I left on Thursday morning and flew Southwest to Oakland. I hopped a shuttle over to the terminal where the little guys park and met Doug and his Grand Champion Falco. We flew up to Santa Rosa and met Dan Dorr and his wife Alyson in their Falco. From there, we flew in formation to Lake Almanor and met Larry Black and his wife Ann in their Falco. They had courtesy bicycles there, which was rad, so we cycled into town and had lunch there. We continued on to Bend from there with all three Falcos flying together. We overflew the airport in echelon formation in really bumpy gusty weather. I was really impressed with Larry, Dan, and Doug's flying. The landing was pretty tough also, with a crab at about 30 degrees. I got a video of that, see below. It was quite a sight to see and I snapped many pictures on the way there. Here are some of the shots.
There were 7 Falcos that showed up. We managed to stuff five of them in one hanger. On Friday we hung around the airport all day talking about Falco's and giving people rides. Dan Dorr gave me a ride in his Falco and he let me maneuver around and then he did some lazy eights and a low pass. I got a good video of the low pass, see below. Later on, we took a tour of the Columbia Aircraft factory. It was very impressive and seeing all the expensive jigs made me drool.
On Saturday, we flew out as a group to Sun River and had breakfast at a really nice lodge nearby. After breakfast, I took a short ride with Ray Hecker who owns Per Burholm's Falco. He let me handle the Falco a bit and showed me a couple stalls in the Falco which I captured on video. After that, I took off with Doug back to the Bay Area. The ride home was beautiful. It was a great day and we passed some great spots including Crater Lake, and Mt. Shasta. We were cruising at 11,500 ft. and we were still below the peak!
It was a really great weekend and I'm excited to get back to building. One day, far away, I will be cruising around in one of those too. Special thanks to Doug, who put up with me all weekend. His flying constantly impresses me, and he has helped me throughout the building process, answering many of my questions. Here are a bunch of videos from the weekend.
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