I got home from work a day early and as Karrie and the girls had plans and school I decided to make use of the time by flying to Sun N Fun. Jeff, always ready for an adventure, opted to join me on the flight to checkout the event before he would be heading back to camp with his daughter and wife the following day.
It would seem this year they created a new arrival procedure. We began the arrival at the “Middle of Nowhere” VPMNO transition (as directed by ATIS) before flying to VPFSY, VPTCK, VPKER, hitting the cake tower and heading south to the field. Interestingly enough, during the arrival if you got to the stacks at Lake Parker and the controller thought you were too far south he would eject you back to the Middle of Nowhere. The first lap we got sent around because the runway was closed briefly for an issue they had on the ground. The next lap I was listening to him make calls, calling people out for being too far south of the smoke stacks but figured nothing of it as I was following the GPS waypoint VPKER. Well I was wrong. When it got to our turn to get cleared to the Cake Tower, he instead sent us back to the Middle of Nowhere for being of course and south of the stacks. So much for the gps waypoint! Make sure to fly visually directly over the stacks. Shortly after we got sent around the second time they announced that the airfield would now NOTAM out at 11:00-12:00 for the Thunderbirds. Each lap around the arrival took about 15 minutes so we had to time it just right to give ourselves a shot at getting in before the field shut down. As luck would have it at 10:52 as we approached VPKER they opened the field back up and let two of us through. The rest of the gaggle in the pattern had to divert or buzz around for an hour for the TFR to end and the departing traffic to leave.
At the show it was business as usual. All the typical suspects attended with the exception of Vans. No booth, just a single RV powered by a Rotax sitting in their normal spot along with a helicopter display. I had the mission of buying a set of Bose A30s for work as well as a pair of Flying Eyes glasses (also for the day job). I did get to see the new Dynon HDX screens. They are nice and if you have the panel space I would definately spent the extra coin to buy them.
The printed arrival.
Arrival on ADSB.
N7ZK’s flight track.
View headed south from the Cake Tower.
Thunderbirds after their flight that delayed our arrival.
N7ZK sitting front row next to two other -10s.
New 12″ Dynon HDX.
Vans left a hole to be filled at the show. A Rotax powered RV was sitting there.
My first time seeing the 916.
Thunderbirds doing what they do.
Waiting for departure. The -10 in front of us was on the wrong frequency so we hung out a little longer.
See ya next year SnF.
