Wingin' it: Dozens of aircraft on display at Land of Enchantment Fly-In

Sep. 19—Ron Harmon flies his Christen Eagle II, a sporty biplane, several times a week. Presumably, he usually flies it in a conventional manner, looking up through the cockpit at sky and clouds.

But he doesn't have to do it that way.

"It will fly upside down as long as it will right side up," he said. "It's an unlimited aerobatic plane."

David Otero describes Harmon's biplane in a different way.

"It's a handful," he said. "Ron is being modest. You have to be a tap dancer to fly that plane."

Harmon is also handy with the praise.

"Dave's an accomplished aerobatic pilot himself," he said. "He used to fly Pitts Specials."

Harmon and Otero were talking Tuesday at Double Eagle II Airport on Albuquerque's West Side. Both are members of Albuquerque Chapter 179 of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

And both men — and their planes — will take part in EAA Chapter 179's annual Land of Enchantment Fly-In Saturday at Double Eagle II.

Thirty to 40 aircraft — amateur-built, antique, contemporary, warplanes — will be on display. All of them right side up.

SmokingFounded in 1953, the Experimental Aircraft Association is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts, many of whom build the planes they fly.

Otero, 64, did once fly Pitts S-1s, light aerobatic biplanes that could tap dance or tango in the sky as well as or better than any aircraft.

Now, however, he flies a Van's RV-7, a kit plane he built himself. It has a 25-foot wingspan and a 200-horsepower engine that can push the airplane up to 200 mph, although Otero usually keeps it reined in to 180 mph.

"I'm told it has a ceiling of 24,000 feet, but I've only had it up to 13,000 feet," Otero said. "I don't want to have to carry oxygen."

Otero grew up in Albuquerque and attended Valley High School. It took him 1,400 hours, just shy of two years, to build the RV-7. He started working on it in a garage in a suburb of Chicago, where he and his wife were living at the time, and finished up in a hangar at Double Eagle II after returning to Albuquerque in the summer of 2015.

"I can loop it, roll it, spin it," he said. "It's a lot more fun than I should have."

Otero now belongs to the Chile Flight, an Albuquerque formation-flying team that uses amateur-built aircraft.

Chile Flight will perform at Saturday's Fly-In, passing over the crowd at 1,000 feet during the playing of the national anthem at about 8 a.m.

Otero said Chile Flight will be back in the air at about 10 a.m. to do formation flying. He said the planes will be trailing smoke.

"It's all done with smoke," he said.

Time machineEAA Chapter 179 is 60 years old and has 110 members.

"Not all our members are pilots," said Lance Hunter, the chapter's vice president. Some just like to come out and help with the planes.

"Our main goal is to introduce young people to aviation."

Exhibitors at the Fly-In will offer information about aviation education and aviation careers such as air medical support, aviation mechanics, air traffic controllers and more.

There will be a Youth Aviators Center that will offer engaging ways to learn about flying and a Builders' Corner in which airplane-construction techniques, such as riveting and fabric covering, will be demonstrated.

Hunter, 59, learned to fly later in life. He was in his mid-40s when he started training at Bode Aviation Services at Double Eagle II.

"My kids had gotten older and I wanted a new challenge," he said.

Hunter's plane is a Cirrus SR22. It's a manufactured plane. He did not build it himself.

"But since I've had it, I've repainted it, redid the interior and redid the avionics." The plane is equipped with six computers and, most remarkably, a parachute that will safely lower the plane to the ground if the pilot is incapacitated.

Hunter explained that a passenger can pull a handle that will activate an electronic detonation that launches a solid-fuel rocket out of the rear of the plane. The rocket deploys the parachute.

The plane has a 38 1/2 -foot wingspan and a 310-horsepower engine. It has a cruising speed of 200 mph.

"I consider it a time machine," Hunter said. "It saves me driving time when I want to visit family. I can be in central Oklahoma in two hours and in Arkansas in four or five hours, depending on the wind."

But he said flying is about more than saving time; it's also about peace of mind.

"It allows you to leave your worries on the ground," he said. "You are at one with the machine. You are not worried about what's for dinner or anything else except being in that plane."