We talked to the owner, Craig Payne, who told us we could get our own YAK for less than $100,000. And if we wanted it in blue, he knew how we could get one of those.
Late start today out of South Bend (the co-pilot was up late last night getting that first set of pictures up on the Web). Finally off at 10 am, directly over the golden dome of Notre Dame. The weather again was hazy, however, so no pictures in the air.
We flew due west out of South Bend, around the southern portion of Lake Michigan, past the steel mills at Gary, Indiana, and then on to Joliet. Our goal was to stay clear of the busy airspace near Chicago. Check out the map.
At Joliet, we turned northwest for what should have been a symbolic milestone (first turn to the north on a trip to Alaska) -- but we both failed to notice it. The haze got thicker, and we flew lower, till we were skimming along at 1800 feet (which is about 1000 feet above the ground). That turns out to be a great altitude to view the farms of central Illinois, but a lousy altitude for avoiding TV and radio towers that dot the countryside.
Just south of Rockford, Ill, the haze finally won. We considered filing an IFR (instrument flight rules, not I Follow Roads) flight plan, since the reports were for much better conditions about 70 miles up ahead. But a quick check of the 25 pound chart bag revealed everything except IFR charts. Since this was planned to be a VFR (visual flight rules) trip anyway, we turned back, landed in Aurora, Illinois, and considered our options.
We had almost made it to the airport exit when the Chief Pilot spotted ........a YAK, newly arrived from China.
We talked to the owner, Craig Payne, who told us we could get our own YAK for less than $100,000. And if we wanted it in blue, he knew how we could get one of those.
We were surprised to learn these planes were manufactured up until 1995 as primary and advanced trainers for the Chinese airforce. They were right at home in Aurora, however, which hosts a number of old warbirds.
We continued our drive around the Aurora airport, and came across a Czech jet trainer that belonged to an area woman who was a fan of Soviet bloc trainers. What a hobby...
Finally we were off to Chicago. East to the loop, past the famous water tower on Michigan Drive..(picture above -- if you know why it's famous, tell me, and I'll note it here. Chief Pilot assured me it was, but was vague on details)...
....north to Evanston, then southwest to O'Hare. Since we couldn't fly that day, and didn't have the nerve to fly to O'Hare even if we could, we did the next best thing. We found a construction site on the O'Hare airport perimeter with an unobstructed view of the airport, tuned our scanner to the two tower frequencies, and watched airplanes takeoff. No pictures (telephoto in the haze, against a grey sky and grey pavement, of a silver airplane, doesn't work, even with the Kodak digital camera) -- but we did reach the conclusion that the only thing worse than flying into O'Hare would be to be an air traffic controller in the Tower at O'Hare. We counted an average of a departure every minute, with an arrival almost as often. And I thought my workday was hectic.......
Tomorrow looks like more of the same. So, still no aerial photos -- but maybe, in honor of the season, a picture from Ronald Reagan's birthplace in Dixon, Illinois!
I'm so excited I'll hardly sleep tonite.
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