We flew for a few hours southeastwards to Florida, but when we reached Tallahassee, it became clear we were not getting through. An entire line of thunderstorms had cut of the state! we ducked into a little airport and the locals let us tie down in an open T-hanger.
We NEEDED to get the Sun'n'Fun so we got a ride into town and rented a car.
We drove 4 hours to get to Lakeland, home of Sun'n'Fun
We arrived on the grounds, the night before my presentation, at 8:01...
...The ticket shack closes at 8:00, and they were very strict, we were not able to get our passes for tomorrow or pay for camping on the grounds.
We ended up pitching our tents in the parking lot. the ticket shack opened at 0800 and we were the first in line, my panel started at 0900! The ticketing staff were very inflexible and because we were driving in rather than flying they tried to charge us for an entire week long wristband and camping totaling almost $400! We were only going to be at the show for 2 days! we took the shuttle to the grounds, and at 0830 were still hunting for the forum tent. when we found it we weren't sure it was the right place. But after asking several staff we found it was in fact the forum building, and began setting up my presentation. It went splendidly, and an hour later it was time to enjoy the show.
The Airshow was great, there was even a British Vampire jet, and my favorite plane: the MiG-17
The next day we drove to Tampa to visit Busch gardens, my dad and I spent all day long riding roller coasters with 5 min wait being the longest we had to stand in line.
After that we drove north to Jekyll Island Georgia for the 2018 Gymnastics Regional Championship.
I Took 2nd Place all around, and had a great competition. And after the meet, there was the beach to enjoy
Saturday we came back to Lakeland for the last day of the show and watched planes fly all day long, ultralights, warbirds, and the rest.
The engine I bought was already built, and had not been run. My dad and I planned to take it all apart to give me a better understanding of the engine, as well as to identify any problems before they got bad. The Arovee engine was heavy and awkward to move. at the time it was sitting on the workbench with everything installed. Going into this I had only enough sense to tell you which cylinder is the #1, 2, 3, and 4, and I knew some of the terminology, such as crackshaft. I frequently asked my dad "what do you call that part?" we began unbolting stuff in roughly reverse order from the manual (if you're familiar with sonex plans, you're used to backwards) In under an hour we had stripped many of the external parts off and the engine had lost at least 20 pounds! A box was designated as the hardware box, so it'll be like legos trying to find the right bolts and nuts again when I reassemble it. the important part is that they're all together and no...
When I flew my plane to OSH23, I saw an artist painting a small depiction of an airplane. She was painting a very small photorealistic scene from a phone image. I could not believe how detailed she was able to make it! She let me watch over he shoulder as she worked. I was so impressed that I commisisoned a similar painting of my sonex. Id like to share that painting with you all. Her name is Rhonda DeGarmo. She has a lot of other work. If you're interested in getting in touch with her please reach out to me and I will pass along her information.
It is full swing gymnastics meet season, and I'm working extra hard on schoolwork to make up for the time I'm away at gymnastics meets, and I'm building and flying whenever possible. With that all on my plate there is very little time for writing, but I will give a overview of what I've accomplished. I built the side walls of the forward fuselage: I have purchased an engine from a fellow sonex builder and member of my EAA chapter (the four cylinder 80HP Aerovee) And I have set to work building the Forward Fuselage box I will flesh out this post in the future as soon as I can, if you are considering going to Sun'n'Fun this year is the best to go, I will be giving an hour talk at the forums all about the unique challenges of being a teen balancing all my various spinning plates, and still making time for aviation and building my plane. I'd love to see you all at Sun'n'Fun! Thanks! (this is a short pos...
