What was your Sun n' Fun 2017 highlight?

JustinD

JustinD

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JustinD
hat was everyones highlights for Sun n' Fun 2017? Figured we could get a thread going with some good pictures too from the event! Flying in of course is the best part, but my highlight is always the night airshow, I think its just a unique event you don't really ever see. Also hopped in some of the new Cessnas to see that G1000 NXI, it really is much faster, and the map on the HSI was super cool, I think I would like that a lot. Post your pictures and tell us your highlights!

Was pretty bummed no one took me up on this trade though...

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G1000 NXI
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My bird parked in the general aviation parking area
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Highlight? Just having fun. Seeing friends. Visiting the display booths to plan for some future purchases.

You didn't ask about complaints, but I had a few.

1) The usual idiots. I was cut off by two aircraft during the arrival process. One was a white/blue/black Arrow that arrived at the Lake Parker power plant on a course of about 230 degrees at about 8:10 on Friday. Probably too much trouble to start at a point 3 miles due East of the power plant and approach from there like in the procedure. Ultimately, he ended up behind me, but when I turned downwind to land, he was flying off my wingtip. WTF? I guess an Arrow can't fly 90 knots and follow in trail. The second was a Bonanza that didn't bother with the whole Lake Parker thing in the first place, and just flew directly to the field from the North from who knows where. I think he was the one asking "tower can you hear me" with an Asian accent when they were begging him to turn base and final at about 8:15. Oh, and there was a Cirrus that was in front of me on the taxi to camping. An FAA marked van followed him right on his arse all the way from the runway to wherever he parked. Buddies trying to locate him, or....???

2) SnF doesn't provide a means to get an automobile on site for campers unless you camp for the entire week. So what is your buddy who arrives via car on Friday supposed to do? SnF need to figure that out. I'm sure that also impacts mid-week general camping arrivals. You arrive at the campgrounds and can't take your car in? Makes no sense.

3) Ground op's. Both on arrival and departure, there were very long holds taxiing to parking and taxiing for takeoff. The "issues" were obvious, but easily solvable for the most part. Some of the delays (like the huge delay for the F-18 departure this morning) were completely unnecessary. A 5 minute delay, sure. But 15? C'mon.
 
Sounds like amateur hour.....!
 
Goofy said:
Sounds like amateur hour.....!
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In some aspects (like aircraft departure spacing), I'm guessing Big Brother is giving them "help". I've noticed increased delays and spacing on departure from Oshkosh too.
 
@kyleb every year there are those that don't follow the procedure, on my way in it was smooth for me, but I heard the controller by the lake breaking a few people off who entered from all various directions, the guy in front of me also did not fly directly over the V-shaped building like the notam and arrival says, they flew much further east, and entered a downwind for 27 almost abeam the numbers for 9, the tower thanked me for entering over the building and told everyone to please fly over it, so clearly there were arrival issues, but this of course is not ATC's fault just, people not doing proper preflight planning, heck the notam packet even has pictures of everything!

On the way out this morning I filed IFR off of the CAMBE intersection to get back home (I always file IFR just incase they are saturated and cant offer flight following) As the notam says to file off of CAMBE or some other intersection and then pick it up from ORL (if east bound) After getting my clearance the controller asked me how I knew to file off CAMBE instead of the Lakeland airport, my response was I saw it in the NOTAM packet, she thanked me for like 2 minutes for doing that the right way and said no one else does it and they wish others would read the notam, I found that surprising, how do you not properly prepare?

As for that F-18 situation, I was number 3 in line when they actually departed, so I'm with ya I waited too quite a while to take off this morning because of it, but I got an awesome view of an F-18 taking off, so can't really complain too much there
 
Highlight for me was seeing the Thursday air show with my son. He loved the P51s, the F16, and the Blues. Great show, with the heritage flight and the missing-man formation in memory of Bob Hoover. He got sunburned to a crisp, but still had a great time.

I haven't downloaded my camera yet, but I'll post a few pics when I do.
 
I loved it! and I get sad when Sunday rolls around and everyone is leaving. I need to go for the entire week for a change and also check out OSH. I wonder why SnF started on a Tuesday instead of that Monday!
 
Wish I'd seen an F-35 this year, though.

Spent a while Saturday walking the rows looking at the vintage GA stuff. Saw a beautiful old Luscombe Chief that I loved, plus a good looking Ercoupe. Also some lovely Swifts. Wish the owners had been around.
 
IMG_2620.JPG IMG_2669.JPG IMG_2666.JPG IMG_2676.JPG IMG_2677.JPG IMG_2679.JPG IMG_2680.JPG IMG_2681.JPG IMG_2682.JPG IMG_2683.JPG Unfortunately I only got to attend Friday and left Saturday AM. Weather over GA shutdown my plans on attending Wednesday.

Pretty smooth on the way down with a solid tailwind. Averaged 190 kts. Things started to get exciting about 10 miles north when a yellow and blue RV-4 zipped by my right wing, opposite direction about 200 ft away. Saw a steady stream of targets around lake Parker...so much for transponder off. :rolleyes:Found my interval behind 2 amphibs (bad idea). Did my best to keep about 1/4 mile in trail but they were only doing maybe 80-90 kts. On downwind, got screwed by tower and told "Velocity, turn base now!" Would have rather followed the DA20 that was lost at my 12 o'clock. :D I couldn't get it slowed up to follow the Lake amphib and had to do a go around. Friend of mine working tower gave me the downwind for the runway. No issues after that other than the long taxi chipped the crap out of my prop.

First time camping at SNF. Loved it. Great meeting all the homebuilt pilots, drinking beer and telling flying stories. Just an awesome job by the volunteers all around.

Hard to see everything in one day but I took in what I could. Hung out at the Velocity tent during the Blues and took pics. Didn't take many good shots. One of note though is the crossing pick with #7. You can see damage to the gear doors. Speaking of damage, stopped by and chatted with the UH-60 pilot. They took FOD to the rotor blade and caused an imbalance. Had to do an emergency shutdown just after landing Friday. Blade was all scrapped up.

Highlight was seeing an old Marine ATC bud who works both SNF and OSH. Hadn't seen him in 20 yrs. Even did the honors of launching me on departure. Just that experience alone was worth the trip. Hope to see ya at OSH "Moose."
 
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Main highlights were, flying sims with glass. First time I ever did that on a sim/real life. Also, I got a 91% on acuracy of landing in the EAA Sim landing into Oshkosh. :D Another thing is that, I have zero problems landing the plane in a sim at all and I land much better than in a real 172. :eek:

Another highlight was seeing all the cool avionics out there and also seeing the new piper, mooney and Cirrus planes.
 
Hey I noticed, (Not trying to be funny) No ICON tent this year? It created quite a buzz last year!
 
donjohnston said:
You canard tip is upside down. ;):D
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It's is. I actually prefer the looks of the up swept tips. Haven't heard any real aerodynamic benefit of which version is better though.
 
Theboys said:
Think mine might have been a test flight for hour and half in the diamond da62. It was pretty nice.
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Hows that?! Gotta give us the review!

I will agree with all the warbirds were great! But I was disappointed there was no B-17 this year! a 17 is a staple of the warbird area and one of my favorite all time planes! But that corsair and P-40 that were sitting around were gorgeous. I also thought it was neat to get inside the Hurricane Hunters C-130 and talk to those guys, I've based many life decisions and had several days off of work/school from the missions that particular airplane has flown!
 
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JustinD said:
Hows that?! Gotta give us the review!

I will agree with all the warbirds were great! But I was disappointed there was no B-17 this year! a 17 is a staple of the warbird area and one of my favorite all time planes! But that corsair and P-40 that were sitting around were gorgeous. I also thought it was neat to get inside the Hurricane Hunters C-130 and talk to those guys, I've based many life decisions and had several days off of work/school from the missions that particular airplane has flown!
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Great line up of Mustangs too!
 
Ahh the P-51 Mustang, the Cessna 172 of warbirds, you see one everywhere you go. Warbirds have never done much for me. That is the only area I never visit at Oshkosh or SNF.
 
Brought my root beer mug from last year and got free refills this year.:D Always love watching the Harrier. Got to like a plane with reverse.:) Angels were great -- actually better than the Thunderbirds last month at Tico show. Really like getting hands on items I'm interested in buying with all the vendors showing their merchandise. Better than looking at pictures in a catalog.
 
My highlight was getting home taking my shoes off and sitting on the edge of the tub dangling my aching feet in the cool water while hugging a scotch on the rocks....:D
 
I'm wondering how SnF did this year with attendance. Saturday was packed but it didn't seem overly crowded.
 
Haven't seen any numbers, but it seemed less crowded than last year.
 
I agree with Half Fast. Just my own observation, not scientific. Also seemed like there were more younger people there, and more women.
I wonder if a lot of pilots who planned to fly in were blocked by the bad weather in the first half of the week and didn't make it?
That would support the perception of fewer people overall, and a higher proportion of attendees who weren't the typical pilot demographic.
 
I was going to say, and I even remarked during the show Saturday, it seemed far more crowded than recent years, the GAP was the most packed I've ever seen saturday
 
Compared to Airventure Sun n Fun is a little disappointing.

Sure it's great to be in Florida where it's actually warm but the airshow/event itself is ... there's room for improvement. Some items of note:

* Please do NOT invite the Blue Angels back. The ruinous 'terrorism' security B.S. means we can't access our planes for 5 hours while they practice/perform? Really? We're freakin' pilots, who flew in OUR planes to the airshow. Like you Navy guys. Also, we have to stand behind the yellow line, which is like - i dunno - hundreds upon hundreds of feet from the runway?

* MORE SHOWERS PLEASE - especially at the West end of the runway. The hike is long long long...

* Bus/tram drivers - some didn't really understand what their route was/were

* Information booth peeps - please try to learn where workshops actually are - I was given three different answers by three different people about the location of a workshop

* Food! keep improving it cuz there sure is LOTS of room for improvement. Maybe I dunno, let some chain or mom-n-pop restaurants actually build on your property?

Going to Sun n Fun is definitely a high-priority bucket list item for all pilots but honestly once is plenty for me.
 
pkuhns said:
Going to Sun n Fun is definitely a high-priority bucket list item for all pilots but honestly once is plenty for me.
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Agree.

I often hear pilots discussing SNF and OSH as if they are interchangeable, but they are not. This year will be our 35th consecutive OSH. We always spend the whole week, and NEVER feel like we've seen everything.

We go to SNF every 5 years or so. (We flew in last year.) We spend 3 days, see everything the first day, retrace our steps the second day, and are ready to go home by Day 3.

SNF is about 25% of OSH. Fun, to be sure, but no substitute for OSH.
 
I was a little harsh - it was my third time to Sun n Fun (first time flyin' in) and I do love everything aviation. Happy it exists and happy Florida is such an enormous aviation mecca....
 
@phuns

What do you mean you can't access your plane? For 8 years I have been exclusively watching the airshow from the under the wing of my plane, and see many others by their airplanes as well watching the show, never had any issues. This is in the GAP parking area
 
JustinD said:
@phuns

What do you mean you can't access your plane? For 8 years I have been exclusively watching the airshow from the under the wing of my plane, and see many others by their airplanes as well watching the show, never had any issues. This is in the GAP parking area
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Because of the show lines for the airshow performers, certain areas of the field and campgrounds are cordoned off during the shows. For instance, if you have an EAB out on the show center homebuilt area, you will not be able to access your airplane for the duration of each day's airshow. The closed areas differ according to what acts are performing on a given day. The Blues and T-birds require the biggest safety zones.

As an aside, the first year the T-birds (or Blues - doesn't matter) attended SnF, we were camped in the campgrounds west of the display areas. The T-birds were supposed to practice at <say> 2:00, requiring an evacuation of our part of the campground for an hour or so. Unfortunately, they had a problem and the major part of the campground near the runway was closed for 3-4 hours. Couldn't get to your tent, car, medicine, camera, reading material, camp chair, food, whatever. Just a cluster...
 
pkuhns said:
* Please do NOT invite the Blue Angels back. The ruinous 'terrorism' security B.S. means we can't access our planes for 5 hours while they practice/perform? Really? We're freakin' pilots, who flew in OUR planes to the airshow. Like you Navy guys. Also, we have to stand behind the yellow line, which is like - i dunno - hundreds upon hundreds of feet from the runway?
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That is definitely a hassle, but I thought it was for safety in the event of an accident and not a security function. Oshkosh has the same issue, it's why neither team ever performed there until just a few years ago. They also had to restrict access to airplanes, although due to the layout, it didn't much affect GAC but vintage and homebuilts if I remember correctly.

* MORE SHOWERS PLEASE - especially at the West end of the runway. The hike is long long long...
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Oh yes please. I was camped in row 11 of GAC, and it was about 660 steps to the shower (yes I counted the first day). And I was not the furthest away by any means. Bringing in a shower trailer or something and putting it at about row 5 or 6 would really help out.

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Overall though, in many ways I prefer Sun N Fun over Oshkosh. It's smaller, so it's much more walkable. From the center, you can be anywhere on the grounds, walking, in about 10-15 minutes or so. It's much more compact - for example, the 4 exhibit hangars are right next to each other as opposed to being spread out like OSH. Also, many of the seminars are held in the CFAA building, which is indoors, has air conditioning and indoor plumbing, which is much nicer than the outdoor pavilions at OSH.

(And of course they have a great radio station that streams around the year on liveatc.net - so you can listen to all kinds of great interviews and programs from the event year round - including many by me! - shameless plug.... http://liveatc.net/snf )
 
To me Oshkosh is an INTERNATIONAL fly-in whereas Sun-N-Fun is just a REGIONAL fly-in. From that context, it is an awesome regional fly-in. I don't know anyone that really compares or expects Sun-N-Fun to be on par with Oshkosh. What else is? I view S-N-F as a mini-Oshkosh and accept it for what it is. Even though I was not able to fly down this year due to my work schedule, I love Sun-N-Fun. What a great way to kick off the spring flying season to go camp by my plane and spend a few days with people that have a passion for aviation like I do. Even though it is not Oshkosh, it is still a great getaway from the hassles of work and home for a few days and enjoy all things aviation.

Picture from last year
 

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I love the first few months of the year in Florida. There's the Sebring LSA expo, Bike Week, Speed Weeks, SNF, the Plant City Strawberry Festival, Hamcation (I'm a radio ham),..... Many small towns have their own smaller weekend events.

Every week there's something happening and the weather is usually gorgeous. Even if there's not some event I want to attend, it's great to just hop on the motorcycle and spend the day committing high-speed traffic felonies.
 
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