I posted this on Facebook but I know lots of people avoid that particular institution (I use it with caution myself) so I thought perhaps some here would be interested in my combination of hobbies this last weekend, a nice flight from KCHO to KTHV, York PA for ECLSTS. This was my first time on the second show day. I ran into Eric, we talked airwire and bluetooth and the pulled pork in the greasy spoon was pretty good (they had applesauce, nice!) Picked up some boxcars and other goodies from USAT, told RLD Robbie he was famous (he is) and got some good deals on plants (nice trees), die cast RVs and rail clamps and couplers and other stuff too. Also tried out my new Stratux ADS-B with my Android tablet in the DC airspace. Very very cool. Great trip.
Thanks for posting this. Nice photos. 
Great pictures of the ECLSTS! Thanks for posting, glad you had a good trip!
OK, Inquiring Minds Want To Know…How do you take those pictures and steer with your knees?
Well, generally it requires very little effort, ‘two fingers’ on the yoke is the rule. In the morning air it was very smooth and if you look on the tablet display I’m not in the DC airspace yet so the sky is pretty deserted up there in NW Virginia.
Trimmed out, in smooth air, the 172 just flies itself- so I can take my hands off the yoke for pictures without too much trouble. Plus I have one of those ‘super zoom’ cams, they only take one hand to shoot.
Now, the way back was a different story, 16kts winds, gusts to 20, it was very bumpy. Would have hit my head on the ceiling without a seat belt kinda turbulence. If you watch the takeoff video from York, you will see that I am blown off the runway centerline as soon as I lift off by a hefty cross wind. But the wind was blowing right down the center of the runway at CHO (more or less) so the landing was not too bad.
My Dad used to fly, and at one point owned a 172 as well. The last annual inspection showed it needed a complete engine rebuild. It was shortly after that, he was no longer flying. My Dad says doing illegal drugs is cheaper than flying. It was always fun to go fly and get a $100 hamburger (or in our case fly up to Friday Harbor and get ice cream).
With that red nose someone needs to sneak in to the airport at 2am and tape either ‘Amtrak’ or ‘Southern Pacific’ to the fuselage, but the stripes look more Amtrak. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Propellor in videos brings this to mind,
Why Do Cameras Do This? (Rolling Shutter Explained) - Smarter Every Day 172
Published on Jun 30, 2017
Yeah, she does need new paint. Not sure about new amtrak stickers, ha. Yes, they are expensive and I’ve cut back on the $100 hamburgers, but I lease the airplane to the local flight school to subsidize my flying costs. The students and renters are pretty good to it, I’ve only had some small gotchas here and there. So I mostly break even and just have to pay for gas for my trips. There is a large effort in keeping it as a business and interfacing with the airport and flight school and inspections and all that, but its a great feeling being part of it.