I GOT TO FLY THE RNF!!! (Susan Theodorelos)

Feb 2011 I GOT TO FLY THE RNF!!! (Susan Theodorelos)

Susan Theodorelos wrote up a fun little story about her Saturday aviation adventures. Thanks for sharing with us Susan. Sure was fun finally bumping into you and ALL your friends!  Judy

Got up yesterday morning…. met Brad down at the airport and hopped in the Grumman (yeah… I know…) and flew up to Urbana for breakfast to meet Daun and Kathy (visiting from Canada, eh?) who had already flown up in the Champ.

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Gorgeous day to fly… amazing… with a radio you can fly over places I normally don’t get to go with the Waco RNF….

National Museum of the United States Air Force (Old Patterson Field)

About 10 miles out of Urbana I get a text message.. my dear friend Judy and her husband Boyd are there as well in their Champ!

(L-R) Judy Birchler, Kathy Boyko, Susan Theodorelos

We settle in for a nice breakfast and look up to see a beautiful 170 taxi in… hmmm… looks really familiar! Seems great minds think alike as George Wilford and his son Brian had the same idea… $100.00 pancakes!

Had a nice flight home… zipping past the Champ … and then decided to try and finish the annual on the RNF. The weather was cooperating… we pulled the old girl out to warm up the engine before the compression check…

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Ready for the first start of the season….

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Ahhhh…. the smell of mineral oil in the afternoon! Compression went swimmingly with all cylinders above 74! Me likey! We had to fix the fuel shut off — it had been leaking…. got that accomplished. The sun was starting to sink as we finished buttoning her back up …. I just couldn’t stand it… so I jumped in, Andy propped her and we were off…

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Curing my altitude deprivation sickness….

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Complete with escorts Andy and Brad in the Champ and Kathy and Daun in the 172.

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Gorgeous night to fly….

It is amazing how 20 minutes in your plane can put the world back into perspective…. but with the sun just about to dip below the horizon… it was time to land…

Getting the last little bit of sun before landing...

It was a GREAT day  As the rain, sleet and thunderstorms move in this morning… I might just survive until the next warm, sunny day!

Susan Theodorelos

WacoRNF