Last year, I attended my first Hood River Fly In and had a fabulous time. Since then I have become more involved in WAAAM, so this year when the Fly In rolled around on September 7, my dad and I split a volunteer job. The coordinator for the event, Ken Olsson, had mercy on me an assigned us to a job that would allow for lots of photo opportunities; we were to sit and one end of the taxiway and make sure people did not walk on the taxiway. As it turned out, we also ended up doing a lot of other things. We helped push planes to and from their parking spots, and for a brief time I even directed the aircraft traffic.

It was a lot of fun. There is definitely a good feeling associated with this sort of work.

I must admit there were some downsides to the day; it was hot for one. The bigger downside is about an hour into our time there a CF card failed on me and I lost all of my early morning shots. We arrived just as the sun was cresting the ridge to the east of the museum, so they were some images with fantastic light. These are my only two complaints about the day however.

Overall, I’d say I enjoyed the 2013 Fly In even more than 2012. Most of my favorite planes from 2012 returned, plus there were some new ones I dearly loved. For example, there were two Howard DGAs there, two Lockheed Electras, two DeHavilland Beavers, and a Ryan SCW.

Take a closer look at my 2013 Hood River Fly In images, or take a look at my aviation portfolio.