Today Was Kid's Day... Even For Adults

by ANN Associate Editor Rob Finfrock

July is a busy month in the aero-world... because it is "bookended", in a sense, by two airshows. Of course, there's Oshkosh near the end of the month (albeit slightly earlier than normal this year)... but to get the month of July started out on the right note, there's also the Northwest EAA Fly-In -- commonly known as Arlington.

Arlington, of course, means Arlington, WA... a picturesque community that's about a 30 minute drive north of Seattle. Each year, the country's third-largest airshow occurs here, at an airport nestled amongst towering pines and within a stone's throw of the Pacific.

If I sound enthralled, it's because I am. For starters... it was all of 59 degrees out when I got off the plane Wednesday morning. Think about that... it's the first week in July. (The high temperature for my hometown of Dallas, by comparison, was 93 today.) I could certainly handle more airshows with a climate like that.

Alas, with the cool temps came the rain... or, more accurately, mist and fog. By the middle of the afternoon, the cloud deck had lifted to about 2,000 ft AGL... but looking around the field Wednesday, the first day of the show, there were a lot of empty parking spaces on the field. The weather -- not unusual for the Pacific Northwest -- did appear to keep some planes away.

Fortunately, if the past is any indicator, by the end of the week the parking spaces should be full of a wide range of aircraft. And already, an impressive list of exhibitors were set up on the field. Columbia Aircraft, located 'just down the road' in Bend, OR, have their display set up near the flightline; other exhibitors, such as Cirrus, Mooney, and Symphony -- as well as a number of LSAs, such as StingSport and Tecnam -- are represented by their regional dealers.

They aren't necessarily here to announce the newest, latest creation from their respective manufacturers -- that comes later this month, at Oshkosh. No, this show is all about the aircraft... and the opportunity to reach out to interested buyers and spectators alike. Several of those hearty souls milled about the field Wednesday, taking the opportunity to get a closer look at the planes and exhibits away from the larger weekend crowds, at their own pace.

This isn't a "trade" show, like Lakeland and Oshkosh. Don't get me wrong... those are a LOT of fun, too, in their own ways (especially OSH) but a lot of that fun is getting the inside "scoop" on what new plane is under that tarp, or what's the latest electronic gadget we'll soon be able to spend our money on.

Nope... Arlington is a fly-in. And if you need further proof, consider this: on Wednesday, the largest demographic represented on field -- at least, in seemed to me -- were children, ages 9-12 or so.

See, it's tradition here at Arlington... the first day of the show, kids get in free... and they arrive en masse, as part of organized groups and field trips.

Fly-in organizers make sure there are special events all day, to teach those kids a little something about aviation... and if that doesn't hook 'em, chances are the airshow later in the day will... where the likes of such performers as John Mrazek in his Canadian Harvard (above) and Bud Granley (below, in his Yak 55) demonstrate just how much FUN you can have in this business.

In a time when GA needs all the friends and pilots it can get... that's cooler than the weather.

FMI: www.nweaa.org