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Mark s Airplane Factory
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Date: 10-9-2010
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Number of Hours: 0.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: American Sonex Association Flyin
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Decided to attend the American Sonex Association's (http://www.americansonexassociation.org/) annual Fly-in at Crossville, TN for the weekend and we were so glad we did. What a great event. Karole and I drove up on Friday night so we missed the first day's activities, but Saturday proved to be a really great day. Weather was great, people were great, and the opportunities were great.
First of all, this turned out to be the largest ever gathering of Sonex and Waiex aircraft. I think the final tally was 29 planes. Aaron Knight even made the trip down from Massachussets. I got to see a lot of builders' techniques and unique touches that builders make to their projects.
The parts mart also proved very benefiicial. I actually got a pair of refurbished, all metal eyeball vents for $14. They are beautiful and work great. Anyone need a set of Van's plastic vents I now have a set I'm not going to use. I think if you could even find them from a parts dealer these would be over $100 each. Also picked up some other small parts at a steal of a deal. More than paid for our gas to travel.
However, the best part of the day were the demo rides. I was worried about Karole taking her first ever small airplane ride and then taking it on a slightly bumpy afternoon sky in a very lightweight aircraft. We were paired up with a builder for our flight. Karole was paired with COL(R) Walt Turk, USAF. I couldn't have picked a better pairing. Walt is a retired Air Force helicopter SAR guy so he and I had much to talk about. He actually setup and flies his Sonex from the right seat like every good helicopter pilot. Anyway, the flight went great and when he popped the canopy after the flight, Karole's first words to me, with an ear-to-ear grin, were "HURRY UP!", referring to my project. So I guess that's about the best endorsement I could have hoped for. Thanks, Walt.
I had the privilege to fly with Chris Williams in his Aerovee powered Sonex. At gross weight for takeoff I didn't expect much in performance but
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Walt getting Karole hooked up.
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No the picture is not reversed. Walt flies from the right seat.
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Chris Williams and I about to head out.
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