Last week after our wedding and a short stay in Portland, Annette and I took a brief honeymoon trip to San Luis Obispo, California, to visit new friend Kevin Eldredge.

You might already know of Kevin from his Reno racer, Relentless NXT. Kevin had a close call at this year's race, which unfortunately denied him the opportunity to set a new record in his class. We talked a little bit about the risks of air racing and the recent death of top aerobatic pilot Renaud Ecalle.

During the visit Annette and I were fortunate to get a ride in Kevin's Sbach 342. This plane has more going for it than great looks! Shortly after takeoff we were doing over 190 knots in a shallow climb toward the coast. While I didn't get a chance to do much more than garden variety acro, the increase in performance over my Yak-54, Russian Thunder, was evident. We climbed through each aerobatic maneuver with ease. The visibility through the one piece canopy is outstanding. My Yak rides along fairly nose-high and I don't get a chance to see what is in front of me very well. I enjoyed being able to push the nose down in the Sbach, cruising along at over 200 mph, with great visibility in front of the aircraft.

It clearly is a real winner on the ground as well. The all carbon fiber construction allowed Xtremeair's Philipp Steinbach, the designer, to create a very curvy airplane. The shape is organic, even voluptuous, when compared to other aerobatic aircraft. Even so, it disassembles easily...Continue Reading

Yesterday Annette and I took our vows in front of close friends and family. It was a very special ceremony that was perfect to the last detail.

Many of you already know my new wife Annette from our joint attendance at various fly-ins and trade shows. What you may not know is that she is an avid R/C-er and a full scale aerobatics hopeful as well. I'm not sure there are many women as lovable as Annette who would warmly accept a new transmitter as a wedding present, but I present to you these photos as proof! Yes, that's her actually kissing her new Futaba 8FG 8-channel radio.

Jim T. Graham and SleepyC (Steve Cinch) from FlyingGiants came up last week and I managed to talk them into riding in Russian Thunder with me. I'm sure they'll blog about it separately so I'll simply say that I don't think they'll forget the experience any time soon!

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