Update
My club had its annual jet meet last weekend, Fresno Jets. In years past, we could get 30, 40, even as many as 70 pilots. Well, the economy has changed, the people driving the event have changed and this year we had 14 or so. Even with that, it was a good time, and a great event to attend as a new turbine dude.
I logged 18 flights during the event. Only two on Thursday and four on Friday due to family obligations, but Saturday made up for it with 12 flights. Burned through a total of 13-14 gallons of kerosene for the weekend, and had a real good time doing it.
The other attendees varied from club members just getting back into jets, to a couple notable names from SoCal that just wanted to fly. One pilot brought two 55 lb Futuras and a large SIAI Marchetti turbo prop, and they would probably be hangar queens if I owned them, this guy flew the proverbial snot out of them. That 30+ lb Marchetti was flopping around like a large foamy, really impressive.
Another notable pilot was a friend of mine’s son. I went to high school with Jim a number of years ago (too many), and he and I used to fly together, build together, and work in a hobby shop together. He brought his 15 year old son and he flew his TamJets F-16 and BVM Bobcat extremely well. Was his first event too, but by the end of the weekend he was very much at ease. We don’t have many kids who fly at our club, so our club members gave this kid a round of applause with every landing (greased them all BTW

).
Below are some pics from the event, some borrowed from my club’s site, some I took. Had a great time, saw some people I hadn’t seen in a while, met some others for the first time. Next month is the Best In the West event, something like 140 pilots are predicted. I’m pre-registered and looking forward to it. If I remember my decent camera, I might take a few pics and post them here. The “big boys” go to this one from all over the world, should be some interesting things to see.
I’m really enjoying the change of place flying this jet. It moves along pretty good when you want to, deceptively so at times. When I have the sky to myself I tend to fly it... well not like a jet. Lots of tight loops, rolls, cubans, whipping it around this way and that. The engine is constantly spooling either up or down, and the plane is never level for long. It’s a lot of fun, but once you get another plane in the air, you have to fly the racetrack pattern, and that is less fun. It’s still fun, but I think I would prefer something a little more speedy for those types of events. Looking at a Bandit maybe, but I have to start saving (not sure THAT will happen!).
One last thought. I have flown with a lot of different types of groups in this hobby. Pattern, giant scale 3D, IMAC, jets, sailplane, helicopter. And I have to say, I was amazed at the friendliness and support from the seasoned jet guys, not to mention the generosity. It was really unexpected and made me feel really good about getting into jets even if I’m just really dipping my toe in. I can’t say that about all the other groups I listed above, some of them were just outright rude at newcomers. But that’s probably a geographical thing. We’ll see how the Best In The West goes... there are a lot of pilots and not a lot of slots to fly, might not be as friendly as this event. But so far I really like what I have seen.
Tom M