Cloudy with a chance of BBQ

There seem to have been less fly-ins this year.  I went to one in September but I think that was the only other one this year.  Wings over Suwanee is usually a pretty big event and in years past we have gone, I have flown young eagles and it has been pretty fun.

This year I did not see it advertised and then this week I saw a flyer for a scaled back event at Suwanee with Young Eagle rides and BBQ.  Apparently the planning committee did not do its thing and thus the smaller event.  The local EAA chapter is really strong though and made the most of what they had.  Scaled back or not, it's only 76 miles and the weather was forecast to be mild and sunny.  When I awoke there was a high overcast at home but sunny in North Central Florida.

The flight was quick, I pulled the power way back and it's still just a bit less than 30 minutes with a few knots on the tail.  I was concerned that I would be mixing with lots of slow traffic with the Eagle flights but our arrival was timed well with no one in the pattern.

When I landed I looked for a place to park where I could pull in but the only available space would require pushing back.  After shutting down, some volunteers came over to help us push.  It's much appreciated with 5000 pound of airplane and gas.  The aviation community is almost always good this way helping each other out.

Once the plane was secured we started the walking and talking.  I had an extra mission for the flight as well.  We had too much leftover Halloween candy so we bagged it up and threw it in the back.  My first stop was to find the check in for the Eagles.  I took the bag and dumped all the candy on the table.  

At the end of the event I walked by and all of our candy was gone except for the Snickers bars.  So much for all those Super Bowl advertisements.   The planes that came in were quite varied.  We saw some classic production planes and a variety of home builts.

I liked the Airspeed indicator on this Pietenpol.  The plane did have a standard one as well but apparently this version works too. I think anything over mach .10 (76 mph) is sort of aspirational.  I saw a friend from home that had flown in to do the rides.  He has one of my favorite tail numbers, the plane is still registered in Canada.  He makes the round trip up there at least annually.

In the end we decided to skip the BBQ, it was pulled pork, I'm more of a ribs and brisket type and it was still early for lunch.  We had a smooth flight home and had a nice view of downtown on our arrival.  Overall the visibility was 50 miles or better.  This is a great time of year to fly.