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Flights of fancy airplanes, wings of a pilot's joy

Aviation enthusiasts flock to the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In in Lakeland for the knowledge and the camaraderie.

By MARLON A. WALKER
Published April 5, 2006

LAKELAND - Dalton Nelson is on a mission.

He wants to use a Mazda car engine in the Midget Mustang single-seat sport plane he's building in his garage. So Nelson, 55, came from Houston for Tuesday's start of the annual Sun 'n Fun Fly-In to figure out how to make it work.

In his book bag: water, snack crackers, sunglasses, airplane parts and a cell phone in case a friend finds an answer to his list of questions.

He's been here a dozen times over the past 20 years, so he knows what to look for.

"The knowledge here is unbelieveable," says Nelson, a Continental Airlines pilot. "There's going to be somebody who's been through what you're dealing with."

Every year since 1975, aviation enthusiasts from across the country venture to the weeklong fly-in at the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport and the Florida Air Museum, touted as the start of the aviation year. It draws hundreds of planes and tens of thousands of participants.

There are lectures and forums on things such as the future of aviation, cleaning your plane like a pro and preventing airframe corrosion. On Thursday, there's a 20th anniversary reunion of those involved in Voyager, the first plane to fly nonstop and unrefueled around the world. And then there's the daily air show, which draws most of the spectators.

Dave Piper, who supervises the Ultralight division of the event, says people return every year for the camaraderie.

"It's family," he says as he caught up with someone he sees only at the fly-in.

Katy Clements, who has been volunteering for the event for 16 years, agrees.

"It's like a humongous family," she says. "You see people and it's like you saw them yesterday. It's like you've never left."

While talking with engine expert Tracy Crooks of the North Florida community of Bell, Nelson has an "ah-ha" moment. "If I don't plug up this particular hole, my engine's gonna blow up," he says. It's something he would not have known about until it was too late.

"There are people here who have solved the problem and people staring at the same problem you're dealing with," he says, thinking ahead to the hands-on training he'll be getting before he and his friends leave Thursday. "Each of them have a piece of the puzzle. And you get to see it as they explain it."

--Marlon A. Walker can be reached at 727 893-8737 or mwalker@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 5, 2006, 06:18:29]