Remarks: This is the Starcraft-TP conversion for the Maule M-7, replacing the 300hp Lycoming with a 420hp Rolls Royce turboprop. Note the sky and clouds reflecting off of the fabric on the aircraft's tail.
Remarks: Owned and built by one of the judges at this year's Region IX NIFA competition. The evolution is quoted by Lancair as being capable of cruising as high as 330kts, but the owner only stated speeds as high as 200.
Remarks: At Spruce Creek every house has two driveways, and one of them has a yellow stripe down the middle. Note the Grumman Tiger parked in the plane-port in the background.
Remarks: This tiny one-seater could easily be mistaken for a remote control aircraft from a distance. The motor sounds like a weed-whacker, but moves pretty quick once it's up to speed.
Remarks: Inside the surprisingly spacious flight deck of one of FedEx's new 757s. Before being converted to a freighter, this airframe flew passengers with Britannia, Freedom Air, and Thomson Fly.
Remarks: A brand new Citation CJ4 blasts out of Spruce Creek heading to Burlington, VT. Even for the long flight, this aircraft was off the ground after only about 2000 feet of runway.
Remarks: On race day I braved the cold, the sun, and two encounters with the cops for almost eight hours of spotting...and all I came out with was this one shot. Heat distortion sucks.
Remarks: When I first opened up this image I thought that the registration "N140LL" sounded familiar...
Turns out, this aircraft was recently at Delta TechOps and I had helped draft a repair that went on this plane. If you look carefully at the #1 engine pylon, you can see an area which looks lighter than the rest of the pylon. This area (the pylon "trap panel" - a composite fairing panel) had sustained heat damage and needed to be repaired. Since the tooling didn't exist for this specific part, a sheet of Titanium was cut and put in place of the composite panel pending a replacement part. Sure, it weighs 8lbs more now, but I don't think the engine exhaust will be damaging the Titanium any time soon...
