Pix of our new fuel truck

On 8 Jan 2007 14:23:14 -0800, " wrote:

I wish. There is this pesky thing called "Runway 25" that lays between
our hotel and the ramp, which means we'll just have to come fetch you
when you pay us a visit!

Actually, it's a nice walk on a warm summer day -- but not with
luggage. Just wait by your plane -- we'll pick you up in our courtesy
van. (Unless you're flying a Citabria or Fly Baby, in which case you
probably don't *have* any luggage. Then it's an easy walk! ;-)

Yes, but us Fly Baby drivers need rides 'cause of our fat wallets, which don't
have to pay for 84 gallons of gas at one time. :-)

Ron Wanttaja

Actually, it's a nice walk on a warm summer day -- but not with
luggage. Just wait by your plane -- we'll pick you up in our courtesy
van. (Unless you're flying a Citabria or Fly Baby, in which case you
probably don't *have* any luggage. Then it's an easy walk! ;-)

Yes, but us Fly Baby drivers need rides 'cause of our fat wallets, which don't
have to pay for 84 gallons of gas at one time. :-)

Heh heh. I *knew* you'd bite on that one, Ron...

;-)

Just curious: How long would it take you to fly to Iowa City, en route
to OSH '07?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination'

Could you not get someone to weld a 1/4" plate on each side of the broken
part of the frame?

My mechanic says the metal is too far gone to weld. He suggests
drilling and bolting some angle iron across the weak spot.

Or, I hear that there's a Mennonite shop south of Iowa City about 40
miles that can weld a brace that starts at the front bumper, and ends
at the back bumper. They specialize in working on buggies and wagons,
actually.

(I'm *not* making this up!)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination'

On 8 Jan 2007 18:17:59 -0800, " wrote:

Actually, it's a nice walk on a warm summer day -- but not with
luggage. Just wait by your plane -- we'll pick you up in our courtesy
van. (Unless you're flying a Citabria or Fly Baby, in which case you
probably don't *have* any luggage. Then it's an easy walk! ;-)

Yes, but us Fly Baby drivers need rides 'cause of our fat wallets, which don't
have to pay for 84 gallons of gas at one time. :-)

Heh heh. I *knew* you'd bite on that one, Ron...

Just curious: How long would it take you to fly to Iowa City, en route
to OSH '07?

It depends....how high are the overpasses on I-80? :-)

Ron Wanttaja

It depends....how high are the overpasses on I-80? :-)

Well, I suppose you could fly *under* them... What's your wingspan?

:-)

Seriously, have you flown the Fly Baby to OSH? THAT would be a
heckuva trip.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On 9 Jan 2007 04:47:41 -0800, " wrote:

Seriously, have you flown the Fly Baby to OSH? THAT would be a
heckuva trip.

Our EAA Chapter brought the Fly Baby prototype, N500F, a couple of times in the
1980s after the restoration was completed. This was just before I joined the
chapter. IIRC, it took about three or four days there and back. The plane
never went alone. On one trip, it was escorted by a Grumman Cheetah...imagine
flying *that* throttled back on a ~4000-mile round trip.

The Chapter got a different pilot to fly the "there" and "back" legs each time.
What kind of sticks in my mind is that most of those pilots *never flew the Fly
Baby again* after the trip. Fly Babies are NOT comfortable airplanes to fly
long distances in. The basic description I heard is that the first day was
hell, the second day was a bit better, but by the third day they were starting
to enjoy it a bit. But after they delivered it, they didn't feel too inclined
to fly it again.

This wasn't universal. The pilot who flew it to Oshkosh '82 had flown it there
before, and on one trip was escorted by the Story Special (very similar
aircraft) flown by the main club member both ways.

(The Story Special was one of flying homebuilts when our Chapter was started
about 51 years ago. Read about it starting at page 3 at)

http://www.eaa26.org/sept06.pdf

Or see just a picture at:

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/stories/story.jpg

One difference in these two cases: Both of these repeating pilots were kind of
small, but the other guys (and myself) are rather large. They likely had some
room to move around, in the air, but the other guys (like myself) would be stuck
with a single seating position.

Other folks have flown Fly Babies long distances and enjoyed it. In 2003,
Wendell Davenport flew his Fly Baby from California to Kitty Hawk, stopping at
Oshkosh 2003 on the way. Even so, he didn't make it a continuous trip...he'd
fly the Fly Baby to a convenient airport, then hop an airline flight back to his
home in Hawaii, then show up a month later to take the plane on the next leg.

My long-distance flight experience in Moonraker is pretty limited, but a ~5 hour
trip a few year back darn near killed me:

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/stories/long.htm

I am reminded of that old saying, comparing flying to sex: "I can never get
enough, but sometimes I've had all that I can stand."

I've been tempted to take Moonraker to Oshkosh. Since it's almost 25 years old,
I could even park it in the "classic homebuilt" section. But I'm afraid it'd be
sitting there with a "for sale" sign on it. :-)


Ron Wanttaja

wrote)
Or, I hear that there's a Mennonite shop south of Iowa City about 40
miles that can weld a brace that starts at the front bumper, and ends
at the back bumper. They specialize in working on buggies and wagons,
actually.

(I'm *not* making this up!)


I'm seeing a [Nissan] being pulled by a team of horses through Monument
Valley, in a vain attempt to reach 88 mph.


MontBlack-To The Future III (1990)

What-the-heck...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfODSPIYwpQ
Brokeback to the Future :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omB18oRsBYg&mode=related&search=
The Empire Brokeback :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEiwD1G_1TA
Brokeback Trek :-)

("Ron Wanttaja" wrote)
(The Story Special was one of flying homebuilts when our Chapter was
started about 51 years ago. Read about it starting at page 3 at)

http://www.eaa26.org/sept06.pdf


Our Chapter 237
(ANE) Anoka County-Blaine Airport -- Mpls, MN

We split off from Chapter 25 back in the mid 60's. Chapter 25 was (40+ years
ago) meeting in a guy's basement in Minneapolis. One day our founder got out
a map and said, 'People who live north of this line might be interested in
starting a new Chapter' - That's how EAA 237 was born.

Your Chapter (EAA 26) has a very nice pdf newsletter.
http://www.eaa26.org/sept06.pdf

Chapter 25 Webmaster Wins 1st Place in EAA Competition
http://www.eaa25.org/2006/07/29/chapter-25-webmaster-wins-1st-place-in-eaa-competition/


Montblack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEiwD1G_1TA
Brokeback Trek :-)

Now THAT is funny. Sick...but funny...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"