2006 EAA Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-in (MERFI) Report and Photos
PlanePlaces.com Correspondant Larry Z filed the following report and photos on his attendance at MERFI 2006 held at the Marion Municipal Airport (KMRT) in central Ohio:
Wow, what a couple of years and a change of leadership can do. I just came back from the annual MERFI (Mid-Eastern Regional Fly-in) in Marion Ohio. In years past I’ve always been a little disappointed in the communications and services once you’re on the ground there. This year was just a wonderful experience.
I like to fly into Marion on the Friday evening preceding the fly-in and camp. This year I landed our CH-701 and taxied in after a nice flight with a 15 knot tail wind from Piqua Ohio. It was a hazy but pretty evening to fly along at 1200 feet AGL and watch the world go by.
I picked a spot on the show line to park that would be easy to leave from on Saturday about noon as I had other commitments later that day. As soon as I was parked two Gators with three nice people were there to help me. I tied down and one of them was nice enough to drive me over to the camping area with all my stuff. She even offered me a pop out of their cooler. What a nice change from the lack of greeting or information I’d experienced in prior years.
I had a nice evening talking with other early arrivals and then a nice night of sleep broken only a couple of times by trains blowing their horn for the close by railroad crossing. I like the camping area which is close to the runway.
On Saturday morning its fun to just sit in the camp area and watch the inbound planes landing. Unfortunately this Saturday morning it was very hazy with about ¾ mile visibility and clear skies. It was 10 AM or so before airplanes could really start arriving.
Meanwhile I headed up to the hangar where they were cooking the standard airport pancake, eggs and sausage breakfast. But I’ll tell you what! That was the best airport breakfast I’ve ever had.
The eggs were great, the sausage was about the best I could ever remember and the pancakes were a blend, kind of a wheat pancake that I found delicious. And they had hot chocolate. Again, good visiting with other pilots as I enjoyed the hot food. Now I was feeling great.
I looked through the vendor tents and the Jim Bede display then headed out to the flight line. By now airplanes were starting to arrive. The dew was about off my camping gear so I packed it up and loaded the 701. Now I just sat under the wing and talked to people that walked by. The question is always, how does that nose gear retract? If I got five dollars for every answer my son and I have answered on that the 701 could have been paid for that way!
Noon came too soon and after a final walk among the airplanes I headed home, now with a slight head wind. It was another nice flight. Later Saturday afternoon the Thunderstorms hit Piqua so I hope the rest of the weekend went well for those at MERFI. After the enjoyable time I had this year maybe I’ll stay for the weekend next year.
Be sure to check out the rest of Larry’s MERFI photos in our online gallery.