Seven of the EAA Chapter 240 flew three aircraft to Old Rhinebeck Saturday. A magnificent day with blue skies and scattered billowing clouds, but I filed IFR – just for the practice. And practice I got, as ATC changed my routing three times during the flight. My N57-MXE-20N Direct just didn’t work! I soon got N57-MXE-Allentown-v149 -LHY-v408-v483-FILPS-direct 20N, 3000, expect 6000 after 10, squawk 4224, 124.35. And this changes twice more on the way up, in what was a 60 minute flight in the Cirrus SR22 GTS. Anyway….

Old Rhinebeck puts on a ‘barn-storming’ – type airshow each weekend, using actual or replica WW1 aircraft. They have a collection of airplanes, engines, cars and the enthusiastic showstaff are in period costume. Lotsa fun, good bbq food and pleasant company as we EAA-types wandered about the place, shared a van-ride to/from the show. Uneventful VFR return flight and overall a memorable days aviating.

A rare treat and experience this weekend as I flew with Roger. Who he? He The Master of the Piper Cub, for building, piloting, air-show performing and all-round aviation buff…but a Piper Cub aficionado without any dispute. And known for it nationally. The story? Roger and Jim had purchased the remnants of a Piper Vagabond PA-15. These aircraft are quite rare, built by Piper, out of nearby Lock Haven PA and only 222 still registered to fly. The airplane is smaller than the famous Cub, but the 65 hp Continental engine will drive the craft to 102 mph. Roger (with occasional ‘help’ from Jim) completely rebuilt and re-equipped the PA-15, restoring it to perfection – and then adding hand-held radio’s and a GPS! Its side-by-side seating configuration makes for pleasant flying, as I found on Sunday.
I first flew with Jim, always fun – a great pilot.
But questions about it’s handling brought Roger to the cockpit, with me in the right-seat. Now this is rare. For anyone to fly with The Master is rare. For me to accompany him on this flight, as we completed several take-offs and landings, both on the grass-strip and the runway, was special. Wanting to learn how I can add to my tail-dragger skills I watched him closely, while trying not to look like I was watching him closely. What a treat. You will always learn when you sit next to and watch a Master at work. I did.

My Dad was a big circus fan and would take the family to every circus show that came to town, or within driving distance. We got to see Billy Smarts, Robert Brothers, Ghandi’s, Bertams Mills and other top-line troupe’s. These were big circuses then, traveling throughout the UK, arriving by train or convoys of brilliantly painted circus trucks. Animal acts, unlike many shows now, were included and were often the highlight for us kids. But my Dad’s interest spanned not only the shows but also the set-up and take-down. The firm he worked for were often contracted to provide the lifting cranes to raise the main tent poles and to provide fork-lift trucks on the site. This was enough for my Dad to be there as the troupe arrived and as they departed, and he often brought me along to see all this happen. He read many books on circuses and was interested in every aspect- the acts (I believe we saw the Flying Walendas at least once). In other words, he had a passion for many things – the circus was prominent amongst them.

He passed 18 years go, but imagine his delight at having a grandson now part of the most successful touring and residential circus-type company’s ever – Cirque. He would have been chuffed!

And Lynne and I can truly say that our son ‘ran away to the circus’.

A return business trip to Asia, but this time with Lynne joining me enabling us to enjoy some vacation time. We have a weekend off in Hong Kong, visiting Stanley and Landau Island. Stanley is just 40 minutes by cab or bus from the city of Hong Kong, traveling by winding roads over The Peak to the other side of the island. The contrast is startling, leaving the gleaming metal towers of the crowded city skyline, and enjoying beaches and markets of Stanley. The ocean-front is under development and is looking a little like Baltimore harbour! But the restaurants and stores are entertaining and friendly, with British influence evident in the food, street names and the driving-on-the-left. Wonderful clear weather (unusual for HK at this time of year) helped make for a memorable visit.
Taking the train then spectacular cable car to the worlds largest Buddha, at Lantau Island occupied us on Sunday, sweltering in the heat and humidity of an otherwise gorgeous day. A trip on the famous Star Ferry across the HK harbour to Kowloon gives you an excellent view of the city skyline as well as the myriad of boats, junks and commercial traffic that criss-crosses the waters, turning them rough and choppy.
Business done in Hong Kong we’re off to Japan, a five hour flight away.
Landing at Narita, Tokyo’s international airport, we still have two hours until we reach the Imperial Hotel, adjacent to the Emperors Palace. I’m off to the office but Alan, who has been in Japan with Cirque for 5 months now, joins Lynne in Tokyo – a city he has come to know and love. They do the vacation thing, until we three travel 2hrs north by bullet train, to Sendai. Cirque is at Sendai, performing 63 shows. We spend a fabulous two days with Alan and his ‘family’, enjoying the show – but mostly enjoying being with Alan. He and the cast/crew are kind and welcoming, pleased that we’re visiting. For us, to be amongst these top-class performers is a real treat.
All too soon it’s over, we must return to Tokyo, and home. A successful business trip, a few days vacation fitted-in and we got see the old ‘un.

Oodles of memories, some caught in photographs

The annual Chili-Fest Fly-In at Massey Airport Maryland MD1 was the best ever today, and attracted ~100 aircraft (my count). The grass-strip limits the type of aircraft and pilots but the turnout today was about double last year.

The weather for our brief flight south in the two-seater Citabria N76ML was ‘iffy’, with low ceilings and threatening showers. But non developed and indeed the grass-strip was dry and just fine. My buddy Harv and I touched down about 11.30.
The choice of chili’s equaled the variety of aircraft. Pots of various strengths, heat-levels and contents were provided by volunteers and aviators, with hot-dogs on-hand for the faint-of-heart. Food lines lengthened at various points as waves of aircraft and hungry pilots descended from the Maryland skies.

‘Hangar flying’ broke-out, with aviators exchanging stories, experiences and the best places for cheap(er) aviation fuel.

The flightline included every variety of tail-dragger, sports and production aircraft, impressively filling every vacant spot on Jim Douglas’s airport. The airport is a ‘grassroots-aviation’ and museum spot, with several projects underway to keep antique aircraft flying.

Harv flew us back to New Garden, but not until he’d experienced some aerobatics courtesy of Roger and his Stearman.

Flew the Cirrus N470CD IFR to Florida to enjoy one of two major aviation events this year – Sun ‘n Fun, at Lakeland Florida, along with my partner Jim, and buddy Captain Ron H. Very enjoyable 6 hour flight, fine weather, and a bladder and fuel stop in Lumberton North Carolina. We also took advantage of a truck ride to the local foodery for a quick breakfast. Then off south again, out over the Atlantic for a while before coming ashore for the Florida portion of the trip.

We put down in Plant City, not too far from the Sun ‘n Fun show site, but far enough to avoid the mess of aircraft trying to land at the show site before the noon show time start! We rented a car and drove into the show. Three days of sun and fun, aviation, aircraft, pilots, aerobatics followed, with each day ending up the same – at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville in the show grounds, enjoying a newly-found beverage (beer) – LandShark – tasty, watching the sun go down. Nice.

I purposefully left all my cameras at home for this trip. It felt great and un-pressured.

We headed back north on Saturday, with good weather depicted for the full 6 hour trip. Jim was at the helm as we put down in Curtis L Brown Jr Field Airport Elizabethtown North Carolina. In the pattern we were asked if we wanted “…a hot-dog or hamburger, or both” for lunch. After three hours flying we opted for ‘both’. The Elizabethtown airport team provides free lunch to visiting aviators during the Sun ‘n Fun week. Great food, nice people, cheap(er) fuel…..we’ll be back!

This was my longest cross-county trip in the Cirrus. It performed flawlessly, and was very comfortable (we took turns napping!). We ‘filed’ IFR despite good conditions and ATC services were very helpful (as usual) and we got the altitudes and routing we requested, without exception.

Jim and I spent Sunday washing the Cirrus removing Florida dust, bugs and trip flotsam from the aircraft.

Great trip, good event, good flying experience, great company!

So Neil is settling into Vegas, has found good friends, good work colleagues, a source of British food and is having a good time doing all of this. His apartment is on the edge of Las Vegas, up against the mountains – one of which he climbed this weekend and claimed for himself (Mount Delaware).

Follow his adventures in his new blog.

Neil and his mountain

When our friend and skipper Keith sold his Sailing School last year our almost-annual sailing vacations may have been in jeopardy, and much missed. But when Keith called and and asked if we were interested in chartering a new boat, a Beneteau Oceanis 523, and returning to the Caibbean for a week of sailing we jumped at the chance. We were soon headed to St Thomas for the ferry to Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We picked-up the boat from Nanny Cay, the home of Keith’s sailing school and,as this was our fourth visit to Torto, a place we were very familiar with.

Dinner for our first evening was at the popular Peg-Leg Landing pub and restaurant. The following morning we were off, and our party of eight friends slept aboard the 52ft boat for the week as we sailed between the islands that make us this unique part of the world, taking-in wonderful restaurants, the best snorkeling as we went and enjoying just-perfect weather.

The sailing itself was fabulous. We enjoyed good winds and took advantage of this new boat and its features, which included GPS and navigation system. It was roomy and comfortable, well-equipped all-round.

Highlight for Lynne and I was our return to Bitter End, Virgin Gorda. This sailing resort is at the far-end of the island chain, a 6 hour sail from Tortola and has been a favourite of ours for several years. A beautiful resort, with a mountain hike, swimming pool, Hobie-Cats for hire….we have a memorable 2-day stay.

Our itinerary for week included overnight moorings in White Bay in Jost Van Dyke, Cane Garden Bay in Tortola, The Bight at Norman Island, and Bitter End at Virgin Gorda.

Dolphins joined us on the sail to Virgin Gorda, playing in the boat’s bow wave and entertaining us for several minutes.

A very memorable vacation, and putting socks and long trousers on at the airport was very tough!

Many more photographs here

Alan is in Japan for 18 months with the Cirque du Soleil show Dralion. You can follow his Nippon experiences in his blog here

The show opened this week in Tokyo after months of set-up and rehearsal, including the installation of earthquake sensing equipment to keep the audiences, crew and artists safe. Most of the shows are sold-out already, and the show schedule runs out to June 2008:

Tokyo: Wednesday February 7th 2007 – Sunday May 6 2007 (122 shows)
Sendai: Wednesday May 23rd 2007 – Sunday July 8th 2007 (63 shows)
Osaka: Wednesday July 25th 2007 – Sunday October 14th 2007 (111 shows)
Nagoya: Wednesday October 31st 2007 – Sunday January 6th 2008 (93 shows)
Tokyo 2: Friday January 25th 2008 – Sunday April 6th 2008 (105 shows)
Fukuoka: Wednesday April 23rd 2008 – Sunday June 15th 2008 (75 shows)

As in the past we keep in-touch via Skype video-conferencing, and it’s great to hear (and see him!), his stories and experiences.

“Dream Again” marks Ms. Anel’s first recording as co-producer and she is joined by her bassist, Cooke Harvey as the other half of this creative effort. Mr. Harvey’s impeccable bass stylings and arrangements make this joint effort the perfect collaboration”. Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Our close friend, fellow-vacationer and all-round good egg Cooke H has joined forces with Miss Lil Anel in producing some stunning music and performances. Many musicians do the former but fail or don’t even attempt at the latter. We saw this duo (and friends) in action at the release of their ‘Dream Again’ co-production in Philadelphia this week, at the World Cafe. I’d enjoyed a preview issue of the CD, and liked it a lot. But the live rendition of their recordings was just that – live, alive, in-your-face, full, vibrant, delivered so well.
Cooke’s bass-ing was soooo original, suiting Lil’s music and great songs, interpreted through every style of bass playing, including fretless, tapping, sliding – everything, often providing the lead. His solo accompanying of Lil was haunting, soulful. Lead guitar came from the hands, head and face of Dave, working successfully per song with Lil on the complex and intricate songs. Lil performs with an earnest fullness and even overcame my only disquiet of the CD – the ‘Wallet’ track (I don’t like folks pressing religion).

It was a memorable night, and to see our good friend ‘up-there’ doing his thing, and doing it so well – wow!

With a beautiful day and temperatures in the high 60’s (20c) we’re beginning to wonder if winter will ever make an appearance on the Eastern seaboard of the US. I had diligently put the marker stakes down the driveway to guide the snowplow and to try to stop him hair-cutting my lawn. They seem out of place and silly now. The buckets of rock-salt I moved close to the garage doors ready for the annual covering of ice in front of the garage remain unopened and the snow-blower (which is really fun to use) stands primed and ready, but unused.

So far this season has yet to start and we’re enjoying Fall and Spring-like temperatures and sunny days. House windows are open, home heating is idling. I even did some gardening today, putting some grass-seed down today, in the hope taking care of the too frequent bald patches. The dogs are benefiting too, enjoying longer and more frequent walks.

Of course North East Skiing resorts are being hurt badly. No natural snow thus far and costs of blowing snow are horrendous when it just disappears overnight.

We’ll enjoy it while we can. It’s unlikely to last but it does shorten what are often too long (for me at least) winters. Yippee!

Fun and memorable vacation, 8 days in three very different locations in Baja Mexico, with good friends C&B. Warm-to-hot windy days, cool evenings made a very nice combination for the adventures expertly assembled for us by Black Sheep Adventures and our Chief Shepherd Fred, who accompanied and lead us on this great experience.

Kayaking, snorkeling amongst sea lions, hiking and horseback riding were interrupted only by magical authentic Mexican meals in such unique local restaurants as Nancy’s, Corral Reef and Tequila. We met wonderful people, both Mexican and gringo’s, and all were welcoming and helpful.
Our stays included Los Bariles, Cabo Pulmo and the town of San Jose.
Christmas day in the heat of Mexico, a 6-mile tough mountain hike and then retiring to our quaint Palapa’s in Cabo Pulma was very special.

Full set of photo’s here

Thanks to Fred Ackerman, owner of Black Sheep Adventures and our tour guide for the whole 8 days. Great job Fred! I’m not sure it could have been better.

I’ve been watching NASA TV and following along with this mission since the day of the launch. I forgot to mention here, but a friend and I were lucky enough to catch sight of Discovery on the night it launched. (From Delaware!)
There in the Eastern sky, at exactly the time and position NASA said she would be, we saw the orange glow streaking across the sky. By the time I made the 10 minute drive home from our viewing point and checked on the shuttles location on NASA TV, she was over Africa. Incredible!

I vow to go see a launch before the current Shuttle is mothballed for good.

Having watched so much NASA TV, I’ve come to be able to recognize the various crew members voices, as well as whoever happens to be running the CAPCOM at the current time. It’s been such a pleasure to watch, and I learned more about the mission and the space program in the past 2 weeks than I have any time before it.

Here’s to happy landings and blue skies, Discovery!

More of Neil’s Aviation Blogs here including Flight Training, NASA, Aviation misc………

My only flying of the weekend took place on Sunday morning. My Dad had suggested to a few friends that we get together and fly out for breakfast since the weather would be unusually good for the time of year. We easily fit 4 folks in the SR-22, and our friend flew another in his beautiful Cessna 170. Destination: KGED, Sussex County airport.
the only note to an uneventful flight down state was the occasional flocks of Snow Geese we could see from the air. They swirl around and move together as one above the fields in lower DE, and the whole thing looks alien when viewed from an airplane. Quite a sight.

KGED seemed a little quiet given the good weather, but the breakfast buffet was in full swing, and the few folks that had made the trip were enjoying pancakes, sausages and bacon. I’ll definetly be going back for breakfast. A nice, clean restaurant with pleasant staff, good food, and fair prices, and that ever impotant view of the runway.

As we made our way back north towards home, we passed over Dover Air Force Base. You may recall that this summer, DAFB made national headlines when one of it’s monster C-5’s came up short of a runway and broke into 3 seperate pieces. Well, that C-5 is still sitting there at the end of the runway, looking alot like it does in this picture. I assume it was left during the investigation, but even after, moving such a behemoth aircraft will be a chore.

An animation was released showing cockpit intrumentation and animation of the C-5 before it found the dirt.

**- As The IFR Pilot pointed out, the YouTube link was yanked. So, ignore that one and see the C-5 animation, here.