grumman-duck-in-flightWe hosted our second Splash-In event as part of the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In on Thursday, April 23rd.  It was a great success!  Last year we had 85 seaplanes and this year we had 101!  The weather was perfect and I got a chance to fly the Grumman Duck for everyone.  We are beginning to plan and promote our own Seaplane Fly-In during the last weekend of September of this year so keep your eyes peeled for more information.  With our great shoreline and seaplane ramp, we have the potential to create one of the premier Seaplane Fly-In’s in the world!

ford-tri-motor-with-hong-my-and-dan-cherryOf course, during the Fly-In I get to meet many new and old friends.  One of the more interesting new ones were Lt. Hong My and Dan Cherry.  The first time they met was in the skies over Hanoi, Vietnam where Dan Cherry flying an F-4 Phantom shot down Hong My in his Mig 21.  They got reacquainted 37 years later and have since become friends, visiting each other homes and doing special events.  They happened to be over at the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In and I was asked to fly them over and give them a tour of Fantasy of Flight.  I picked them up in my Ford Tri-Motor and gave them both the opportunity to try their hand at flying it.  It was very interesting to say the least because you hardly use the rudder in a jet except to steer on the ground and the Ford is very much a rudder airplane.  I think it was a bit of a shock to both of them to watch the slip ball swing from side to side as they tried to wrestle the Ford around the sky.  After landing, I gave them a grand tour of our facility!

b-25-with-kermit-and-steve-brownAnother person that came by for a visit was an old acquaintance but new Head of the CAF (now Commemorative Air Force).  I gave him a tour of Fantasy of Flight and explained my Vision as to where we were headed.  He seemed deeply influenced by some of the things I was proposing as well as some of the things we were currently doing.  I let him sit in the cockpit of the Polikarpov Po-2 while he listened to the Audio Experience about the Night Witches.  When we climbed out of the cockpit he said, “I HAVE  to play this to my Board of Directors . . . this is exactly what they need to hear!”  The next day he brought by several of his staff to show them the facility and listen to some of the Audio Experiences.  Not a bad testimonial!

Kermit

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I recently got a chance to fly our Polikarpov Po-2!  It was a Russian training plane designed as a primary trainer and has the distinction of having the longest production run in history from 1928 to 1959 with over 40,000 being built!  During the Great Patriotic War (WWII) the Russians employed a squadron of women operating these at night to harass the enemy by dropping bombs and grenades to keep them from sleeping.  They earned the nickname by their enemy as the “Nachthexen” or the “Night Witches.” 

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Engine Start!

The Aircraft Department had been working on it for some time and the weather was nice a couple of days ago so I decided to take it out and taxi around to get used to it.  It has no brakes and uses a steerable tail skid to slow it down and steer it somewhat on our grass runways.  It has an unusual feature of soloing from the front cockpit, which is different from most biplanes of the period.

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It is powered by a five-cylinder Shvetsov engine with 115hp and has a very distinctive sound while flying.  I hope to put some time on the airplane in the near future as we have a five-hour FAA restriction to fly off locally before I can take up any passengers. This is one of the aircraft featured in the Audio Tour we offer as part of the Fantasy of Flight attraction price, although we only have twenty Audio Wands so it’s first come, first serve.  We also sell the Audio Experience CD in the gift shop as well as at http://www.audioexperiencecd.com.

It’s amazing how something sitting in a static museum can take on a completely different life and energy when you get the engine running and take it to the skies.  Fantasy of Flight is the only aviation facility in the world that currently flies something every day, weather permitting!  While the Po-2 requires a bit of manpower to get it out to the grass, get it started, and then put away, I hope to have the opportunity to fly it during special events and let everyone see and hear this amazing piece of history putt-putt-putting around the sky!

Kermit

I just got back from Alaska and the Iditerod Dog Sled Race.  When I was Heli-skiing with Sean Tucker the week before he got a call from a corporate friend that had some last minute cancellations and got us an invite!  We were wined and dined with great food and great friends and had a great time!

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The first day we got to see the start of the race in downtown Anchorage and I bumped in to Gov. Sarah Palin!  When she was campaigning in Florida she made a campaign stop at Fantasy of Flight compliments of the Republican Party.  I happened to autograph a Gee Bee Book for her son Trig and gave it to one of her helpers to pass on.  After she officially started the Iditerod Race by cutting the ribbon she happened to walk towards me holding a baby.  I asked if it was Trig and she thanked me for the book and introduced me to her husband, who likes to fly.

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Later our group got out to a giant glacier by helicopter.  It’s ice flow ended at a frozen lake at about 700 feet above sea level and continued up to about 6000 feet!  On the flight out, Sean and I couldn’t help but notice all the great Heli-ski opportunities!  We landed on the lake at the end of the glacier and got to explore some ice caves.  It was the first time I had ever been to Alaska and it was certainly the first time I ever had champagne on ice!

Kermit the Musher!

Kermit the Musher!

The next day we jumped into some airplanes on skis and flew out to a great lodge located at the third checkpoint on the 1150 mile race.  The next morning the first racers began to come through to stop to feed their dogs, have them checked, rest up, and head out.  By the end of the day all of the 60+ racers and come and gone and during the day I got a chance to do some snowmobiling as well as trying my hand at being a Musher with a team of eight dogs!  It was great fun but I learned not to try it after the dogs had eaten!

Kermit

blog-shot-heli-ski-11I just got back from my annual Heli-ski trip in Canada.  I’ve been doing this for almost twenty years now and we just had a great week skiing at the Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) Galena lodge.

For some reason when you say Heli-skiing, people somehow think you jump out of a Helicopter and ski down the mountain.  In actuality we just land on top of a peak somewhere with a Guide that knows the mountain using the Helicopter as our ski lift.

CMH has a number of lodges in the Canadian Rockies west of Calgary that cater to our addiction and it’s nothing short of heaven when the snow is great.  With about 25 square miles of ski terrain per lodge, we start with a 5-7 hour bus ride out of Calgary and are then flown in to the lodge by helicopter out in the middle of the Canadian Wilderness.  Once there, we retrain in the use of avalanche beepers, which every one wears, and helicopter safety.  With between 3-4 groups of 11 skiers per lodge, we get to meet, ski, and party with a lot of interesting people from all around the world.

blog-heli-shot-2-downsizedI got my good friend, Sean Tucker, hooked on this many years ago and he has been my ski partner for almost ten years.  Sean is arguably the top male sole airshow performer on the circuit and is currently sponsored by Oracle.

CMH keeps track of how many vertical feet you ski and once you attain “one million vertical feet of skiing” they give you a “free” ski suit!  Of course, I don’t even what to think about what that “free suit” cost me!  I am currently working on my “three million foot suit” and Sean is working on his “two million foot suit.”

Skiing the terrain is nothing short of unbelievable and consists of High Alpine skiing, which is above the tree-line, and tree skiing, which is through the trees on the lower parts of the mountains.  The scenery while Alpine skiing is breath-taking and I believe tree skiing is “the ultimate video game,” as you never know what’s coming around the corner.  Every run is basically fresh powder, every run is different, and it can be demanding at times.

blog-ski-shot-kermit-sean-3I’ve included a couple of shots to give you the feel of this fascinating sport, including a couple with Sean and I sitting on top of the world about ready to become “one with the mountain!”

Kermit

skip1I had the pleasure to show Skip Atwater and his wife Fay around Fantasy of Flight recently.  Skip was the head of the Top Secret Remote Viewing  called Star Gate. It was a Black Project he ran from 1977 through 1988 and was a psychic espionage program run by the US government to counteract the program the Russians had.  Remote Viewing was used as part of our intelligence gathering efforts and became a useful tool once they understood how it worked and developed it.

After retiring from the Army, Skip was asked by the Monroe Institute to teach a program on Remote Viewing which he accepted.  Bob Monroe began the Institute and wrote the first book on out-of-body experiences in the early 1970’s called Adventures Beyond the Body and popularized the acronym OBE.

I had always been fascinated with the worlds around us we don’t see and after several years of trying began to have out-of-body experiences in my early twenties.  I had the chance to attend all ten main Monroe Institute Programs over the last couple years and Skip was my instructor for the Remote Viewing Program.  It was fascinating to say the least.  Skip is currently President of the Monroe Institute and you can learn more about it at http://www.monroeinstitute.org.

I have been working diligently on a book of my Monroe experiences called The Journey Never Ends and hope to get it printed some time later this year.  It describes an amazing journey into the exploration of consciousness and Other Realities that was nothing short of phenomenal!  I began recording my experiences after the second Program while they were actually happening and intend to have a website with free downloads of selected experiences to help the readers sense what I was experiencing at the time.  This should enhance the book tremendously as readers will begin to hear my voice as the words come off the pages.  Anyone reading the book will never look at Reality the same again!

Skip was fascinated with my concept for Orlampa and what I am beginning to create.  During my Vision Tour he got a chance to listen to the Spitfire Audio Experience while actually sitting in the cockpit.  When it was over and I opened the cockpit door, he looked over at me and said, “I get it!” Skip and I also got a chance to talk about how my book might help the Monroe Institute cause.  He was very kind and willing to review my notes for his program for any technical details I might have misunderstood about the Remote Viewing material.  To polish off his visit I gave him a ride in the P-51D Mustang!

Kermit

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