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| Prepping for Middletown - Rudolph got a bath! |
Every two years there is a wonderful event organized by the National Aeronca Association in Middletown, OH. As the site of the old Aeronca factory, this is "back home" for my plane and most other Aeroncas. Allen and I have attended this gathering twice in the past (2012, 2014) and it is definitely the one aviation event that we don't want to miss!
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| Rain off to the right on the way to Upshur, WV. |
Our flight there took us around some less than wonderful weather, and to Upshur County, WV (W22). This is one of my favorite places to stop, as the airport has a courtesy car and there is a town near the airport with a good restaurant. We pulled up to fuel and immediately realized that the cicadas were out in force. We kept having to remove them from ourselves and the plane.
The wind began to pick up and we realized that with a strong front coming through, Upshur was as far as we were getting that day. Fortunately, the maintenance shop had room for Rudolph in the hangar, right next to a King Air that rushed in for shelter just ahead of the front. The storm was strong enough to knock out power at some places in town. Even the hotel was experiencing cable and internet problems when we arrived.
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| Departing Upshur, WV |
The next morning, some low clouds prevented an early departure, but the rest of the flight was uneventful, and we landed in Middletown in the early afternoon.
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| Rudolph tied down at Middletown |
The weather in Middletown was beautiful and there were far more planes than at the last convention when bad weather prevented most people from flying in.
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| There were several very nice Sedans at this year's convention, of which this is just one example. |
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| The neat original cowling on this pre-war Chief makes it a favorite of mine. |
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| There were even some nice non-Aeroncas parked in the back lot, such as this late model Bellanca Cruisemaster. |
Two features of the convention that are not to be missed are the factory tour (Saturday morning) and Bill Pancake's forum (Saturday afternoon). The support provided by the factory for the convention is superb and truly something special. It is always interesting to see what the factory is doing now. They are now part of Magellan Aerospace and specialize in titanium parts for Boeing, Airbus, Raytheon, etc. and are doing well.
Bill's forum covered many common Aeronca problems and things to watch out for. Also, a new development is that his STC for converting Champs and Chiefs to a C85 without modification to the tail is now complete.
After a fun banquet on Saturday night, we awoke Sunday morning for an early departure. The flight home was uneventful and a wonderful ending to another fun Aeronca Convention. We are already looking forward to 2018!
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| Blue Ridge Mountains |
