September 21, 2006

A more abbreviated visit for me to the West Coast Falco Fly-In this year. A couple of good friends of mine were getting married this weekend so I could only make it for a few hours on Friday. It was a good thing the Fly-In was in Southern California this year, otherwise I would not have been able to make it at all. One downside to the location this year was that since it was so close to me, I could drive to it, which means no extended flight time in Doug Henson's Falco this year! The upside was that since I could drive to it, my girlfriend Stephanie could come with me and possibly get her first ride in a Falco! I only got a few pictures so here they are.

Gayl Boddy checking out Larry Black's Falco

Talking Falco's, sorry for the cut-off Per!

Per checking up on how Ray is treating his baby

Dave McMurray's beautiful Falco profile

Dave Nason preparing to give a ride

I gave the used wing rib station 2.5 to Mark Wainwright to use and he had some fiberglass fairings to offer in return, which I promptly forgot at the airport, DOH! That was a nice gesture though. After lunch, Doug Henson was nice enough to offer a ride for Stephanie in his Falco. As a special bonus, I asked Dan Dorr if I could go up with him and get some photos in formation and he obliged. How cool! Here are some good shots from the flight.

Clear! There's no going back now.

Enjoying the view.

Still smiling. Darn glare...

Is this a beautiful plane or what! A good shot of Doug's Falco.

Now see what a Falco can do...oops there goes lunch.

She made it. She's still alive!

The afternoon wind had picked up before our flight so it was a little bumpy and we had also just eaten lunch but it wasn't too bad I thought. Stephanie said she had a great time up in the air. She enjoyed the flying and was not scared at all. She got a little queasy at the very end but it was a bumpy flight with some good maneuvers, so it wasn't unexpected. All in all, a very good first experience. I was just glad she didn't hate it and wasn't terrified at all. A good start!

Special thanks to Doug and Dan who were kind enough to make the whole experience happen. Hopefully one day, I can return the favor to someone. Here's a short movie of the low formation pass we did. I was running out of camera memory so this was all I got.


Low formation pass, Doug Henson with Stephanie as passenger, Dan Dorr with me as passenger

 

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