Planes, Planes, and More Planes!

Looking from our back porch

This weekend was the annual fly-in at our country home. With more than 60 planes, the fly-in was a big success.

Our house is on a hill above a small private airport. We chose the house for its location just as we chose this community for its amenities, one of which is that airport.

Dozens of Planes

Lanes of planes. All total: about 60.

Every year, pilots from all over the country fly here to display their planes and enjoy a catered barbeque lunch–brisket and all the trimmings.

Everyone can stroll through the lanes of parked aircraft and ooh and ah to heart's content. You can look inside the cockpit and check out avionics. Most have upgraded to computer avionics, GPS, etc. No longer is the old IFR joke applicable.

IFR actually means Instrument Flight Rated, meaning you have the equipment to fly at night and land among other things. To novice pilots several years ago IFR jokingly meant “I follow roads” for those who had difficulty reading air maps. With GPS, navigation is easy.

Great Designs & Interiors

Largest plane that flew in, a Cessna 8 seater

The colorful planes, many with outstanding graphics, beautifully appointed interiors, and top of the line avionics are amazing, and talking “shop” with the pilots never gets old. We also have a chance to schmooze with our neighbors since we don't get to see them very often.

Darling Hubby and I once owned and flew our own plane, a Piper Cherokee, 4 place–that's 4 seats to you non-flyers. Every year during fly-in, we talk about buying another plane. Or maybe buying an RV and building it ourselves. Home-builds, as they are called, are always labeled Experimental Aircraft, but there's nothing experimental about them. They all have to be approved by the FAA as airworthy.

Steerman

RV, a Home-build

Takeaway Truth

I guess it's a good thing we aren't millionaires because we'd probably spend more than is sensible on hot cars and airplanes. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.