We left Jimmy and Lulu behind at 40J and flew south (see SNF Leg 1 post), maneuvering  just east of the Tampa class bravo per the NOTAM.  About 60 miles north of Lakeland, the Zaon PCAS started talking to us… “TRAFFIC” she blared.  As expected, the airspace is getting crowded with other planes headed to the same place we were and several headed north from KLAL.  The good news was that everyone seamed to be at the proper altitudes and doing what they were supposed to be doing.  We tuned the approach frequency and descended to the approach altitude and started trying to get in the “congo line”.  Our first attempt to get in line put us behind a Piper Cub at about 75 knots that didn’t seem to be headed in the correct direction.  This was a little slow for us, so we looped around and got back in line, this time behind a nice twin at a 100 knots… perfect!  Then we hear the magic words: “Red and white RV over the power plant, rock your wings… looks good, follow the twin to 27R and welcome to Sun-N-Fun”.

Homebuilt Camping - The Place to be!

We have arrived… once on the ground, we taxi’d to homebuilt camping and began the process of unloading and setting up the tent.  This area is away from the other camping areas and we were worried about where the showers were and other amenities, then we met Mary Jane!  Mary Jane was like the den mother to the most awesome group of volunteers anyone could ask for.  We were treated like royalty; there was cold water, sandwiches, a nice large tent for shelter and an invite for dinner every night!  We even had a group of pilot musicians on Saturday night come entertain us.  Homebuilt camping is the place to be!

Click here to see our SNF photos…

The show… while not as big as Airventure, SNF had plenty to offer rabid aviation nuts like us. Most of the aerobatic performances we have seen dozens of times and they do get a little boring, but I never get tired of seeing the Thunderbirds turn tax payer purchased Jet A into noise… it just never gets old to me.  The night airshow was beautiful as usual and we were able to take it in from the comfort of our chairs at the tent.  The vendor booths seemed to be busy with lots of folks standing around anything with an iPad attached to it or the letters ADS-B associated with it.

Friends from the Raymond Airport

Overall SNF was great, the weather was perfect, only a few passing showers, the cool temperatures at night made it easy to sleep and the new friendships we made will bring us back again.  I have already heard from our tent neighbors, Chuck from Oregon, who flew down with his friend Ron in a beautiful Lancair (and we thought we had a long cross country).  We also ran into old friends from Mississippi who managed to slum their way down in a King Air for the day on Thursday. Once again, our many thanks go out to Mary Jane and crew for their help and hospitality and we hope to see you all again next year.

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