Sorry I missed everyone. It was a fast in and out on friday afternoon..... sigh.
Ya didn't miss all of us, Bruce... Even though we only talked to ya for about three seconds it seemed like!
I started up at 9:30 AM on Sunday, and got off the ground at 9:50. Controllers were doing a great job. So were most of the pilots, except for those on Citation N800PF who did nothing but ***** and moan about their IFR release taking so long.
They'd put about 10 VFR's out in short order, putting planes on both sides of the runway rather than on the centerline and staggering departures, then they'd send 3 IFR's (heading 225, heading 270, heading 315) before another batch of VFR's.
Did I mention that the controllers did a great job?
It was nice to see the PoA folk at dinner on Saturday and lunch on... What day was that? I dunno.
I think this was my favorite Airventure so far. Second time camping with the plane for the whole week, and I've gotten into the groove a bit WRT knowing what to do, where and when. Still could have used a second week. I didn't make it to the seaplane base this year, and only spent part of a day down in the vintage section. Need to do more of that next year, there are some absolutely beautiful planes there.
Other highlights: Doing an interview in the cockpit of a B-25, meeting a bunch of the other aviation podcasters in person (and suckin' down more than a few margaritas with 'em), Watching the F-22 raptor, seeing a B-17 being escorted by 10 P-51's, the firefighting C130 doing a water drop, the C-17's Saturday flight demo, demo flights in the Evektor SportStar and CubCrafters' Sport Cub, and actually staying dry in the tent on Thursday night.
annnnnnnd to wait for the skys to clear a bit more. 
But what a great piece of equipment. The Albatross has dueling 530s but neither has weather so we had my little 496 on the windscreen. It was kind of a hoot. 
