Airplane enthusiasts pursue their passion

[LN-MOW]

Some airplane aficionados like 'em big: The all-new Boeing 787 Dreamliner has continued to draw crowds to gawk from nearly a half-mile away as it languishes on the tarmac at Everett's Paine Field.

Liz Matzelle, a 27-year-old aerospace-engineering-school dropout, has spent hundreds of hours over the past year in her rusty Dodge Caravan, parked in a lot across from the runway, a powerful digital camera ready to document any tiny change.

Other airplane enthusiasts like 'em small: Many build tiny airplanes in their garages, hangars or spare rooms. Mike Sabourin, a Boeing systems engineer, built sections of his foam-and-fiberglass Long EZ, a fast two-seater, in an upstairs room of his South Burien home. For final assembly, he had to angle pieces through a window and down a ladder.

Still others are fascinated with the new, such as Ben Ellison's "better mousetrap" — a unique "flying boat" named Gweduck, which first skated across Lake Washington and into the air in May.

Last — but definitely not least — are those who hunger for the old, such as Dempster's Cruiser.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2009604823_pacificpairplanes09.html?cmpid=2628

 

[Discus]

Snodig gjeng det der, ja