plane was pretty packed with 2 bikes and all our hiking and camping stuff
I think that's the hike down to the ferry that goes around the lake
once on the ground, we drove to that bridge to see the lake from both sides, you can see the falls aren't that big afterall :)
big runway, hard to miss (I was asked to land long)
there is an air force training base onsite
got lots of pictures from Lassen on the way
and finally landed at Chester/Rogers airport, from where we had a rental car waiting, and we drove back up (1h) to Lassen
Solartown, north of the airport
the rest of the year, Madras has a small racetrack and drag racing strip
when we landed on sunday morning, a few planes were there already, but many more arrived
I was able to negotiate a parking spot closer to the exit for the next morning, and we setup our camp
some amount of vendors at the airport
Nasa had a display room, but hard to get into due to crowds
I packed up our camp and turned the plane around in the direction of 'get the f out of here' :)
I was one plane away from the last taxiway to the runway
Tim, one of my many coworkers who went to the event
In case the sun disappearance brought a big flood, some were ready :)
this lucky guy landed 1mn before the runway closed
that little sun left, is still very bright
without a filter, it was still super bright
almost there, but still way too bright to look with naked eyes
the corona of hot plasma around the sun, only visible during an eclipse
and then, after barely 2mn, it was over
in the 40mn I waited before taking off, the roads were filled up already
jets were the only ones allowed to take off for about 1h after I left
a good reminder that the first aircraft that was heavier than air was French, even if it didn't fly far
of course the wright brothers are mentioned, along with their patents and thirst for money that caused the US to slip back decades while France quickly took over the world of flying machines
one impressive thing on the wright brothers' airplane was the engine: light and efficient
VTOL thrust vectoring prototype
Mirage IV nuclear bomber, the only one outside of France
this one got me excited, the electric lightening, one of the highest flying jet planes outside of the US
a 5000 ton bomb, to penetrate tunnels and caves
GB put effort into big airships too, but they prooved too problematic and dangerous in the end