The leaves are turning color and the temperatures are falling.  It's that time of year again... time to tuck in the Stearman for the winter, time to think about doing annuals, and time to catch up on unfinished projects.  But not quite yet.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll get a couple more gorgeous flying days before Old Man Winter stops by to visit. 

This past weekend started off with a Stearman charity flight (Jim of Dubuque had won the flight in a silent auction to benefit the Ronald McDonald house).  It was fun, Jim and his wife were great, and doing these rides is something we really enjoy. 

Just a few minutes back on the ground, our friends Dan & Diane Sokolowski stopped by for a visit on their way to a wedding.  They are also both pilots and have a Citabria based out of Crete NE.  It's been years since Dan has been up in a T6, so Brian and Dan went for a quick flight before the winds picked up and cancelled flying opportunities for the remainder of the day.  

The rest of the weekend entailed sorting tiny pieces of av hardware (nuts, bolts, and some other things of which I had no clue but Brian says are important) and just hanging out in our cozy cabin on the airport.  Looking back, it was another perfect weekend of friends, flying, and fun. 

On Saturday we flew to Manchester (C27) to visit my family.  On the way over, a jet airliner flew directly overhead climbing out of Cedar Rapids.  Dang - I missed the perfect photo op!  Maybe next time...
As for Sunday, it was too windy to fly, so we spent the afternoon on our armanent display in the hangar.  We are proud to announce that the hangar is now protected by Sgt. Rock and his 30 cal.  

Things got a little wild at Jim's RV party when Jeff Beckley started up his lightweight RC "vapor" airplane and began to buzz around our heads, narrowly missing some and downright plowing into others.  With fun like that, Brian decided he had to get one of those for himself.  So off to Hobby Haven he went and showed up with a $120 toy that weighs a mighty .4 oz... for its weight, it cost more than gold, but I guess that's normal compared to the cost of anything in the world of aviation.  Well, it seems to be worth it: Brian has been flying it around our hangar a lot and so far has landed it on the wing of the Pitts, crashed into the Flybaby's prop (twice), flew through the Stearman's flying wires, and just about decapitated (and really ticked off) the local praying mantis.