Jeff Scott wrote: "You guys that hung out at home or flew commercial and left your KRs sitting in the hangar are really missing out on some great experiences. "
I'm with you brother. You know (although some may not) my excuse...a connecting rod stuck through the top of my VW engine case. I was really looking forward to the trip...more like five "regular" trips spread over two days, but it'll have to wait until the next "out-west" Gathering. I did a little figuring a few months ago, and the fuel cost alone was going to be around $1500, which is about double what the airline ticket cost me a month in advance. I'd always thought of airliners as aluminum tube time machines, but "sewer pipes with wings" comes a lot closer! I worked on the Gathering photos some last night (something like 800 of them), and it's going to take some time to sift through them for the good ones and title them all. It's not a trivial effort, but I hope to knock it out this weekend. I will answer the question of "who won what" though. Jeff Scott won Best Firewall Forward and Greatest Distance Flown, as well as the coveted People's Choice award, while Kim Neibauer won Best Paint, Best Interior and Panel, and Best Judged. Kim's plane is newly minted, so he definitely had an advantage, and kudos for him for flying out from Colorado with so few hours under his belt. Roger Bulla's plane was a close third in many respects, but maybe next time. I do applaud Dan and John for running a great Gathering, and I welcomed the change of venue. As for N891JF, I've ordered just about everything it's going to take to "rebuild" it, although it will essentially be an entirely new engine, except the sheet metal that goes under the cylinders... Mark Langford, Harvest, AL ML "at" N56ML.com www.N56ML.com
