Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Five Thorps on the ramp so far. Sixteen at dinner last night.

_________________
Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

N12055 will arrive tomorrow morning. I’m not IFR, so I’ve been held up by the weather at Freeman (Seymour, Indiana, SER). Tomorrow looks much better than today.

_________________
John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

Six on the ramp. Hope to see a few more tomorrow. Spent most of the day hanging out. No flying due to low ceilings.

_________________
Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

N249R and N444MA arrived earlier this evening from KLXT.

The weather was great for 90% of the route, then we got into some low ceilings just as night fell. Our formation became necessarily looser in the dark, but both of us landed safely at Kentucky Dam and brought the total Thorp count 8.

Thanks to Ron and Jane for the ride from the airport to the hotel.

Looking forward to the formation aerobatics tomorrow...

N12055 arrived around noon today, first time ever visiting Kentucky Dam. My count was nine Thorps on the field including me. Lots of flying, formation flying, and a little air racing.

_________________
John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

N711SH back in the hangar. What a great weekend! Thanks to the Reads!

_________________
Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

N51863 and the Waltons are back home after a grueling 4+ hr flight (wx/head winds). What a great weekend, we may have been robbed a day by Mother Nature on Friday but we made up for it Saturday. Great time! Thanks Dave and Karen!

_________________
Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

I think we were all glad to see good friends again. Of course I had an easy flight home, my copilot did all the work. We are already looking forward to the next one, in the meantime I have a few improvements to work on

Thanks Reads and everyone for a great time! N12055 got back home safely. Some numbers: 498 nm in only 3:15 flight time with an epic tail wind of around 40+/- knots at 5,500’. (This was her first trip over 100 nm since the rebuild.) The O-290D burned a total of 19 gals on the ride back to Pittsburgh, or 30 mpg. To be fair, the ride out took 4:40 flight time and 2 nights stay in Indiana due to weather, haha.

_________________
John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

All three Kansas City Thorps made it home safely, although not without adventure.

We had one radio failure midway home and I demonstrated feeble NASCAR-style left-hand turns on the ramp when my right brake failed. Major thanks to Karen for lending a ride and to Lee and David for help getting fluid back into the right brake lines. It took a bit of creativity at O'Reilly's Auto Parts, but a fluid pump, some tubing, and automatic transmission fluid made for a solid field repair.

Otherwise, I had a great time joining the group for my first KY Dam event. Thanks to Bob for the formation flying lesson. I'm looking forward to the spring gathering and next year at KY Dam.

I had a great time despite having to fly the cherokee.

Awesome to see some new thorp owners out. Slowly we are growing....soon to take over the world!

A few pics from the weekend ... great year!

_________________
Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Wow, Look at all those beautiful thorps!
Thanks for those photos Lee

I agree with Binder, what a wonderful group and boy am I jealous of you guys being able to have get togethers like that. I seem to be the one active Thorp here in New Zealand so it is a bit lonely! There is a 180hp T18 on the same field but we have not managed to link up. Must work on it.
Great photos Lee.

Tony Schischka
ZK-VMS
T18C