Condor Annual Picnic 2008

I took my two year old son Charlie up to Zeli to check out our club's annual corn roast/picnic shindig. I wasn't sure what to expect since I had taken him to the airport for a "warm up" about a month ago so he could just look at the airplanes, maybe sit in one, he ended up not even wanting to come within 30 feet of an airplane. So, this being his second trip to the airport, I was just hoping for the best.

I has also invited a good friend, Chris, who I'm hoping will get the aviation bug to come up the picnic and see what Condor had to offer. The picnic was in full swing when Charlie and I arrived with spot landing and flour drops galore. Charlie was immediately noticing all of the airplanes buzzing around and he was very excited about it. It could have been because they were taxing, flying low, and generally very visible.

I saw my AOPA mentor, Todd, and chatted with him about the trials of airplane ownership and then got a chance to talk for a bit with my fellow formed "classmate" Rod with his family (congrats on the new private pilot ticket Rod!). Also, a shout out to Ben, great to meet you in person today!

Chris showed up about 45 minutes later and he got a chance to take a look at some of the club's airplane, talk with Todd and Rod, as well as Mike. He also got the wonderful opportunity to help me chase Charlie, who at this point was running pretty much unchecked around the tarmac. I wanted to get Chris up in the air, and with the generous help of Rod et al to watch Charlie for 20 minutes (OK, 1/2 hour) I was able to take Chris up for a short flight over the lake in 549.

After landing, when I pulled up 549 to the fuel pumps, I could see Charlie charging across the grass, calling "Daddy", and pushing Rod's two year old in his stroller... The highlight of the day for me was when I was just putting the fuel hose back and Charlie said to me "I ride apane". I couldn't believe he actually wanted to get into the airplane, but Chris and I got back in, I put Charlie on my lap and fired it up. Amazingly, he was totally fine and "drove" us back to the hanger with a huge smile on his face. Simply awesome.