak flown better. The old adage is true here -- the apple does not fall far from the tree...

As for ANN, we've had a ball this week. The folks of the NW EAA Fly-In continue to earn our kudos to them for running the friendliest fly-in in the country, and the smiling spectators seem to be in pleasant agreement. We spent considerable time getting to know the latest generation of the GlaStar, the stretched and tweaked Sportsman 2+2, which is every bit as good as the GlaStar was (high-praise--it was on my Top Ten list for years)... and maybe just a little bit nicer, in terms of load-carrying, and overall stability and control (the very tight static/dynamic pitch profile is even better defined... which we weren't sure was possible til we flew it). We'll have a flight test shortly, but suffice it to say, they have another winner on their hands... especially when you add in the availability of their new builder's program and financing packages.

We had a ball in the fly-by pattern Saturday. Cruising aloft in Lancair's Turbo-prop L-IVP is definitely the way to see northern Washington... but you gotta look FAST. Flying in close formation with a Lancair Legacy flown by Josh Brungardt, IV-P demo pilot Al Campbell and I made fast work of a number of high-speed fly-bys, joined up west of the field for a few photos and just plain had a ball (while steering clear of the mass RV formations that were also playing in the fly-by pattern that day). It was a great time and the incredible power and agility of the IV-P remain as impressive now as the first time I flew it years ago.

There's more... but we have an early morning flying appointment to rest up for. So stay tuned... there's much more to come.

FMI: www.nweaa.org