Ze Plane, Jefe!

Another advantage of leaving the hot, dry climate of Arizona is that living in Seattle means I am close to the EAA's biggest fly-in on the West Coast - Arlington. Kelly had been years ago, but this was my first airshow. How exciting! We met up with Ralph, his dad and Helmut the first day we were there and watched them harass the Sky Raider salesmen. The night demonstration was hot-air balloons, which is very neat to watch. There's just something magical about being awoken by the sound of propellers after camping on an airport. Although smaller than Oshkosh, the Arlington fly-in has a nice taste of everything.

Ultralight demonstrations, warbirds, aerobatics and night shows kept the days busy. I was very impressed by the light plane pilot who was brave enough to turn off his engine mid-flight and land the little Hershey-bar-wing aircraft with the propeller not moving. The hang-gliding demonstration was very inspiring because the pilot performs with two motorized aircraft in the air with him and despite the fact that he was paralyzed in a previous accident. A jazz band and a flying/fireworks show topped off the last evening. A running commentary from our half-deaf, Canadian neighbors kept the fireworks show interesting.

"Is that it?"
"What?"
"Is it over?!"
"I dunno."
"What?"
"Who knows!"
"Oh. Hey - they are making noise now."
"What?"
"They are making noise now."
"What?"
"The fireworks - they're making noise now."
"Oh."