Having too much fun to write

The Cub is back in the air!!

With a lot of help from Glenn and Mike and Russ and Bill and Bill and Bob and Bob the old bugger is flying again! That's me. The Cub helps. First time we started the rebuilt engine, it started on the second pull of the prop. What an exciting moment! After checking for leaks, off we went. The airplane flew flawlessly ... and I have to admit my landing was very good. Bob the younger flew the first flight with me, followed by George, then Stu and even Vladimir risked life and limb ... V and I flew over to John's private strip for the Fathers' Day fly-in and had a great time with about 40 other antique airplane nuts ...

More on the ups and downs from Cubland when the muse strikes ... for now, I'm having too much fun to write!

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 ...