Well, the weather gods smiled on us! What great weather (finally)! Slightly sketchy VFR conditions a few places inland before about 8:00 AM, but everywhere else had excellent flying conditions from the get-go, and we had clear skies and perfect temperatures by mid-morning throughout the San Diego air basin. So that was a relief after suffering through several weeks of heavy marine layer glunk.
Anyhow, we had four EZ's from out of the SD area make the flight in, which was a record high number as best my memory can recall for our June picnic event - Thanks one and all of our visitors for your support, it was really great to have you make the effort to come!
David Kolstad (VariEze N506D) and Jeff Gress and his wife (VariEze N34EZ) flew in early in the morning from Whiteman and Fullerton, respectively. They both took advantage of the chance to get a fresh weight and balance done. Dave said that it had been twenty years since his last (original) was done, so I suspect there may have been a change since then. :? Perhaps his baggage pods are really baby stealth derigibles filled with helium and his plane is lighter!
I also spotted Long-EZ N606TT on the ramp, but not until after lunch when it was time for him to depart. Beagle’s Sq. III directory (and the FAA) list 6 Tango Tango as belonging to Torger Totusek, also out of Fullerton. I’m bummed that I didn’t get a chance to visit with Torger! :cry: I guess I must have been too heavily involved the the W&B project to be properly paying attention to what was going on – my bad, but next time.
Distance award goes to Bill and Julie Lermer from the Phoenix area - the Lermers are good friends and loyal ex-SDEZ squadron members who have made all or nearly of the Squadron June gatherings in years past. Bill and Julie were the first members of the SDEZ Squadron to finish a VariEze - in 1978 - and they are still flying! Bill sold their VariEze at one point, and then discovered that life without a VariEze just wasn't EZ, so he bought another Squadron member's plane when it became available.
Three Long-EZs carrying Trio Avionics’ trio, Chuck Busch, Jerry Hansen and Sid Tolchen arrived together just in time to make the free breakfast for EZ-folk; and they went on to give an outstanding presentation outlining their GPS-friendly autopilot and soon to be released (2-3 weeks) altitude-hold autopilot. Judging by the mob around their show-and-tell display after the presentation, they certainly captured a lot of interest. So, again thanks to you guys for your support and fine presentation!
In addition to Dave and Jeff’s VariEzes, three local planes were weighed – Sid Tolchen’s and Al Hodges’ Long-EZs, and an EAA Chapter 14 “Pete-’in-Paul”. Many thanks to Harry Abbott who made it happen by supplying the computer, a printer, and by crunching the numbers so that everyone had completed documentation; and thanks to Larry Rothrock (EAA 14 Prez, hanger mate and SDEZ Squadron guy) for W&B setup, plane shoving, and tear-down. Thanks to the many other helping hands for fixing lunch, shoving planes, preparing the scales (that's you Ryan), and all the other tasks that got done!
So it all came together, the weather was great, we had fun, the presentation was excellent, the atmosphere was relaxed (as was Al Hodges' grip on his Long-EZ, but that’s another story), and I got to meet a new EZ builder (Berkut) and a potential EZ buyer. I never got anything like a firm head count, but several dozen EZ pilots stood up at the meeting, and plenty more came after that.