Sun N Fun 2016?

weather forecast for the weekend looks good! Can't wait to fly in, I'll be going in Saturday morning and staying through Sunday afternoon. I'm roughing it in a hotel so my bird will be parked in GAP
 
Jay Honeck said:
The innsitters are here, the plane is loaded, and we are ready for an early tomorrow morning launch for Florida.

All we need now? Good weather!
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It's absolutely beautiful here (49nm NE of Lakeland Linder). 55 and clear with no wind this morning.

John
 
Jay Honeck said:
The innsitters are here, the plane is loaded, and we are ready for an early tomorrow morning launch for Florida.

All we need now? Good weather!
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We are headed out tomorrow morning, I'm excited as a first-time Sun N Fun attendee. I will also be doing some volunteer work for Sun N Fun Radio, so I'm double excited.

Jay, where are you going to be camping? I'll swing by again! We'll be in GAC, in this plane:

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With only two of us (friend and me), we have LOTS of room for stuff!
 
8.2 hrs later we are here! Decided to hotel it so parked at Bartow....here till Friday or Sat morn.
 
We overhauled my nose strut today and hopefully that issue will be a thing of the past. My plans are to leave out in the morning, shooting for a lunch time arrival at KLAL. If the weather here has not cleared out in time to arrive before the air show, I will time it to arrive between 6:00 and 7:00 pm.
 
HI Jay, Where will you be parking / Camping?
Mick, You had better get that plane fixed & in the air to SnF
 
Tail numbers and parking spots is what we need of everyone! So we know where we may stumble upon people!

I'll arrive Saturday morning around 9am and departing Sunday afternoon in N291JD, also I got a sweet sportys hat as a gift with a high wing silhouette and my tail number underneath which I'll be wearing, if you see me stop me!

Here's the plane I'll be in, I'm staying in a hotel so I'll be parking in General Aviation Parking (GAP)
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I'm in the aircraft parking area east of rwy 5, behind the Heavy aircraft. I'm in row 27 across from the hospitality tent. VAC was either full or too wet. I'm not complaining though. I have a great view of the air show from the front door of my tent.
 
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Working in Hangar A, booth 24. Appareo. Would really enjoy meeting POAers! Probably not back on line during the show, though.
 
In GACamping near the front on north side mooney N57039
 
Flew back out this morning---forecast for the NE is horrible tomorrow. Would have been nice to meet folks. Awesome show that's for sure.
 
Was at the show today, I thought it was much better than the last couple of years, usual exhibitors but some new vendors in attendance,lots of goodies to look at. I wasn't there to buy anything in particular, but while I was browsing in the hangers it looked like plenty of dollars changing hands.

The fly in looked very busy too.

The airshow was good,especially the F22 Raptor doing his thing and when in formation with the Mustang P51 it was Awesome to watch.
Pity no Thunderbirds or Blue Angels this year, but still a great show from the guys and gals doing their various displays.
 
G-Man said:
Working in Hangar A, booth 24. Appareo. Would really enjoy meeting POAers! Probably not back on line during the show, though.
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I dropped by to see if I could get the $100 "show" discount that's on offer for the Stratus 2 as I had just missed out by buying one before I knew this discount offer was due to happen....I don't know which of your guys I spoke with but he suggested I go back to Sporties and see if they would look to give me a rebate .....I looked at him and he looked at me...and we both laughed and said ...yeah good luck with that....lol
 
Just back from a heavenly visit to Sun N Fun. 7 hours there, 6.5 hours back, with two gas-and-potty stops each way. We flew all the way around the Gulf TWICE without barely seeing a cloud. That NEVER happens.

Still, we had headwinds both ways! At one point on the flight home we were bucking a 58-knot headwind. In an RV-8, we were flying at Piper Cub ground speeds!

It was a great (too) few days. We ran into Grant and Leslie, as well as a few non-POA friends, but as always we left too soon, and with great regret.

Here's a bunch of pics, for those who are interested.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...073741844.100000777116758&type=1&l=0fb9661d11
 
For those who may wonder what flying into Sun N Fun in Lakeland, FL looks like. We arrived while the field was still closed after the daily airshow on Tuesday, and were assigned the Lake Parker holding pattern. The top circle was done as I was listening to approach and realized that they werent going to open the field at 6:30 PM, as per the NOTAM. (They ultimately reopened at 6:50ish.)

After a few turns around the lake, we landed on Rwy 9L. Easy peasy.

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I have been having a great time at SnF. I have to admit that one of my biggest disappointments is the Experimental parking area. While my hat is off to Van's and their RV's, you just don't see the variety of homebuilts as we had in the past. I remember when you would see a nice mix of Thorp T18's, Mustang II's, Veri-Eze, Long-Eze, Cozy, Sonerai, BD-4, Tailwinds, etc. I'm just not seeing the innovations and growth in the main experimental area. I just got back from the Light Sport / Ultra Light area. There seem to be a lot of growth there with the fiberglass LSA's, gyrocopters and etc. All in all it has been a great air show and Flyin. There was almost no traffic when I flew in Thursday morning. I think I had one RV ahead of me and I don't remember hearing anybody on the radio behind me. It's been great so far. I just hope I will be as lucky getting out of here tomorrow morning as I was coming in.
 
Great day out at SNF Saturday! Arrived around 9am, currently at the hotel for the evening. Parked out in general aviation parking, with a great spot that provided a good shaded view of the airshow from under my wing! I saw a couple of your guys planes but not any of you :(, Mick saw your plane looks great! You have probably one of the most prime camping locations! Well I'll be there tomorrow maybe run into some of you then image.jpeg
 
after we finished tying down the plane right before we walked away my friend tossed this sign up in my window, I was cracking up. So naturally I left it up. Think anyone will go for a straight trade on it? Haha :D:Do_Oimage.jpeg
 
Great time at Sun and Fun on Saturday I will be there today (Sunday) As well but will be leaving early as most of Sunday will be used for leaving for the vendors and Pilots. I did notice some POA's airplanes during my travels but I haven't seen anyone yet. Hopefully I will today, I saw STEVEO from youtube:


He is a lot thinner and shorter then I imagined him to be. Also the F22 Raptor was as awesome as ever the night show was pretty good as well.

Feel sorry for the campers tonight, pretty cold night in Florida standards.
 
FloridaPilot said:
Feel sorry for the campers tonight, pretty cold night in Florida standards.
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I was there yesterday also...agree with the F22 show, oh man that thing looks like a manly ballerina in the sky!! Had to leave a bit early on the night show cause I couldn't take the cold, wasn't prepared, but I DID find another youtuber that you probably know:
 

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LuisO said:
I was there yesterday also...agree with the F22 show, oh man that thing looks like a manly ballerina in the sky!! Had to leave a bit early on the night show cause I couldn't take the cold, wasn't prepared, but I DID find another youtuber that you probably know:
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Who is that? He passed by me a few times but I didn't know who he was.
 
FastEddieB said:
We're in overflow RV camping, doing the show today.

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Went over there and didn't see you. I wanted to buy you a beer to thank you for all of the advice I have gotten from you over the years......Oh well, next time!
 
MickYoumans said:
We overhauled my nose strut today and hopefully that issue will be a thing of the past. My plans are to leave out in the morning, shooting for a lunch time arrival at KLAL. If the weather here has not cleared out in time to arrive before the air show, I will time it to arrive between 6:00 and 7:00 pm.
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I saw your plane but I didn't see you. Nice paint job you got there!!
 
JustinD said:
I saw a couple of your guys planes but not any of you :(, Mick saw your plane looks great! You have probably one of the most prime camping locations!
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I hate that we were not able to meet up. I was able to get with a couple of other POA'ers, but not as many as I would have liked. Maybe we can do a better job next year of coordinating a time and place for everyone to meet for lunch or supper one day. You are right, I had a great parking/camping spot! I had an awesome view of the air shows and it was close to ice and showers.
 
FloridaPilot said:
I saw your plane but I didn't see you. Nice paint job you got there!!
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Thanks for the compliment on my paint job! Sorry we were not able to meet up. Hopefully next year. You are right, it was pretty chilly for the night air show and camping last night. So glad I brought a medium weight coat with me and thank God for warm sleeping bags!!! I watched the night air show with another POA'er, Capt Gary. I think his wife was about to freeze.
 
You guys at least have a good time? I was amazed at how much buzz the icon A5 display got this year. Not my kind of airplane to own, I would think, for me it would make a great rental.

How do you think SNF did as far as attendance this year?
 
We were there on Thursday and attendance seemed down to me. The area just inside the main gate area used to be taken up with vendors and planes was mostly empty.
 
Back at ya, Mick... Marjorie was cold all night, even in her good mummy bag. We missed you for the coffee n breakfast today! Good to know everyone had a great time & safe flights!
Thanks to all the SnF volunteers that worked their tails off to help us in flight, ground ops., & all around the event. They all made it great!
Lets all write to the SnF management, that we had a GREAT, Safe time, EXCEPT that silly assed Cessna, flying the lit up sign at nights. He was one big annoyance to us all.
 
capg2000 said:
We missed you for the coffee n breakfast today!
Lets all write to the SnF management, that we had a GREAT, Safe time, EXCEPT that silly assed Cessna, flying the lit up sign at nights. He was one big annoyance to us all.
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Once I got up and into the packing mode, I didn't want to stop. I knew if I came over for coffee I would get to talking and not make it home in time to have lunch with my wife. I did appreciate the offer though. I enjoyed having coffee with you and Majorie on Saturday. Thanks! I second the motion about the circling flying billboard. He just about drove me crazy last night. It is not to bad early in the evening, but when you are trying to go to sleep so you can get a good nights rest before a long flight the next day, it is really aggravating. The Sun N Fun organization should restrict that after 10PM.
 
MickYoumans said:
I hate that we were not able to meet up. I was able to get with a couple of other POA'ers, but not as many as I would have liked. Maybe we can do a better job next year of coordinating a time and place for everyone to meet for lunch or supper one day.
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That's a great idea, and I happened to catch you taxiing out! Stopped by my plane when I first arrived this morning to load up the bags we had the hotel, and I was rudely bothered by the sound of an airplane (at an airport/airshow could you believe that?!:(:D) looked up and it was you so I snagged a pic real quickimage.jpeg
 
Hey Justin, thanks for posting that pic. I had to snag a copy of it to add to the rest of my SnF pictures. I hate that we were not able to meet this year. Hopefully we can do a better job of coordinating a POA meet up next year.
 
We were there as well! I flew in Thursday about mid-day for my first time ever flying into an airshow and it wasn't too congested. We camped and left yesterday, getting stuck at KAUO due to a broken rudder return spring that we've got on order now. I flew away from the show with a Stratus 2S, some oil testing kits, a Boeing hat, and hopefully most of the stuff I came with. We were parked at the end of Row 2, GAC. Anyone see us?

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We flew into zephyrhills on friday and rented a car to get us to lakeland. Great time. The F-35 was great to watch! It's nice seeing the vendors and getting to ask questions. Only my second time going, so I can't really say how attendance compared to other years.

Anybody fly north on Saturday? Gotta love 60 knot headwinds. lol. we were seeing 88 knots in my friend's 210 in central Georgia.
 
rbridges said:
We flew into zephyrhills on friday and rented a car to get us to lakeland. Great time. The F-35 was great to watch! It's nice seeing the vendors and getting to ask questions. Only my second time going, so I can't really say how attendance compared to other years.

Anybody fly north on Saturday? Gotta love 60 knot headwinds. lol. we were seeing 88 knots in my friend's 210 in central Georgia.
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We flew home Friday, and bucked 58 knot headwinds through the panhandle.
 
We did ISM - SGJ - AZE - LZU Saturday. Stayed down at 4500 and saw 22kt headwinds. Have a friend who decided to go to 7500 and saw 50kt.
 
For you guys who go to a lot of events such as this and park your plane in the grass for a few days...

From another board, here's a very simple and cheap way to keep your plane from sinking into the ground while you're there. Buy three of these and park on them.

http://www.target.com/p/amerimax-splash-block-green/-/A-17423702?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Patio+Garden+Shopping&adgroup=SC_Patio+Garden&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=t&location=9023073&gclid=Cj0KEQjw3Le4BRDxx5bk4aDn9t4BEiQAfmxQGYFx-b9jolO0WhhKOErO8U4B-nLJMTPtBA0m-KkVLpMaAkvn8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

But, if you go to a lot of these events, you probably already knew this...
 
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