On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 02:31:30 GMT, Jerry springer wrote:

Ron, you must attend a different Arlington than I do.:-) There is a
continuous stream of people coming by the RV's asking questions about
them and wanting information about them.

I don't doubt that...after all, about 40% of new homebuilts registered last year
were RVs. However, I figure a lot of the people coming by aren't the non-flying
public. It's the classic dichotomy...attendees are split between the people who
are already knowledgable about homebuilts (and thus interested in specific
types) and those with little aviation knowledge. The RV'ers certainly (and
justifiably) get the lion's share of the former. But since we're trying to
"hook" the latter, it would be nice if they saw more variety when first entering
the fly-in grounds.

You also missed the mark when you said that the RV parking area
was sparse this year, the fact is that it was so full some of the
time that there was a overrun parking area behind the Blackjack
parking are for RV's. there were some unhappy RV pilots because there
was not enough parking area in the RV parking corral.

It certainly seemed to be suffering from gaposis when I walked by, more so than
the antique and classic rows adjoining it. Perhaps that was a temporary affair,
or an effect of parking the RVs well back from the barricades. I did see what
appeared to be your "overrun" RV parking area (and mentioned it in my original
post)...I saw homebuilts in the distance in an unusual location, but I had
trouble getting there to check it out.

BTW it is always neat to see FlyBaby 500F is still going.

This was its last airshow appearance. It's going to be hung from the ceiling of
the Great Gallery of Seattle's Museum of Flight this autumn. Chapter 26
"borrowed" it from the museum and trailered it to Arlington as part of our 50th
anniversary celebration.

A lot of memories, there, for a lot more people than just myself. Cecil
Hendricks, our chapter's last surviving founding member and the man who lead the
restoration team in '82, sat by it most of the show. Us spryer types were
popping into and out of the cockpit all weekend getting our pictures taken.

This was the first chance I'd had to examine N500F since buying Moonraker, and
the differences are interesting. N500F's cockpit has a LOT more room (no
avionics box on the floor, and heel brakes instead of toe brakes). But the
heavier sheet metal of the turtledeck of my airplane, albeit heavier, means one
don't have to be as careful getting in and out...I was surprised to feel the
metal on N500F flexing under my hands as I steadied myself, and the metal is
definitely rumpled.

Ron Wanttaja