Columbus

Fog killed off the first flight of the day, and when it burned off I took up the 172 on its post-maintenance flight.  All went pretty well there, so I returned it to service, and then brought Steve home some lunch.  He was having so much trouble getting his computer to work properly, getting information in to the FAA, calling people, etc., so he skipped lunch and I brought some to him.  I then had a 1:30 flight, and had the guys pull the T-6 out and top it off and get it ready, and then at 3:30 Steve and I hopped in and went to Columbus, Indiana.  They had a mini airshow on a Wednesday.  The Canadian Snowbirds used us as a stop on their way to somewhere else, and I'll tell you what, Columbus Indiana came OUT.  The crowd was really large, and it was impressive.  A KC-135 was there, and Jordan's C-47, which I climbed up into today and checked out (and I'm not sure how you land from that high up.  lol).  Then an L-5 stopped in, and us.  So that gave people some stuff to look at on the ramp, and the Snowbirds and the "Red Star Team" (a CJ-6 and two RVs) were on the "hot ramp" for the show.  As soon as we arrived, people were looking around the T-6, so I went ahead up on the wing and let people look around.  Not get in, but look.  It was super hot, sun beaming down, and I got very sticky and hot very quickly, but it's always nice to be able to let folks looks over the airplane and ask questions.  

Once the show started, I got off the wing and shut down the line, and we watched the show.  The airspace opened back up at 7 pm, and we headed out not too long after that so we could get back to Kokomo before the sun went all the way down.  The plane has great lights (except the panel lights are really dim), but you can't see the gear pins out on the wings to verify gear down.  So I brought a flashlight just in case, that I didn't end up needing to use.  We flew past Nathan and I gave a big wing rock to say hi, and he saw us.  :)  I didn't realize there was a plane waiting to take off, so I did an overhead break, circled around at sunset all lit up, and a Mooney keyed up and said "Lookin' good, T-6".  Aw, thanks!  I wish I had a picture of the plane lit up at sunset coming in.  :)   When we got back to the hangar, we rearranged stuff so we could leave the T-6 up front.  It goes in and out a lot more often than the 340, so we stuck that one in the back.  This winter we'll put the Six back in the back, but in the meantime, it is getting used a lot more!

It was nice seeing people.  Seeing Jordan and Matt was good, and getting a tour of the C-47.  And then I ran into Tim, a Red Star formation guy, who took the time to come over, say hi, give me a hug, and tell me to hurry up and get my formation card so I can join in on their events.  Ran into the student I rescheduled so I could come to the event--he came too.  lol  Anyway, all in all it was a good stop.

Kaylee called me this morning.  It was evening for her, which still is weird when I'm just getting up.  She said she's gaining weight out there because they eat a bunch of rice and bananas.  lol  She's still traumatized by the Tukos critters, but I think she'll live.  :)

I took quite a few pictures today, it was a nice flight home.  Not sure which to post so I'll hit most of them.

Steve & Zak

There are the Snowbirds

More of the Snowbirds

In the air. I enjoy their show more than most of the others.

Under the prop of the C-47

The T-6 over there on the ramp

Starburst

Over the KC-135

And over the T-6

Crowd shot

What you can't see well here is a Wingtip Snowbird photo--but they're taxiing past me, not me past them.  ;)

Sunset on the way home.

The back seat is so low, I can't see Steve back there.  But he is.  lol

Pretty sun

On the ground at Kokomo

You can see the taxiway lights in front of the wing.  Putting her away.