I flew back from Wichita late yesterday afternoon, and boy are my arms tired!

 

Both coming and going I could tell when we were over Kansas, because the Governor's too cheap to fix all the air holes in the state's airspace...

 

...which is my humorous way to say the ride was bUmpY...

 

Despite the really crappy weather (cold, drizzly, overcast) and so all of the anticipated flyover's had to be cancelled, I had a great time!

 

I got to spend some time in the cockpit of the museum's ex-Southwest 737-200 while I was there, and was privileged to have one of the pilots who flew those aircraft accompany me in the right seat and fill my ears with anecdotes.

 

David is an avid flightsimmer now that he's retired and had flown his Aerostar up from Texas to attend the AVSIM Fancon and Cockpit Fest. That's David's left knee in the right seat.

Here is a shot of David in the right seat wearing his "Aerostar" jacket.

 

Bill, I only wish that the distances were not so great. I am really envious of you guys - being able to grab a flight just like a bus ride. Here, it takes over an hour just to get to the airport, never mind the 9-10 hour flight to get to that (Joel McRea ?) town. Do they still wear six-guns there ?

Seriously, one of these years I'm going to have to get over there - only some 4,500 miles 'as the crow flies' to see how you all do these gatherings.

I've only been to one such 'convention' over there - a Ham Radio Convention - (1960 or 61 ?) in Mobile. I still remember it. That's when a USAF 'gentleman' advised me - then - fifty years ago - to keep my bedroom curtains closed. He was into military satellites... :ph34r:

Regards
Bill

 

Well, I had to drive the wrong direction (south) for 20 minutes so I could park my car in the secure lot then take the Highland-O'Hare bus to the airport...

 

...which is about an hour and a half ride, then spent another hour and half passing through TSA security checkpoint...

 

...only to wind up waiting for just over two hours for the ERJ-140 to arrive from Newark (weather/traffic delays)...

 

So, I left my house at 06:00 Central time, and arrived in Wichita, KS at 16:45. The flight itself was only about 1 hour 50 minutes. :unsure:

 

If it's held there again, I think I'll drive! :lol: