Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Apologies if I've overlooked any messages about Sun n Fun next week.

I will be down there on Thur and Fri. I expect to spend some time browsing potential avionics solutions and such, but will definitely be spending some time out on the flightline photographing Thorp details and looking at how you guys have done things on your airplanes.
If anyone wants to show me their airplane, meet for lunch, meet for dinner, etc., let me know.

Andrew

I can be found in the Seabirds area most of the week.

_________________
Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

Hey guys,
If you’re parking at homebuilts I may be the one marshalling you in.
Be sure to say hi. Looking forward to seeing you all.
Les

We are planning to come in between the afternoon and evening air shows on Wednesday. See you there!

Very short trip report:

I arrived early Thur morning and found Highley's airplane fairly quickly after getting out to the homebuilt corner. I had been taking pics for a few minutes when a couple of guys pulled up asking if I knew Bob. Told them I did and they were good with that. One of them came back a few minutes later and told me there was another Thorp over thataway, and it turned out to be David Read. Read was *very* gracious with his time and opening up his airplane for me to see and photograph. I have a full set of plans, newsletters, and photos of existing T-18s, but it is still very helpful to have more reference photographs and see how others have approached things.

David, I can't thank you enough for taking so much time out of your SnF time to share with me.
BTW, you should write up your rebuild story and it should make for a good article (or short series of articles) in Kitplanes.

After a *lot* of phone tag and stalking, I finally caught up with Bob. Bob stays busy. I kidded him about doing retirement wrong, but I hope to be equally busy and active when (if) I retire. Good to see him again, catch up, and pick his brain a bit.
I actually ran into Sue before catching up to Bob. Equally good to see her again.
After Bob, his friend, and I went our separate ways at the vendor area, I bought some fasteners and small parts I needed for attaching my new wing tips.

I also saw a T-211 in the homebuilt corner. Don't see too many of those.

I've been out of aviation for about ten years now, but still nice to be able to point to 4 or 5 aircraft types that I have had some involvement with.

I've gotten to where I enjoy ending the day at Paradise City watching the light aircraft showing off, and I wanted to see the balloon glow, but after two days there, I was tired and a little dehydrated, so I left during the Blue Angels on Friday and headed north back to home. Even with that timely departure, I-75 traffic meant it took a while to make it to Valdosta where I overnighted before finishing the drive to Atlanta on Sat morning.

I also found some lighting and avionics solutions that I was looking for, so a good trip.