March 29, 2023 - Sun 'N Fun

This Wednesday, Jeff, Bruce and I were heading to Sun 'N Fun in Jeff's Cessna 210 Centurion.   The Centurion has six seats, a six-cylinder engine and  retractable-gear.  First flown in January 1957, it was produced by Cessna until 1986.  9,240 were built.

We all met at Sebastian Airport around 6:30AM.  The sky was clear here but unfortunately Lakeland was IFR.  The forecast called for marginal VFR until 11am or so.   We weren't sure what to do.  One option was to just drive to Lakeland, a two-hour drive.  We decided to go to .... Dunkin Donuts!   While we were there, I checked weather and Lakeland had improved to VFR.  We're flying to Sun 'N Fun!  We ended up taking off around 8am.

Here is Jeff's Centurion.
   
Jeff happy to be flying to Sun 'N Fun. He hasn't flown in to Sun 'N Fun or AirVenture before and was glad to have someone who had done it before fly with him.
   
There were a few low-hanging clouds about but it wasn't bad at all.
   
Approaching Lake Parker with the power plant at the top of the Lake.  We were lucky; only one other airplane was in the approach ahead of us -- an Aircoupe.
   
Jeff flew a nice tight right-hand pattern to land on runway 28 right, which is normally a taxiway.  You can see the Sun 'N Fun area to the left and the Lakeland tower to the right.
   
Lakeland's blue terminal building is at center right and also a KC-135.
   
The tower had Jeff land on the green dot which is quite a bit down the runway.
   
Taxiing to the end of 28 right, we pass by the two Amazon Prime distribution center buildings on the right.  You can see one of the Amazon Prime jets at left.
   
Happy to be safe on deck at Sun 'N Fun.  Bruce and Jeff.  We are in General Aviation Parking.  We had to taxi the length of Lakeland Airport to get here.
   
General Aviation Parking.
   
I like the tail art on this experimental Sea Twister.  Notice the canoe tied to the float on the other side of the airplane.
   
Another neat little amphibian:  the Sea Max, made in Brazil.
   

A massive Howard DGA-6 -- better know as Mister Mulligan -- taxiis by.   Only one DGA-6 was built and it was destroyed in a crash.  This is a replica built by Jim Younkin.

This was the only airplane ever designed for the specific purpose of winning the Bendix Trophy which was a cross-country race from the west coast to the site of the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio.  The plane was designed and developed in 1934 by Ben Howard and Gordon Israel, who later became an engineer for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Mister Mulligan was designed to fly the entire length of the race nonstop and at high altitude. Neither had ever been done before. Mister Mulligan won the trophy, and thus changed the way in which long distance airplanes were designed.
   
Now this is something new:  a Junkers A50 Junior.  It's a little open cockpit, tandem trainer, powered by a Rotax 912, and with modern avionics like the Garmin G3X 10" display.  The skins are corrugated, not something we've seen since, well the 1930s.
   
The Bahamanians were pushing their islands pretty hard this Sun 'N Fun.  I wouldn't mind flying down there again.
   
One of the four big vendor buildings.
   
Get your aviation hardware here!
   
A brightly painted Super Cub variant with big wheels.
   
Checking out the RV-10 in the Van's Aircraft booth.
   
The Vans booth from a distance.
   
Looking enviously at an earthX Lithium battery.  Only 4.1 pounds compared to my PC680 that ways 14.8 pounds.  But the price!  About three times as much.  I'm gonna have to just keep carrying the extra weight.  Better yet, I should get on SlimFast and lose the ten pounds that way.  (probably not gonna happen)
   
Another fun looking amphibian, this one the Super Petrel Light Sport, also made in Brazil.  What, do they have a lot of lakes down there? A biplane, no less.
   
Robotic dog.  What will they think of next?
   
Panchito is in the house!  This B-25  is based in nearby Georgetown, Delaware and gets flown.  I've seen it at Oshkosh and numerous airshows.
   
One of my favorites:  a PBY Catalina flying boat.
   
I couldn't believe my lying eyes when I saw this MiG-23 Flogger on the warbird line.  This MiG-23 is in immaculate condition and is flown out of Wilmington, Delaware by "Files".
   

Head on view.  I was surprised to learn that there are 11 privately-owned Mig-23 in the U.S.

The MiG-23 is a third-generation jet fighter, alongside similar Soviet aircraft such as the Su-17 "Fitter". It was the first Soviet fighter to field a look-down/shoot-down radar, the RP-23 Sapfir, and one of the first to be armed with beyond-visual-range missiles. Production started in 1969 and reached large numbers with over 5,000 aircraft built, making it the most produced variable-sweep wing aircraft in history.  The Soviet Union is gone and Russia retired their MiG-23s but nine third-world countries still operate the jet.

I get the impression the MiG-23 wasn't a good fighter.  It always seemed to be the plane getting shot down by F-14s, F-15s, F-16s and F-18s.
   
Massive and menacing MH-47G, the special operations version of the venerable Boeing CH-47 Chinook.
   
Another fierce-looking flying machine, the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.
   
This is Quicksilver, the P-51 Mustang I patterened the paint scheme on my RV-7 after.
   
A beautiful gull-wing F4U Corsair was on hand.
   
A polished 1943 Vultee BT-13A Valiant, better known as the "Vibrator".   Flown by most American pilots during World War II, War II, it was the second phase of the three phase training program for pilots, following primary training in PT-13, PT-17, or PT-19 trainers.  Vultee produced more than 11,500 of them.  There are several explanations given for its nickname of Vibrator. 1: Because it had a tendency to shake quite violently as it approached its stall speed. 2. During more adventurous maneuvers the canopy vibrated. 3. On takeoff, the aircraft caused windows on the ground to vibrate. 4. The two-position propeller had an irritating vibration in high pitch.
   
Another beautifully polished airplane:  the Beech 18, also known as Twin Beech and "Bug Smasher".
   
The World War II primary trainer, the colorful Fairchild PT-19.
   
Camouflaged A-10.
   
Unfortunately, we did not get to see this F-35A fly today, but we did get this close-up look.  There is a second one on the other side.   It seems like just the other day that this jet was just coming on line.  Now there are over 900 built for the U.S. and 16 other countries!  The U.S. plans to buy a whopping 2,456 F-35s through 2044, for the Air Force, Navy and Marines.
   
A nice-looking RV taxiis by on its way to either Homebuilt Camping or Parking.
   
Ah, these CJs always have colorful paintjobs along with the obligatory red star.
   
Patty Wagstaff drives by after her routine in the airshow.
   

An Amazon Prime Air jet taxiis by.  At one point during the air show, no performers flew for about 30 minutes.

In this picture, you can see the big empty area where homebuilt parking used to be.   You used to be able to watch the airshow from thta fence.  Now the area is just vacant and you are 500 feet or so farther away from the airshow.  Too far away.
   
Rob Holland waves to the crowd after putting on an awesome show in his MXS-RH.
 
The MXS-RH is a one-of-a-kind, all carbon-fiber masterpiece.  This single seat, competition and airshow - ready aircraft is designed and built by MX Aircraft in North Carolina, and incorporates design modifications suggested by Rob Holland himself.  Powering this aerobatic monster is a Lycoming engine producing 380 horsepower.  Weighing in at a minimal 1200 pounds, this state-of-the-art aerobatic masterpiece boasts astonishing performance, is capable of pulling 16 positive and negative Gs, and rolls at nearly 500 degrees per second.
   
Awesome Waco on floats.
   
The CJs fly over in nice Delta formation.
   
Jeff and Bruce watching the show from their folding charis.  Notice all the "VIP" areas that are now at Sun 'N Fun, occupying much of the airshow watching prime real-estate.
   

The airshow's finale was an F-16 demonstrating how it intercepts a general aviation plane entering a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) area, like those that set up when the President visits somewhere.

In this case, the F-16 intercepted a King Air.  Yeah, pretty lame.  The announcer described all the things the F-16 would do and then what the violating airplane should do, but never mentioned the most obvious one.  Just tune in 121.5 and talk to the F-16.  Maybe say something like "Is there a problem, Officer?"  The announcer did say that one F-16 would fly alongside, and a second F-16 would hang back.

Launching two F-16s to intercept a GA airplane that has inadvertantly strayed into a TFR sure does seem like overkill to me.  I mean, how much does that cost?  How do we know it was inadvertant?  Well, all this SFRA and TFR stuff has been going on quite a while now, over 15 years I'm guessing.  I bet that 100% of the incursions have been inadvertant.
   
The F-16 following a KC-135 tanker.  A very important capability, yes, but frankly, I'd rather just see the F-16 turn and burn right over the field.
   
The Coconut Flyers are still going strong.
   
On the long walk back to General Aviation Parking, a DeHavilland Beaver on floats passed us heading in the opposite direction.
   
An interesting motorglider taxiis by.
   
A good samaratan in a golf cart gave us a ride to our plane.  Soon we were in the conga line heading all the way to the west side of the airport.  But it wasn't too bad.  The line was moving and the line didn't start until we were halfway across the airport.   When I flew out after the airshow in my RV, it was much wore.
   
Getting close.
   
The portable tower at the west end of the runway.    That looks like Rob Hollands MXS-RG lined up and waiting on the runway.
   
Now we're on the runway.  They were doing the left - right launch thing, like they do at AirVenture.
   
 
   


Airborne!  Looking at the empty area formerly known as homebuilt parking.   The homebuilts were part of the show back then.  Now if Sun 'N Fun visitors want to see the homebuilt, they have to walk a good ways east.

Also notice how most of the airshow viewing real-estate is taking up by the vendor booths.
   
 
   

The vintage parking and camping area is right of center.  Unfortunately we didn't have time to walk through it and look at the planes.

Warbirds are at lower left (on runway 5) and lower right.
   
The homebuilt camping area is visible left of center.
   
A close-up of homebuilt camping.  RVs are the majority.  General aviation camping is at top center.  Two F-35s and an F-16 are at lower right.
   
A better shot of the homebuilt campers.
   
A close-up of General Aviation camping.
   

The east end of the field with General Aviation parking at center left.

About this time we could see a mass of airplanes -- 20 to 30 -- circling around Lake Hancock counter-clockwise.  I assuming they were holding until all the planes had taken off and then they would be cleared in.  But it was about 6:30 pm and the airport closed at 7:05 I think.  So there wasn't much time left to get in.  I wonder if they all made it.   We transited over the mass of airplanes at Lake Hancock.
   
Looking south down at Highway 192 as it heads to Yeehaw Junction.
   
Passing by the radio-controlled airplane field that Bruce flies at.
   

On final for Sebastian Airport.

All in all, it was a very good day.  We were lucky flying in and out of Lakeland, with weather and traffic.  One day is really not enough to see everything at Sun 'N Fun properly, but it is better than no day.  Thanks to Jeff for flying us in his Centurion!
   
 
   
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