The Big O

OK, I realise this is a graphic, gratuitous, and sophomoric double entendre, but I seem to revert to teenager in the presence of pretty airplanes.
Which takes me back to my teen years, when DEVO was en vogue ... at least in nerdy circles. Move over Dawn Patrol, here comes the Smart Patrol ....

Der Auslander was ready to build his own plane, but after seeing the new Cirrus Jet up close and personal, he might have to consider continuing working for a couple more years to come up with a couple million to buy one of these things.

This is the cockpit of the Sportsman 2+2 ... I sat in it last year, but it didn't seem so hard to get into as this year, so I suspect its already crossed off the list of candidates to build. I must be getting older. Schade! Its a pretty plane, and you can also put it on floats.


Next comes he RV-7 ... It really is roomy, better than last year. A traveller that can also do aerobatics. I'm really warming to building this one, and I am not alone ... Van's Aircraft has nearly 6000 of its aircraft flying, of which the RV7 is probably near 1000, so I would not be alone.


I did not sit in the STOL-701 last year, so I have no comparison. It is indeed small, but it can take-off in under 300 feet. In the US, I could land it in my back yard. In Germany, they don't let you do those things ... that's what airports are for, and gosh darn it we don't make exceptions (unless perhaps your name is in the form of "Someone von Somewhere").


I have toyed with buying a T-28, which is one of the more affordable old military trainers. It was dubbed the Maytag Messerschmitt, but it is big, fast, and loud. If I move back to the US, I'll probably go ahead and buy one ... as long as I live in Germany, it would not be practical, as the noise surcharge for each landng would cost more than the 50 gallons per hour of gas that it consumes. But a boy can dream.

And they always seem to have a good airshow. The last two years it was interrupted by afternoon thunderstorms, but this year was severe-clear. Here's a shot of the F-22 doing a "Heritage" flight with the P-51 and P-38. They used to do these flights with F-15's or F-16's, which always seemed to be challenged keeping the speed down with the older warbirds. The F-22 seems to be comfortable at any speed ... in fact, they flew it down the runway nose up and at something like 90 knots, which is Cessna speed, before lighting the afterburners and taking it vertical. Where were these things when I was in the Air Force? Oh yeah, just coming off the drawing board ... Gosh, I really am getting old.