Sun ’n Fun is an annual aviation event that celebrates all things aviation. It is considered the “Spring Break” destination for pilots. This year, my pilot friend from Oregon asked if I’d like to fly there with him. I’d never flown into this event before (other than for When Pigs Fly South, back in 2012), so I said, “Yes!”.
A few weeks ago, I downloaded the Notice to Airmen that discussed the custom arrival and departure procedures. I held off buying my ticket until I knew for sure that I would be able to fly there and back. In the meantime, the Northrop Grumman Flying Club gave out tickets, so I got a free ticket from work.
Early Monday morning, Andrew and I picked up my friend at the Orlando Airport, then we dropped off Andrew at UCF and returned home. After a nice breakfast out, we headed to the Valkaria airport. After the standard pre-flight, we went through the custom arrival procedures one more time to make sure we were both on the same page, then departed for Lakeland.
The flight over was pretty quick and we soon began the arrival procedure by flying over Fantasy of Flight at 1,200 feet and 100 knots. Then we crossed the racetrack and the power plant, at which point we were identified by ATC and told to wag our wings. I wagged hard and was rewarded with, “Nice wag, Cherokee”, then intersected and followed Interstate 4 to the golf course. At the white water tower, we turned south towards the airport and were instructed to land on runway 10L, which is actually the taxiway for runway 10 (which was now renamed 10R for the event).
| Flight to Lakeland, with custom arrival procedure |
After crossing the orange dot and landing on the green dot, we put our “FBO” sign in the window and taxied to Sheltair. Due to unfamiliarity and blocked taxiways, this was actually harder than expected.
| Arrived at Lakeland |
After tying down, we met our “Goober” driver (who was actually a friend of my friend) and went to the hotel. After dinner at Applebee’s, we called it a night.
The next morning, we grabbed a bite from McDonald’s, then headed for the airport. We parked at Sheltair and caught a ride in the van to the event. The event was everything we expected – hundreds of planes, including certified, home-built, military, and commercial, and hundreds of exhibitors. We walked down the rows of exhibitors, talking to those we found interesting.
The air show stared around lunch time and we stopped to eat. After lunch, we visited the Career Fair tent and talked to all the companies that were hiring pilots. It became amazingly clear just how far my friend’s flight time has surpassed my own. I have a total of 560 hours and he has over 600, just in the jet that he flies for SkyWest!
As the airshow wrapped up, we returned to the pick-up spot to catch the van back to Sheltair. We said our good-byes and I prepared to fly back home, which meant that I needed to review the departure procedures again. I highlighted all of the ATC frequencies that I needed, put my "VFR" sign in the window, then started the plane. ATC gave me instructions to the departure end of the runway, then the marshallers directed me to the arrival end. Along the way, I was told to pull to the side and wait for traffic. I did as I was directed and waited. Time passed and no one passed by me.
Finally, I saw what I was being held for. A Lockheed Constellation “Connie” landed, then taxied back right in front of me. This plane was built in 1948 and is one of only two that is still airworthy today.
| Lockheed Constellation |
After the traffic passed, I was told to taxi onto runway 10R and hold. I did, then was given permission to depart straight out on the runway heading until above 3,000 feet or 3 miles, to avoid traffic heading into the event.
| Flight back to Valkaria |
I arrived in Valkaria just after 7:00 pm. I filled up the fuel tanks, put the plane in the hangar, cleaned off the bugs and gunk, then headed home. My first flight to a major aeronautical event was a complete success. Maybe I’ll start planning to fly to Air Venture (aka Oshkosh) now!
| Sun 'n Fun memorabilia, including fly-in pin |
Flight Time: 2.5 hours
Total Time: 562 hours
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