Day 1 - Sunday 28th July

Getting Oriented . . .

By chance I met with Greg and Deb (I lobbed at their table for breakfast), an Australian couple from Queensland and their friend Ian from Melbourne.  They all intended heading to Walmart to get a few things with Ian.  So I shared a cab with them and we spent about an hour getting stuff – like a warm zip-up soft jacket and some ‘Lean Cuisine’ type meals (the room had a microwave and fridge) for when I arrive late back from the air show.  

Once back and all our stuff was dumped we all caught the bus to the airport.

First Impressions . . .

My initial impressions were that this show was big and comprehensive – but perhaps not quite as big and comprehensive as I had thought.  Sure, all the big names like Cessna, Piper, Beechcraft and the like were there, but some things seemed a little repetitive – which I will come back to later.

Getting Started . . .

Greg and Deb took a helicopter ride while Ian and I visited the Museum – which was very interesting and well done in an American kind way.  We eventually caught a bus back to the main show and wandered around the place, found the International Visitors tent, had a bite of lunch and wandered down the flight line of homemade and vintage aircraft.  I also got my bearings about where the various workshops were going to be held.

Very impressive museum

 

First private space tourism aircraft

RV section at the Museum

RV section again

Now I could do that!

Our new Californian friend's Luscombe

The Luscombe from the inside

Later in the day we came back to the University and decided to have a few drinks and nibbles in Greg and Deb’s room . . . which was a nice way to end the day and ready ourselves for the week ahead.