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Flying is an addiction. From observing others deep in its grasp, it is an all-encompassing obsession that takes a terrible toll on the victim and his (or her) family. Flying is very hard to shake, because it pushes your "adventure", "control", "gadget" buttons, all at the same time, plus it's a lot of fun.
People who fly a lot like to get together with other folks that also have the same obsession, because at some point if you fly, your neighbors realize you're a nut and stop talking to you. These evens typically happen on weekends, and are called "fly-ins". This is where you and your buddies (loosely defined) all fly to some place, have lunch, and talk about airplanes. Some are more formal, and have registrations and agendas, some are just some people flying the same airport for the afternoon. Since most people that attend them are victims of the same addiction, it's a little bit like an addiction support meeting, except that people aren't actually trying to quit.
Over the last couple of years, I've toyed with ideas of different amateur airplanes that I'd like to build or perhaps just own sometime. Some that I've spent some time investigating have been two tandem-wing design families, the Quickie and its bretheren, and the Dragonfly. There was a fly-in at Southern Illinois Airport a couple of weeks ago hosted at Southern Illinois University's aircraft mechanic's school.
The host was Sam Hoskins, an alum of the school. One of Sam's former teachers taught two seminars, one on carbruaturs and one on magnetos (the devices that provide ignition in an airplane engine).
Demonstrating Bernuili's principle in the carbruator seminar
This is a photo outside the hangar. The airplanes you see there are various types of tandem-wings. The large tail sticking out of the hangar is a 737 that students of the school use to practice their techniques.
I'm heading up to Wisconsin tomorrow to pick up my sister. It's going to be a long weekend. If all goes well, I'll return with photos the dorm I lived in the last three years of college.