Had some crane work interfering with my flying plans, again....so no Arlington this year. I took out my frustration on a few local sites, new and never landed before.

On the same range as pictured in my avatar, about a mile south at 8700', a ridge top landing, there is now a windsock up there, and I found a kind of flat and sheltered area that'd be good for camping out. NO access other then by air. 3 miles from my place and 3300' higher. The view from the ridge is 360 degrees with 85 mile viz.

HONEY ON TOP
My Rans S7-S DBA "Honey" looking good at 8700'..

A fence line landing, but at least I knew it was there, unlike the lone steel post (every back country pilot's nemesis) SURPRISE!

to be honest. Looks more fun than Arlington. Didn't have to burn near as much fuel and didn't have to deal with crowds.

But I gotta admit, Arlington is a good fly in to go to.

I go to Arlington every year, & have for 15 years. I used to go more than once, or camp overnight, but the last several years being there all day saturday has been plenty. I mainly go to see old friends, and might not even go for that reason if I wasn't based only about 30 miles away. There's not too much vendor stuff that I'm interested in, with the recent exception of the taildragger LSA's like Kitfoxes & Highlanders and their associated engines (like Jabiru & UL Power). Seems like fewer vendor booths & airshow acts every year, but a steady increase in ticket price to make up for it.
Maybe for that reason, I've seen the airplane attendance steadily decline over the past 5 years or so. I don't know about the walk-in numbers, but this year's saturday airplane attendance was about the same as a friday (or maybe even a good thursday) a few years back. I hope something reverses this trend, otherwise I can see this fly-in fading away in a few more years.
Is there a similar downward trend at the other big fly-ins (Oshkosh, Sun-n-Fun, Golden West, Copperstate) or are they thriving?

Eric

GoldenWest was pathetic this year. Even the food vendors lost Money. The wind blew like mad on Friday and Saturday so I went on Sunday and there were so few planes that I parked in show center next to the Zenith demo.

Great pics Courier guy!! I overflew a ridge twice yesterday debating about landing it but finally pressed on... I feel like I can land anything after flying Idaho...then reality comes back

Arlington was not up to my expectations as a vendor either. It was my first time, but several old-timers and experienced vendors said it was noticeably less filled up this year on all levels (vendors, walk/drive-in, and fly-in). Golden west was pathetic indeed, the wind was only part of the problem.

But if the pilots and airplane owners don't show up, the vendors don't get any business, and then the fly-in can't make ends meet, so they take it out on the entry/camping fee, which makes the pilots upset, and so on. The only way to reduce the cost of attending these shows is if there is enough business (from the pilots) to justify the vendors paying more to have their sales booths. Either way, it has to be run like a business to succeed.

For what it is worth, the stuff that was there was great. Great antiques, great warbirds, military vehicles (never touched a T-34 airplane and a T-34 tank in the same day!), and good experimental stuff. The turbine Sherpa monster was very impressive. Cub Crafters had the fantastic and beautiful Carbon Cub there. The Zenair CH750 was there too... although it's ugly it offers excellent back country performance for a lower price than many others. The awesome Highlander was there, which offers spectacular off-road performance for the homebuilder and it's not bad looking.

It was well worth being there for a fly-in attendee IMHO.

Courierguy that looks like a lot of fun. Nice pics.
I went to Arlington and had a good time. Sold quite a few videos and talked to an awful lot of people about Highlanders. I was disappointed in the lack of flying in the ultralight/light sport area. They said the FAA wouldn't let people pay for a ride or take an into flight. I demoed my Highlander a few times and that went over real good for the plane and video sales. A lot of pilots have no idea how much fun this airplane can be.
Steve

So..... the big Arlington question to those who made it, and came back via Snoqualmie Pass or thereabouts: how was the weather, fog free? For this high desert flyer that area has been a real challange some years, squeaking through between layers, over solid trees and a very busy freeway always makes me glad to get back on the "dry" side, where I immidiately feel at home, no matter how rough the air, at least I can see where I'm going! Sunday late, when I would have been flying back, it looked GREAT, from here anyway.

The weather was so nice on Tuesday and Sunday that I didn't even bother following the road at all. Pretty much flew straight between Prosser and Arlington both ways. It was amazingly nice! I've sorta squeeked thru the pass before too, not so much fun.
Steve

taildrgfun wrote:The weather was so nice on Tuesday and Sunday that I didn't even bother following the road at all. Pretty much flew straight between Prosser and Arlington both ways. It was amazingly nice! I've sorta squeeked thru the pass before too, not so much fun.
Steve

Steve,
Thanks again for the ride in your Highlander. Have been enjoying your video.

I heard that the heli pilot had to auto rotate and was okay.........Glad it was not worse.

Brent

The vid of the ridge landing. About 3 miles from my strip so pretty handy. I can't believe I never noticed it earlier, I'll be back!

I don't know if I am embedding this properly, here goes.

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/miGS413jnbM&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/miGS413jnbM&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Another try:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miGS413jnbM

Very nice courierguy.

Brent are you the one who was flying with me when the Helicycle went down? I met and talked to so many people at Arlington that I can't begin to remember them all. I think you told me you are Highroad on here but it just now actually dawned on me. You and your dad are good people and it was a pleasure taking you both up and meeting you.
Steve

Friday was the biggest day for fly-in's, the vintage area was filled. I loved the new set up for vintage planes and the new red barn. Flying out to the NW on Sunday was fun with the fog.

I too enjoyed Steve's video, it was good to meet friends, I also got a good look at the EZ flap and it is a quality product.

taildrgfun wrote:Brent are you the one who was flying with me when the Helicycle went down? I met and talked to so many people at Arlington that I can't begin to remember them all. I think you told me you are Highroad on here but it just now actually dawned on me. You and your dad are good people and it was a pleasure taking you both up and meeting you.
Steve

Steve,
Ya, that was me with you when the Helicycle went down. Looked like a busy weekend for you and I hope you sold a lot of DVD's.

Brent