This was supposed to be a very long road trip lasting more than two weeks. I had planned to drive to Wichita KS to attend the Sherwin-Williams Aerospace Coatings Training Program on April 19-20, then drive from Kansas to Bend OR to attend the week-long Synergy Air RV Quickbuilding class April 25-29 in the resort community of Sunriver. But Sherwin-Williams cancelled their April training program, so I changed my plan from a road trip to flying to Portland Sunday April 24.
We had a mechanical issue before departing DTW, making me late for my connection in MSP. I had twelve minutes to get from C Terminal to G Terminal. I made the dash in eight minutes, and paid for it for days afterward... but I caught my flight. I arrived in PDX mid-day, and rented a car for the drive to Bend. There was an interesting town along the route through the mountains. If I hadn't already known it was there, I would have thought I had made one helluva wrong turn...
I had to drive through a blizzard as I went over the pass, but I made it safely to the Hampton Inn in Bend, adjacent to the Old Mill District. For the next week I would make the 20 minute commute south to Sunriver to attend the class.
Monday morning I arrived at the training location, which was Wally and Neda Anderson's home in Sunriver. I was greeted by Wally and the other seven participants in the class and we got right to work. I was given a large binder with study guides, literature and a CD-ROM with a lot of additional information. As the week progressed, the printed material grew to a sizeable amount of valuable literature.
Wally had recently redesigned his syllabus so we didn't cover the chapters in numerical order, but the revised schedule accurately describes the order of information covered. Click on the photo to enlarge to read the details. (reprinted with permission)
Each day would include group study and discussion as well as some hands-on fabrication training. The first few days were a bit intimidating for me, surrounded by airline pilots and captains of industry and delving into the big picture of building an airplane which can be overwhelming sometimes. It probably didn't help that I've been retired for 16 years now, so putting in a full week of 8 to 9 hour days was a bit grueling for this lazy old dude. But Wally and Neda know how to run these events. Activities were well-paced; we got breaks just at the right times, and Neda provided a great lunch on site every day. The hands-on sessions were very helpful in refocusing my builder's mindset.
There were a few bits of bad news. It would seem that the aircraft engine building community is currently going through some major changes, so it might be awhile before the most desirable source becomes a clear choice. And Van's quickbuild kit lead times are starting to exceed six months, which is discouraging. I've been waiting for so long already. I can't order until June, which means they will be arriving in the middle of winter... not exactly the best time to be unloading huge crates and getting them into the shop to unpack.
There was good news as well. On Thursday Jason Smith with Aerotronics was a guest speaker, and when he was finished I knew I had found my go-to guy for my avionics. He designed a couple of sample panels for my RV-8 on his laptop. Aerotronics are in high demand and I'm sure I'll be looking at a long lead time for my panel... but I know I'll be very happy with what I get and they have excellent customer service.
On Friday we had two other guest speakers: David Weber from Dynon and Rob Hickman from Advanced Flight Systems. Dynon recently acquired Advanced, so they're now on the same team. Garmin had intended to send a rep to the class, but unfortunately they had a scheduling conflict that prevented their attendance. Rob had flown into Sunriver in their company testbed, a beautiful RV-10, so the first thing we did that morning was to go out and look at the systems in that aircraft.
They brought in two sample panels; one from Dynon and one from Advanced that would each power up in display mode. We had lots of fun pushing buttons and touching screens, getting a feel for their tremendous capabilities.
We wound up the class by finishing up the canopy layup practice projects, then sat down for a final question-and-answer session.
Most evenings, I would return to the hotel after class and walk over to the Old Mill District for dinner. There is an excellent selection of restaurants to choose from, and I had some great meals there. On Thursday night we had a group dinner including wives and guest speakers at Greg's Grill, one of my favorites. On Friday night, Wally suggested Deschutes Brewery in downtown Bend. Some of the participants had already departed, so it was a smaller group... but it was another fun night, and a great way to wrap up the entire class experience.
Saturday morning I checked out of my hotel and headed for Pilot Butte, a local landmark. The busy schedule during the week didn't allow much time for sightseeing, so I was looking forward to enjoying the views from this elevated location. The road access was still closed for the season, but the trails were open. It was a steep hike, but the weather was perfect and the views were fantastic. I highlighted the foot trail in red on the trail map. It was easy to spot the Old Mill District with its distinctive smokestacks. The Hampton Inn is in the center of the photo, just to the left of the smokestacks.
Then it was time to head north to Madras to visit the Erickson Aircraft Collection. I was excited to see these aircraft in person, although I was disappointed that the Focke-Wulf FW-190 and the Hispano Buchon C.4K-130 were both in restoration and unavailable for viewing. This is an amazing private collection of aircraft, engines, cars, motorcycles and memorabilia. I took hundreds of photos there (during the entire trip, I took over a thousand photos!) so I'll only share a few here. Well... okay... maybe more than a few. If you're a warbird fan, this is a must-see museum.
After the museum visit I headed back to Portland, checking into the Hampton Inn at PDX. This was another excellent location for an airplane nut such as myself. I chose a room on the fourth floor facing east, so I could see Mt. Hood and watch planes approach and land on runway 28L and approach on 28R. That evening I relaxed, sipped scotch and enjoyed the view.
Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day in Portland. I found an ideal location in the back parking lot where I could see the entire length of Runway 28R and a great view of Mt. Hood. Needless to say, I took several hundred more photos, stared for hours at that beautiful mountain... and enjoyed every minute.
I checked out of my room and stored my luggage with the front desk until it was time to depart. I had wanted to do some more waking, but after hiking up and down Pilot Butte and touring the museum my knees, hips and feet were toast. So I spent some time resting in the lobby and had an early dinner at the Sheraton restaurant next door. The hotel shuttle took me to the terminal, getting through TSA was a breeze, and my nonstop red-eye flight to DTW left early. I was hoping to sleep on the flight, but my aching body made it impossible for me to get comfortable. I did capture a few final photos, including a nice shot of Milwaukee at night.
So now that I've completed another major part of my aviation journey, what's next? Not much... just yet. I'll probably go flying at least once this month. Once June arrives, I'll get the quickbuild kits ordered. I'll be traveling to CA in June; AirVenture in July, and maybe the Sherwin-Williams training program in September. I'll be getting the heater installed in the shop this summer and getting some landscaping done. I'll be buying a motorcycle this summer, so I'll have another fun vehicle again. So... lots to do... as always. I'll keep you posted.
