Rio Linda fly-in 2017

[WaiexN143NM]

Hi all,
Another great annual fly in yesterday in rio linda. 5 waiex/sonex on display. Don Bowen waiex49, had his re-engined viking waiex on display with the cowling off. Watched his departure, good strong climb out and very quiet. Muffler and i believe a 3 blade warp drive prop. A smattering of other homebuilt and factory built planes. Thanks to jeff and eric, and the local pilots at L36 , to always host a good fun event. Ribs and fixin's for lunch. Thanks also to Dave Webber from dynon who flies down in the employee built glasair sportsman. Thanks for the dynon hats dave.
How about a report on the mile high sonex fly in?
Safe flying, regards,

WaiexN143NM
Michael

[Waiex 49]

It was a very nice day at the Rio Linda fly in! This was my first "long" cross country (Rio Linda is a whopping 14 nautical miles from my home base!) after finishing the five hour phase 1 program for the engine change. It was great to connect with old friends and make some new friends as well.

I am pleased to report the Viking Waiex is performing well. The only problems to report are issues with my Dynon fuel flow and fuel quantity indicators. I'll be putting the plane down for post phase 1 maintenance (oil change for engine and gearbox and a very close visual inspection of everything from spinner to tailwheel) and will fix these Dynon issues as well as install a Stratus ADSB receiver to work with ForeFlight on my iPad. The plane looks a bit scruffy so I'll be polishing it up in anticipation of attending my first Oshkosh Air Venture in July.

The Viking engine is the 110 hp version. It is fitted with Viking's "high performance" exhaust which is claimed to give a ten percent boost. Whatever the case on the power boost, I like the way it sounds. The prop is a 62" ground adjustable three blade Warp Drive.

This winter I plan on installing a Dynon autopilot and the tilt back canopy. I guess a homebuilt project is never quite finished!

The BBQ ribs lunch was great!

[builderflyer]

Thanks to all of you who came to share our common interest in the Sonex line of aircraft. Rio Linda is one of the few places left in all of California that can still be called a true aviation "playground" and it was fun to be there, if for only one day a year. My only regret was to not meet you, Michael, a frequent poster on sonexbuilders and a Rio Linda attendee (if I did meet you and didn't realize it, I apologize).

Till next year,

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95 (N6UZ),,,,,,,,,,,Jab3300 #261

[WaiexN143NM]

Hi all, art'
Hopefully next year will have my waiex to rio linda, currently in tucson, will be relocating plane to northern california soon. Ive seen your plane over the years art, but never met you. I think a good thing to do at the fly in before lunch , is to walk the flightline and do a show and tell , and meet and greet. The owner/builder can introduce his/her plane and give a walking tour and short talk about their sonex/waiex/onex/ xenos, maybe even a subsonex!
One aircraft /person i didnt see art, is cliff ball. Hes based at L36. He always had his waiex on display and a good guy to chat to.
Always a fun event , some beautiful restored cars on display. Seems to be always a hot sunny day. The shade trees and cokes are a welcome relief!

WaiexN143NM
Michael

[Jeffrylite]

Thanks to the guys that showed, Art, Don and Alan along with the two local Sonex on the field. Several that promised didn't make it for whatever reason. Special thanks to Don for standing in the sun and answering probably 1000 questions about his Viking. Quite an impressive array of work under the hood. It does sound funny compared to the Jab 3300 roar that we love, but it appears that Don is going to enjoy lots of smooth cruising. As the others have said, the local folks at Rio Linda are 1st rate and also some pretty darn good pilots as they seem to demonstrate every year in the flour bomb drop with a slight crosswind. Although it was missed this year, the RV's precision on spot landing is something to see in conjunction with the pattern displays. There was even a venerable old Piper that has exceeded 21,000 hours, still looking good and making more hours throughout the day. The cars are worth seeing by themselves and as always the ribs are tops. We are already planning for something extra special for next year, our 15th consecutive. Stay tuned and I'll try to post more details here as they arrive.

Jeffry - Jab 3300 still in hibernation.