Thursday, June 15, 2006

The Western North Carolina Air Museum















What a nice surprise! I took a few days and happened to end up in Hendersonville NC on the weekend of the WNCAM's annual Air Fair ... what a great event!

The picture above is a little "ornithopter" that is powered by an antique "hit and miss" engine and used to take small kids for rides around the airfield ... the wings flap, there's a train whistle ... its a lot of fun just to watch ...

The airport is one where I used to teach, long before I became a steely-eyed jet god.

The parking was getting pretty crowded so I hooked around to the museum where a guy at the gate asked me if I was there to volunteer ... OF COURSE!! Got a fantastic parking spot away from the great unwashed and was put to work right away selling tickets for airplane rides. They even gave me a T-shirt for volunteering. The rides were interesting - 4 people could go at once in a helicopter (Bell Jet Ranger) for about 6-7 minutes, 3 could go at once for 12-15 minutes in either a Cessna 172 or 182, and there was a fellow taking people up one at a time in an antique Piper PA-12. Tickets were $25 no matter what aircraft, and the line stretched sometimes for 15 or 20 deep. It was an old fashioned barnstorming weekend!

So I guess this has gotten me inspired to get back on the Cub project and that's where I plan to be come next week. More then ...

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