Arlington trip

Three of my students and I took the 206 to Arlington yesterday. We had to go
IFR since the ceiling at Tacoma Narrows was only 400 feet. However, we broke
out on top at 1400 and sailed under clear blue skies to Arlington, which was
clear below 11,000. I was concerned about getting in there IFR and asked
Seattle Center how the traffic was -- he said it looked like a hive of bees.
Nevertheless, he managed to squeeze us in for a straight-in visual approach
for landing to the north. We parked on row 23.

First thing we did was register then we went over to find Paul Anton who
gave us a great presentation on Ercoupes. While we were talking to him there
was apparently some kind of accident, possibly the Ercoupe that bounced on a
hard landing that Paul mentioned in the PNW Flyers group, but I don't know.
We wandered over to the food court to get breakfast. Here it was not even
9:00 and already it was obvious that it was going to be dry and hot. So much
for weather forecasts, which said that ceilings would be 500 feet with rain
showers. As we finished breakfast, an F-117 made several low passes over the
field.

I wanted to see the Velocities (I still keep thinking I might build some
day). We checked out all the exhibits, making a big circle and ending up
with the Wright Flyer simulator in the NASA tent. Here you have an
opportunity to crash the Flyer into an SUV. Andy, my brother, tells me that
he has managed to keep the thing aloft for 60 seconds. I didn't try it,
being more interested in lunch by this time. Contrary to some media reports,
it is possible to bank the Flyer, but it is always at such a low altitude
you can't recover from the altitude loss resulting from anything but a very
shallow turn.

We also checked out the Noon Patrol's Nieuport XI, Moonraker, and way too
many other interesting aircraft, including an AN-2 biplane. One of my
students had planned to drive up (his wife wanted to come along but she had
a morning yoga class), and I was beginning to wonder where he was. We set up
with a cooler of soda pop and lemonade under the 206 and watched the
airshow. Andy showed up with one his buddies and he gave us a progress
report on his Celerity and the engine overhaul on his Cessna 150. The rings
were too tight and needed a lot of adjustment. Andy is based at Arlington
and so he had been there all week.

Toward the end of the airshow Ted showed up -- just in time to see the
military parade. It seems a tanker truck blew up right in front of him on
the freeway and it took him four hours to get around the accident. (We were
all wondering what that huge black cloud of smoke was.) He and his wife were
wishing they had flown up with us; they tried to get me to drive their car
back so they could take the plane home. Ted and Andy talked about their
projects (Ted is building an RV-7). After the airshow we all ate dinner
while the thundering horde took off. We departed just ahead of a
thunderstorm that was moving in; but Andy said later that it only lasted a
few minutes.

All of us ended up badly sunburned and exhausted and talking about next
year. One of the great things was the opportunity for my students to fly the
206. The private pilot students (both pre-solo) learned that they are really
making some progress after all and the instrument student got some good IFR
experience. Altogether an outstanding day.

--
Christopher J. Campbell
World Famous Flight Instructor
Port Orchard, WA


For the Homeland!