Horn Point Antique Aircraft Fly-in

On May 28th, I ditched Allen and went to the Horn Point (MD18) Antique Fly-in with my non-pilot friend. This necessitated a trip around the SFRA and Dahlgren's restricted airspace and over the Chesapeake Bay. The weather was perfect and the air was smooth. Heading south along the Potomac River, we briefly joined up with a fellow flier - a bald eagle. He seemed unperturbed as we passed him rather slowly (Rudolph is a Champ, after all). The winds were not even unfavorable...until we turned to the east and headed out over water. Then, it felt like we hit a wall as a 15 mph headwind impeded our progress towards the other shore. The large number of boats out on the bay eased our minds some, but our worry was unnecessary.

Upon arriving at Horn Point, we grabbed some lunch and met up with friends from Warrenton, Culpeper and Petersburg, VA. We sat around, talked and enjoyed the sunshine for a bit. Of course, we also checked out the other airplanes there. Of note was a Bird, Beechcraft Staggerwing, Starduster Too, PT23, Cessna T-50 ('Bamboo Bomber') and Carbon Cub.

Picture at the fly-in. All photo credits go to my friend. I forgot my camera.

On the way back to Warrenton, we decided to stop off with our friends at a private strip on the Virginia side of the Potomac, where we continued socializing for a bit before heading to our home bases. All in all, it was a great day. This was the first event of the type that my non-pilot friend had been to and she had a great time (or so she tells me).

Update

It has been over a year and a half since we brought the Champ ("Rudolph") back from California. I noticed that people are still finding and reading this blog, so I figured I would post an update.

We have made multiple flights to both Rochester, NY and Tazewell, VA to visit family. We flew up to Pennsylvania for a wing rib building workshop (Pottstown Limerick - PTW) and a wedding (Smoketown - S37). Both were memorable airports for different reasons. The Pottstown Limerick airport is right by a nuclear power plant. And when I say 'right by', I mean that when you're in the pattern you pass so close to the cooling towers that you can see the water frothing at the base and you wonder if you're supposed to be there. Smoketown on the other hand would be a fantastic airport for a weekend getaway. There are a few restaurants right on the field, including a pizza place we frequented. There is also motel/B&B on the field which was quite comfortable. The airport has courtesy cars and are very generous with how long they'll let you take them out for (we drove one to the wedding and were told we could keep it overnight).

From the most recent flight to Rochester, NY.

There was one memorable trip to Knoxville, TN where I actually used Rudolph for transportation to work! Fortunately, Allen did not accompany me on this trip so I had plenty of payload left for baggage for the month long trip. On the way to Tennessee, I diverted around some weather and ended up stopping in Harlan, KY (I35). This turned out to be a beautiful but deserted airport on a small plateau nestled in the hills. The scenery was stunning. I also stopped at Middlesboro, KY (1A6) where Glacier Girl was restored. Unfortunately, the plane was moved long before I arrived, but I still encountered the friendly local airport bums who were very welcoming. Once I finally arrived in Tennessee, Rudolph was based out of a beautiful grass strip (TN08) for the next month. True to the 'southern hospitality' stereotype, everyone at the airport was friendly and welcoming. There were some hidden gems at the airport - both people and airplanes. This included a twin v-tail Bonanza, an L-4 (unfortunately converted back to look like an ordinary yellow cub after the war) and a sweet lady with a beautiful 150 who has competed in more Air Race Classics than I can count.

All in all it has been a great time. As we go to more fun fly-ins, I will attempt to keep this blog up to date.