October 4, 2025 - Federhart-Ophelia (VA99) Fly-In
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Today is the annual Federhart-Ophelia fly-in down in Reedville, Virginia. Fly south to St. Marys and turn southeast to the end of the peninsula. VA99 is bordered by the Potomac River to the north and the Chesapeake Bay to the east. Weather couldn't be better.
Today, I'm flying the Super Decathelon and Tom is flying his big wheel Maule, with Chuck as passenger. Mugsy will meet us there.
Here we have just passed over the Kent Narrows bridge, heading south.
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Looking west at the Big Wheels. The planes have almost identical cruising speeds.
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| Chuck takes this nice close-up of me with his big telephoto lens. |
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| Feet dry over Virginia. |
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| About to cross the Potomac River, I look down and spot this grass strip, with a plane just touching down. |
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Having crossed the Potomac River, which is very wide at this point, we turn southeast and fly down the north edge of the peninsula.
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| Turning upwind at VA99. We'll land to the north. The festivities are at the north end. |
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| A good number of planes have arrived already. VA99 is a small airport community. |
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| Tom and his rugged Maule. |
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Mugsy and his RV-8.
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| Mugsy must know somebody or be somebody. He got the prime, show-plane parking spot! |
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Another Maule, this one owned by Bud, who hosted the fly-in.
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| The Super D is parked on the other side of the field. |
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| Star of the fly-in, a huge 1936 Waco ZQC-6 Sesqui-Biplane. I guess Sesqui means when the lower wing is much smaller than the upper wing. The cabin on this Sesqui holds five people. Powerplant is a Jacobs radial engine, producing 275 horsepower at 2200 rpm. |
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| Another look at the colorful Super D with the big American flag in the background. |
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I like the paint job on this Champ.
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| A blue Champ. |
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A Champ in traditional garb.
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| Two Searey amphibs.. |
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| I saw this very nice Corben Baby Ace right off. Bruce and I used to be partners in one. In 2002 I flew it from Miami to Baltimore; took me two and a half days! |
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| Ours never looked this good! |
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A Titan with a neat paint scheme.
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| Looks like .... fun! |
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Big rugged Cessna Skywagon 180.
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Two bright yellow Cubs.
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| A fancy Gyrocopter arrived. |
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| Then it was time for lunch! |
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| The desert table. What a spread! |
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Have you ever seen an oyster bar at a fly-in?
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| Perfect weather for dining outside. |
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It was quite pleasant in the shade.
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| Of course there was live entertainment. |
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| I told Tom and Chuck the food was great but I don't think they believed me. They loved the food. Maybe now they will start believing me. Nah. |
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| A Lake amphibian flew in during lunch. |
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The Lake is deserving of another view. I knew a guy who bought the Lake Seaplane company. Within two years it went bankrupt. It's hard to make a living in aviaiton.
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| Chuck relaxing under the Maule's wing. |
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The big Waco Sesqui Biplane on takeoff roll.
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| Photo by Mugsy |
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| Photo by Mugsy |
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Photo by Mugsy
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| After departure, looking down at VA99. |
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Flying back with the Maule
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| Crossing the wide Potomac River. |
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| An unusual-looking waterfront house somewhere in Virginia. |
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| Passing by Ragged Island at upper left. |
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At the southern tip of Kent Island heading north.
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| The Royal Caribbean cruise ship has just departed the Patapsco River out of Baltimore and is headed down the Chesapeake Bay in late afternoon. I wonder if it is the Vision of the Seas, headed for Bermuda? |
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Essex Skypark in sight! Chalk up another great aviaiton day.
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