014 – On the second day of Sun ‘n Fun, the RPA gave to me…

Sun ‘n Fun 2018 officially began on Tuesday, April 10, but that coincided with the arrival of a cold front that brought heavy rain, on and off, all day. A few arrivals managed to sneak in but the air show was canceled. Fortunately, the 11^th dawned clear and cool, and flying began in earnest. The hours before the actual air show began were punctuated by arrivals by the dozens, including a large contingent of RPA aircraft, primarily from the Southeast Region.

I was a volunteer photographer for Sun ‘n Fun, and was standing on Runway 5/23, which gave me an excellent vantage point for watching arrivals coming off of Runway 09. One by one, the RPA planes came taxiing by.

Rich Langer

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Jim “Pappy” Goolsby, Flight Lead

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Mike “Pod” Foster

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Ahmed “Med” Ragheb

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Jon “Saber” Blake, Southeast Region Director, RPA

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I was on the 32’ tower reserved for authorized Sun ‘n Fun photographers, and had a great view of the RPA planes taxying out to the runway

Pappy

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Matt

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Rich “Mongoose” Hess

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Hank “Hoot” Gibson

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Bill “Pirate” Mills

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Jimmy Burke in his Yak-52TW

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Rich “Smiley” Langer

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The tower was a great spot to view the element takeoffs

(L-R) Saber, Matt, and Pappy

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Med, in the tan Nanchang, and Mongoose

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(L-R) Pod, Pirate, and Hoot

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Once airborne, the RPA pilots performed several fly-bys

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The RPA presented a painting of a Nanchang CJ-6 to EAA Warbirds of America.

(L-R) Jon “Saber” Blake, Southeast Regional Director of the RPA; Jim “Zack” Olzacki, President FL Warbirds, EAA Warbird Squadron 24; Bill Fischer, Warbirds Executive Director; Ahmed “Med” Ragheb; and Hank “Hoot” Gibson, RPA Secretary.

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Med’s tan camo CJ-6 has been adorned with a shark’s mouth for years. Over the winter, Saber decided that his green ‘Chang was ready for a bit of a facelift. Sun ‘n Fun was the first public unveiling of Saber’s new look, and it seemed natural to go up for some air-to-air photos of the pair of sharks.