Factory Visit

What better way to spend your first day of retirement than to take a 750 mile drive to fly an airplane you always thought about. That's just what Gina and I did as we went to Sebring Florida to check out the Air-Cam at Lockwood Aviation. We were greeted by Aircam president George Weber and he showed us around the shop. The AirCam has always fascinated me and especially since I am a former Breezy flyer, I really miss the type of open air flying you get with a tandem pusher. The Aircam is somewhat more civilized than the Breezy with full lower enclosure provided by the aluminum fuselage and a protective windshield. It is a two passenger airplane with the safety benefit of two 100 hp Rotax engines.

After the tour we met with the designer Phil Lockwood. Phil and I talked about our aviation backgrounds and then got down to the reason for the trip, the test flight. Phil let me fly from the front seat so I could get the full flavor of the experience. It was blowing quite hard that morning, 15-20 knots but right down rwy 36. He said, "Let me show you a short field takeoff.". We rolled maybe 30 feet and then whoosh! We were off and climbing at a near vertical angle. This was just what I was looking for. A 200 hp big slow airplane with great STOL performance. We went out and did stalls and some single engine demos. The Aircam handles it all easily. It will take off with one engine out at gross, even on floats. We then went down low to look at the lakes and waterfowl. At 50 ft. I even saw one gator sleeping in the shallow waters. We headed back and Phil let me land it. Not too bad for the first time. Gina went next and loved her flight too. Phil could get the plane to stop in the air but could not quite get it to back up. A few goodbyes and a couple of Aircam visors later and we headed home.

There may be a big crate to open at Christmas!!