September 30, 2006 - Virginia EAA Fly-In

I've been wanting to attend the Virginia EAA Fly-in for years now, but every year it has been either rained out or I couldn't make it for some reason.  But the weather looked pretty good this weekend so early Saturday morning I fired up the Citabria and headed south.  I thought I'd be staying overnight; the Citabria was packed with my tent, sleeping bag, air mattress and folding chair. 

I flew over the western end of the Bay Bridge where a friend was supposed to be in his boat.  I circled over quite a few boats there but it turns out his was not one of them. 

The fly-in was at Dinwiddie County airport in Petersburg, Virginia, just south of Richmond.  Because of a headwind, I only made 85 mph over the ground and it took me over two hours to get there.  

The pattern at Dinwiddie was crowded and I’m guessing half of the arrivals didn’t know there was a procedure.  I worked my way southwest of the field.  I found I-85 but could not find the town of Dinwiddie which was where the procedure had you start out.  So much for procedure.  I followed I-85 north and joined the downwind leg to runway 23, following a low-wing.  Everything was fine until I was on final and I saw a high-wing turn base pointed directly at me.  I  rocked my wings and announced on Unicom that I was on final.  He saw me and turned behind me.  I flew down the runway and landed long.  The line crew was very organized but they parked me as far as possible from the action.  I arrived around 10:30, in time to catch the pancake breakfast.

This was the only one other Citabria, also parked in Fly-in Siberia.
Looking towards the main area.
This was where all the VIP planes were parked.  Lots of RVs. 

My favorite-looking RV, the purple and white-tipped, bare-metal RV-7A was here.  I saw this particular RV a year and a half ago at the Shenandoah Poker Run.  The judges were checking it out and I bet it wins. 

I'm seriously considering  doing my RV-7 like this, only I'd use a different color than purple.  Not that I don't like the purple, I'd just want something different. 

There was an unpainted RV-7, built from quickbuild kits, for sale.  It looked OK – nothing special – and they were asking $117,000!  Hmmmmm.   

A Harmon Rocket.  I saw this plane takeoff; it climbed to 1000 feet before it reached the end of the runway.  They don't call it a Rocket for nothing. 
My mentor, Chip, represented Van's Aircraft Company.  That's his RV-8 which he built from a quickbuild kit in less than a year.  I think it's the fifth RV he has built.  He loves to build.

Dynon had a little booth in the vendor area.  I checked out the FlightDek 180 which is the combined EFIS/EIS I'll probably put in my RV-7.  I checked out the enhanced brightness the FD-180 now has.  It looks great.  I had the salesman show me the HSI capability.  Wow.  It’s a virtual CDI.  No need for me to buy a hard CDI.  The FD-180 costs $3,200.  The probes and fuel flow sensor are another $800.  The salesman told me to wait until the last possible moment before ordering. 

There were a number of light sport plane vendors present with their planes.  They’re nice looking planes but I wonder if  people are really buying them.  Or is it just hype about the new hot sector, like Ultralights were 25 years ago.  $100,000 is a lot of money for a plane that is limited in how fast it can go and what it can do.

Whenever I see RV's, I always focus on the part that I'm currently working on.  This time it was the forward upper fuselage. 
Minimal panel.
This RV-builder really went for the retro-look on his panel.  Wait, that's not an RV panel; it's a Cub panel!
This F4U Corsair made a low pass and then came in and landed.  It was unquestionably the star of the show!
He folded up his wings while taxiing.  Very cool.
A nice-looking Kitfox.
I couldn't believe this plane.  It's an amphibian powered by a Rotax 447 -- only 45 horsepower. 
Proof that it actually flies. 
The guy that flies this plane is a wildman!
They had a nice grass runway marked out for the Ultralights.  But only five Ultralights were on-hand.  Not too many people fly Ultralights anymore, I guess.  It's kind of sad.  I remember going to Sun 'N Fun 25 years ago when they were the hot thing. 
 

All in all, there wasn’t that much to see and do other than the planes and vendors.  They had some forums but none of the topics particular interested me.  The flying action wasn't anything more than takeoff and landings.  The few exceptions were a F4U Corsair low-pass and a Harmon Rocket takeoff.   Early on, I gave consideration to leaving in the afternoon, instead of camping overnight.  This idea became more compelling as the afternoon wore on. 

After about four hours I had had enough.  I took off around 2:30 and headed southeast towards Suffolk because I knew they sold Mogas.  I was down to about ¼ a tank and figured I would fill up.  Once I had it dialed into the GPS I was surprised to see that it was 60 miles away.  More than I had expected.  Still, I’d save significant money and get more flying time in to boot. 

The arrow is pointing to the vendor and food area. 

Dinwinddie County airport from 2000 feet.
Unfortunately, it was all trees between Dinwiddie and Suffolk, and wasn’t a very exciting flight. 
Suffolk Executive Airport. (SFQ). 

It was great being able to fill the Citabria up with $2.50 gas.  Suffolk has an active skydiving operation.  As I fuel up, some skydiver landed right into a chain-link fence.  Later, as I took off, a bunch of skydivers were just coming down to the right of the runway. 

From Suffolk I headed north.  My plan was to cut over to the Eastern Shore as soon as possible. 

That's Newport News -- where they build the U.S. Navy's aircraft carriers -- on the left.  Norfolk Naval Base is across the river at the top of the picture. 

Crossing the Chesapeake Bay with the Eastern Shore dead ahead.  The land is narrow this far south; you can see the ocean on the other side.

I crossed over the Eastern Shore and continued east to the Barrier Islands. 

I like flying around the barrier islands.  It's very scenic and usually deserted. 
 
 
Once I reached the ocean, I turned north and flew up the coast until I reached the Wallops Island restricted airspace where I had to turn inland.
I had a tailwind so I was zooming down the beach at 115 mph. 
I guess these houses on the shore here lost the battle to Mother Nature.
 
Further north, I flew the Nanticoke River. 
 
Typical Eastern Shore scenery.
I ended up flying 5 1/2 hours today -- chalk up another great aviation day!
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