One thing that I have learned in my few short months investiga- ting light aircraft is that people in the aviation industry generally have a love of flying and a passion for sharing their experience and knowledge. The Challenger ultralight was not a fit for my purposes and I explained this to the local representative. He was very helpful in suggesting that I visit one of the upcoming Air Shows to source a plane that would fit my needs.
I did some research and determined that there were three air shows in the near term; Sebring U.S Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida held in January, Sun N Fun in Lakeland, Florida in the spring and Oshkosh Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in the summer. I had fish to fry and thoughts of waiting until the summer to attend Oshkosh did not sound appealing. Also, Oshkosh is a very large show with over 2500 exhibitors. This would be a lot to take in for someone that is new to recreational aviation.
As it turned out, my husband was planning a business trip to Florida in January. He agreed that if I went with him on the business trip, he would take a day off and go to the Air Show with me (ofcourse, not without his beloved cell phone).
Fast forward a few weeks later and we are driving from Sarasota to Sebring with a latte in hand. Thank goodness for the portable GPS that I bought my husband for Christmas. It makes a drive on the back roads in Florida pleasant other then when the alarm that my husband installed on the GPS goes off every time we are within five kilometres of a golf course. Do you know how many golf courses there are in Florida?
We arrive at Sebring and my husband has brought his laptop, PDA, files etc. – a virtual office in the rental car. He has arranged to participate in a conference call and decides to follow me into the show but to take the call lurking behind me somewhere off the beaten track as I talk to the plane manufacturers. What we don’t know is that there is drag racing going on next to the air show so his conference call is a bit labored. After an hour or two and my occasional insistence that he get off the phone and sit in one of planes, he has a melt down and says he is not sitting in anymore planes. Well, he held out longer than I thought he would.
I am quickly realizing that the planes in my budget come with fabric wings made out of a coated dacron. I rule out all aluminum wing birds and concentrate on the fabric wing birds, not knowing how much longer I have at the Air Show. I am interested in one bird and become engaged with the salesperson, my husband reappears from cell phone abyss to inform me that I can’t get that one. I ask him why not and he informs me that it won’t fit his golf clubs and if I am getting a plane he at least wants it to be able to fit his clubs so we can go away golfing for the weekend with the plane. I said but I thought you weren’t going in the plane so why would I consider whether your golf clubs fit. My budget has just increased along with my must have list. Happy New Year!
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