My fiancé and I (Brian and I got engaged a few months ago) were looking forward to doing nothing all weekend, but our respective bosses asked us if we’d like to attend Wings Over Willamette on Saturday for some pancakes and labor and we eagerly agreed—not only is it hard to pass up on a free airplane ride, but we love a good fly-in.
The Van’s crew and I were wheels up around 7:00 A.M. Brian snagged the company RV-14 and off we went. The Advanced 5600 announced “Altitude!” to which Brian responded, “It’s too early for this, Mom,” before leveling off for our 15 minute flight from Aurora to Independence. When we arrived we were asked to park at “Show Center” and everyone attending the event got an EAA lanyard and name tag. It felt like we were back in Oshkosh, WI.
The Chapter offered meal tickets for not only breakfast, but for a hamburger lunch and dinner as well. They had a Vegetarian and Vegan option upon request and there was a cash bar that opened just before dinner.
There was a pretty good sized swap meet in one of the hangars. Used tools, airplane T-shirts and framed photos and paintings were available. Independence is an Airpark so it was easy for residents to bring stuff over.
Aside from the Van’s forum, where Brian, Axel Alvarez and Rian Johnson presented a lot of the same RV-15 updates they talked about at AirVenture, other presentations included Understanding Glass Cockpits by Garmin, a Youth Foamy Build Workshop that offered hands-on model building and a presentation on the FMX-4 Project by KITPLANES columnist, Barnaby Wainfan.
Sunday activities include a pancake breakfast, hamburger lunch and STOL competition followed by award ceremony. Here are some of the homebuilt airplanes I saw:
