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Hangar45 “In Person Meetings”

(Original thread started on 10-08-09 by Ron Rollo)

Let me be the first to post on this thread on behalf of myself and Eric Tomlin!  The World Wide Web has brought us all together here in the Hangar, which is remarkable in it's self. But I wanted to start a thread that documents the rare occasions when we get to meet each other in person. We are all spread about the world and it should certainly be documented when we do get to meet up.

 

I wanted to get this thread started off right because in the next few weeks, a few members are planning "In Person Meetings" around the USA.

 

Eric and I have met on several occasions but pictured below is one of the first meetings back in early 2008. This is a picture of Eric, (right) and I sitting in his shell, L45-003, with my mock up components inside it at his residence in Waycross Georgia:

Ron 533

 

As these "In Person Meetings" among the Hangar45 Club Members unfold, please post them here!

 

(Posted by Shane Barnes on 10-12-09)

Over the weekend I was able to meet up with a few Hangar 45 members, Eric Tomlin and Honorary Hangar 45 member Ron Rollo Sr. and his wonderful wife in Gatlinburg TN. Ron's parents delivered the interior parts for 007. I can't thank Ron's parents enough for taking the time to deliver. Ron should have some photos in the next few weeks from his parents.

 

Eric and I met Sunday morning. After talking to one another for almost a year we were able to meet in person. We had a really nice meeting and really good to put a face with a name even though it was brief as I was leaving Gatlinburg that morning. Hopefully in the future more of us will be able to meet in person:

Shane 70

 

(Posted by Eric Tomlin on 10-15-09)

Thanks Shane, it was a great time to meet you and your wife and I very much enjoyed getting to sit down in person and enjoy a few minutes catching up. Thanks again for the great conversation and I am glad you got to enjoy your time there as well as get back home safely. I look forward to meeting up again one day and hopefully not only can you visit Jacksonville/Waycross, but I would love to visit with you in KY one day too.

 

I know it's hard to tell but I had the custom Hangar 45 polo my wife had made for me on for this meeting- I had to look all professional and all for my first meeting with someone besides Ron!

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 10-28-09)

On behalf of Shane Barnes and my father, "Honorary Hangar45 member", Ron Rollo Sr, I would like to post this picture of their short but exciting meeting, (especially for Shane) on October 11th 2009 in Gatlinburg Tennessee. Ron Sr. delivered Shane's interior parts to help cut him a break on the shipping expenses. Thanks Dad! For both my parents, Shane and his family, it was a nice little vacation and get away from the normal:

Ron 534

 

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 11-14-09)

On behalf of Don Jones and myself, I would like to post a photo of us taken in front of Jason's Deli in Houston Texas:

Ron 535

 

My wife Michelle and I flew out to Texas to visit with our son who is in the Army and stationed in Fort Hood, (Killeen Texas). On the way out there, we met up with Don and his wife Debbie. It was a great visit and I will tell you this, Don is holding back on us as far as the information and knowledge he has to share with us. In time, he is going to blow our minds!

 

Really great visit Don!

 

(Posted by DonnyRay Jones on 11-15-09)

The pleasure was ours and we're looking forward to more of these "eyeball" meetings. Everybody had fun. The guys talked about airplanes and the ladies talked about crazy spouses. Where-ever did they get such an idea anyway? Heh...heh...heh....

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 07-30-10)

The official Hangar45 Pilot's Lounge "Jacksonville" is complete! The doors are open, come one come all!

Ron 536

 

The picture is being taken from the kitchen. If you notice the railing to the left, that leads up to the L45 simulator room. My wife has been a doll to pretty much let me do what I want with the rear part of our home. As it turns out, she loves it too! Anytime any of you guys from over seas wants to fly across the pond, we will see how many local fellas over here we can get to commit to that weekend.

 

(Posted by 07-31-10)

So we've met! On June the 2nd I went to Delft/The Netherlands to meet Jaap and Otto. I brought my dad with me because Jaap & Otto are (completely unforeseen) ex colleagues of his as you could read in my welcome post and of course it's nice to see some old buddy's after a while. smile

 

Jaap & Otto, in two words: great guys! We had a warm welcome and some GREAT coffee (did you know that's another passion of Jaap? wink) Of course my dad first had to talk about their former employer (Festo) and after that we went to the simulator, which was amazing! I've studied a lot of details and watched Jaap & Otto demonstrating a flight from EHAM to EBBR (while using VoxATC, love it!) and I did a VFR on TNCM St. Maarten together with my dad (great 1st officer by the way! +sarcasm)

 

I love the way they solved the rudder pedals, not authentic though, but very sturdy and great looking. I hope I can find two Goflight GF-RC's too this year, I found out that they're hard to get! We had a great time and I'm really inspired and fascinated by their work!

 

(Posted by Japp on 07-31-10)

Hey Ronald, Great! This was a very nice meeting. Nice pictures too.  Always fun to have some visitors, and show off a little....

 

But when I see some other projects here on Hangar 45, I wish we could start over with all the nice software and other parts that are available now.  Well, I think we have to wait until yours is up and flying to enjoy an even better Lear45.

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 09-30-12)

First Hangar45 Day on Sept 29th 2012

Alan Norris made the special trip down to JIA (Jacksonville International Airport) and met up with Eric Tomlin In Waycross Georgia on the 28th. The next day, Alan, Eric and Matthew made the short drive down to Jacksonville Florida to check out the latest progress on L45-002 and to do some interfacing of some recent panels that I just got done wiring in. In addition, Mike Badger and his friend Greg made the short drive down to pick up some parts in person and to take advantage of meeting a few Hangar45 members while they were in town. So as it turns out, we had four Hangar45 members (with support staff) in one place which is a world record!

 

From left to right Greg, Alan, Ron, Eric, Mike and Matthew:

Ron 537

 

Members milling about smartly.....

Ron 538

 

Eric working with Interface software and breathing life into L45-002:

Ron 539

 

This was a very educational and productive experience for everyone. Although we did not do any flying, it was pretty cool to see everyone interacting with the hardware and aligning the switches and LEDs to match up the the software.

 

Eric and I both agree and will be working hard to have our sims up and running (in my case) by this time next year and we would like to get fellas thinking about making the trip to the south east U.S.A. Dates are still up in the air but I think that sometime around October 2013 would be a great time to aim for. This would be our official first annual Hangar45 meet and greet. In the future, as other sims come on line, other members could host the event.

 

(Posted by Eric Tomlin on 10-01-12)

Man, oh, man. What a great 2 days of fun for our first ever meet up of more than 2 Hangar 45 members in one place.

 

Friday night Alan Norris flew into Jacksonville and then made the drive up to meet myself and eventually Matthew in Waycross. After a brief introduction to the sim and JET45, Alan and I had dinner at a local deli and upon returning I showed him around my little shop and eventually got the sim setup for a flight from Rhode Island to Manchester NH. Matthew arrived as normal (around 10pm) and we got the flight up and running and demonstrated a crew-driven flight of JET45 in the VATSIM environment and the flight was full of challenge and fun. By the time we were "on the ground" again, it was midnight and Alan was glad to head to his hotel for some rest. We didn't get any photos of the time spent in Waycross, but that's okay as it was dark nearly the entire time as we operated the sim.

 

The next morning Matthew and myself met up with Alan at his hotel and he followed us down to Jacksonville to go to Ron's house for the bigger meet-up. As mentioned earlier, Mike Badger and Greg B. from Savannah drove down and arrived about 30 seconds after we did, so the timing couldn't have been any better. Once upstairs, Ron gave everyone a few minutes to take in all that is his beautiful project and we got busy talking about the ins and outs of Interfacing and the excellent SYS cards/InterfaceIT from FDS. It immediately became obvious how much everyone loved the incredible software used to program the cards and especially the fact that I was able to share days-worth of tweaking within just a few hours. What I'm talking about here is the ability to share InterfaceIT files that essentially save everyone else days or weeks worth of figuring out how to have a sim up and running as realistic as possible! Once a few tweaks were made due to some errant importing by Ron we got his Landing Gear, Electrical, CWP, and the L/R Reversion panels interfaced completely.

 

Ron and Michelle were gracious hosts and the day was a huge success for both Ron's simulator and for all the folks that were there that were able to learn more about their projects and of course, just the nice time interacting with each other.

 

Mike and Greg getting ready for some testing for us:

Erict 1

 

I got Ron and Alan to sit down and do some importing themselves so that when I left, they had some good practice on their hands:

Erict 2

 

Greg and Mike helping the interfacing out by pressing switches and identifying LEDs when needed:

Erict 3

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 10-01-12)

Ron, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip and getting to see your sim. To those who have not seen it in person, it is a incredibly well constructed shell. I mentioned to my wife when I got back that if you ignored the fact that there was a fuselage and nose cone missing, you would swear that you were looking at a real Lear45. His attention to detail is amazing and should be something we can all aspire to.

 

I also enjoyed the time I spent with Eric and gained a lot of knowledge on how to program the FDS Interface IT -- really easy. I was a back seat driver as Eric and Matthew took Eric's sim for a spin around Boston. It was fun to hear the ATC people on Vatsim -- even though they got us lost a few times! All in all a great visit.

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 10-19-12)

Finally after four years, Shane and I had a chance to meet up in Gatlinburg Tennessee on October 17th,2012, while on vacation:

Ron 540

 

We met up for a few hours with our wives, Michelle and Donna, had dinner and walked the town for a bit. Great visit and now looking forward to getting all the way up to Kentucky to see L45-007!

 

(Posted by Shane Barnes on 10-20-12)

My wife and I had a great time with Ron and Michelle in Gatlinburg! Really enjoyed dinner and finally getting to meet Ron and Michelle. Ron, glad that the trip worked out and I was able to bring parts to you and save the shipping also! That was a big plus a few years ago when your dad took time out of his vacation to bring parts to me in Gatlinburg. I had a great time talking about the simulator with you although we probably bored the women to death!

 

(Posted by Vince on 01-01-13)

We didn't have the time to take a photo together but I wanted to thank Will Sasse that came in Italy for a journey with his family from the far Australia and we had the chance to have a coffee together during his visit to the ancient city in Pompeii that is in my area.

 

It has been very nice to meet in person someone from the hangar. We agreed that next meeting should be in Florida in a year or two with the American builders.

 

(Posted by Will Sasse on 01-01-13)

It was great to meet Vincent, we must try and do it again, Any excuse will do.  It was a long drive to get there, and I felt about as old as the ruins of Pompeii, but it was wonderful!

 

(Posted by Eric Williams on 01-14-13)

On Friday I had the pleasure to host Steve M at my place for some great conversation and a short flight. It was a blast just "talking-shop" with another builder. Can't wait to see his project take shape!  Hope he posts some pictures here soon as he is really going to have a sweet setup.

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 08-19-15)

Keeping the "In Person Meetings" thread alive!  The other day our friend Jose Martin flew up from central Florida to KSJG (Northeast Florida Regional Airport) otherwise known as St. Augustine Airport to take a spin in the newly updated P3D 2.5 Project45 L45-002. (St. Augustine is just a short drive down the road from my house.)

 

I was going to pick Jose up right at the front door at the FBO in the Official Project45 Pace CarInstead, I met him out on the tarmac.  Yes, that is a Lear45 behind our Corvette and a Lear60 to the right in the photo!

Ron 450

 

Jose with the Lear45 pilots:

Ron 542

 

Eric Tomlin came down to visit with Jose and myself and to also check out the sim with P3D. The sim performed near flawlessly for the 2.5 hours that they flew. Thanks to Shane for all the help with those nagging little issues I was having.

 

This photo is hard to make out but Jose is sitting left seat and Eric is in the right coming in on final 1L at KTPA. Great time!

Ron 543

 

Hangar45 Northeast Florida is always open to you guys!

 

(Posted by Eric Tomlin on 08-15-15)

Thanks Ron, that was a great update to this old thread. It was a great day of test flying, ground maintenance (some tweaking here and there), and fellowship. Thanks for having us for the day and I suspect these meetings will only grow for those able to make it to Jacksonville.

 

I am hopeful that we can start arranging for a Saturday meet-n-greet at Ron's this coming Spring when we get a few more updates done and that will likely be an event to do CDU/JET45 demonstration and training. Of course, this all depends on other factors but keep an eye out for details as Ron is able to make them.

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 09-27-15)

Thank you to DonnyRay and his wife Debbie for having my wife Michelle, myself, Alan and Shane in your home! We had a wonderful time with you guys. Speaking for myself, (maybe Shane and Alan would agree), I learned a lot about what we don't know. The one thing that I took away from the visit was to "Let DonnyRay do what DonnyRay does." We will all benefit from some of the things that DonnyRay is planning for his sim which for me personally, will cause another future tear down of L45-002. Another great visit:

Ron 544

 

Having a little fun in the newly started L45-101 V3 shell:

Ron 545

 

I will be hosting a Hangar meeting in Jacksonville Florida sometime after the new year, maybe around April 2016. We will throw some dates out there to see what works.

 

Again thank you DonnyRay and Debbie for your hospitality!

 

(Posted by Shane Barnes on 09-28-15)

Thank you DonnyRay and Debbie for inviting all of us for a visit. Saturday was a great day hanging out together and I am still trying to absorb all that we discussed. Some great information came out of this meeting and like Ron, I can see a disassembly of my build at some point to add some modifications! Also a great time discussing some upcoming parts for the build. I think we all took away a great deal of information about the Lear systems.

 

By the way, my door opening is 22.25 inches. Close enough for government work!

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 09-28-15)

Yes thanks Donny and Debbie I had a great time. DonnyRay you are full of it! Great stories that is. You are going beyond the cosmetic with your build. The idea of having the autopilot move the column is insane! Will have to see that in operation. I loved your little Radio Shack set up.

 

(Posted by DonnyRay Jones on 09-3-15)

If you ask an engineer what time it is, he'll tell you how to build a clock. "First you need a big spring.....". It was that sort of weekend, but it was also great fun! Very happy to see all of you. We'll do another one!

(Posted by Mark Speechley on 01-31-16)

Mark Speechley provided the first get together of the Victorian members of the Hangar45 for 2016. We had good weather for the barbecue, which was preceded by storms and 34 mm of rain. A welcome change from a sun burnt country and grass fires.

 

Will and his delightful partner Natasha traveled 2 hours from Melbourne out to my property in the Latrobe Valley in Gippsland, Victoria. ( not in Canada for you geographically challenged ! ) .Mark C and his delightful partner Teresa also traveled an hour from the other direction, in Sale.

 

The festivities began at lunchtime with the boys cooking:

Marks 11

 

The boys and our partners enjoying a wonderful lunch:

Marks 12

 

Marks 13

 

After lunch we all headed out to the Hangar to show Will and Mark C the progress that had been made on the sim. Amazing how the wiring is always a source of embarrassment when you look at Rons! Never mind it still works.

 

After firing up the sim with the graphics from the 3 Benq1080 projectors, Will got a chance to show off his flying skills with me throwing him a few varied scenarios.

 

Will flying around Hong Kong....

Marks 14

 

Will heading up Mt Vesuvius:

Marks 15

 

Little did we suspect, but Will doing loops and flying upside down was the passion of a frustrated Caravan pilot who couldn't do it in real life!  You are welcome down anytime to practice Will except next time I'll make it the Grand Canyon to test you out:

Marks 16

 

Well a fabulous day was had by all and hope to repeat it all again in the near future.  Looking forward to continuing the forums camaraderie by continuing on at Hangar Day 2016 in Jacksonville in April. Peter Nicholas ( my co-pilot ) and I will be making the trek.

 

Thanks to all for a great day and being able to show off my part of the Lear 45 at it's stage of production.

 

(Posted by Will Sasse on 01-31-16)

Thanks Mark S (and Mark C) for a great day. Good food, good company, and a flying sim! Sets a high bar for the official one in Jacksonville! I'm sure that was an F22 Raptor you had me flying over Vesuvius? The view was spectacular out of the open cockpit!

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 05-09-16)

"April 16th 2016 Hangar Day 2016 in Jacksonville Florida"

The big day has came and gone and it was a resounding success! All in all we had seven members of Hangar45 including myself here at our home in Jacksonville Florida. Thanks to Eric Tomlin, Justin Fletcher, David Simmons, Maciej Muranowski, Mark Speechley and Peter for taking the time to make the trip. Especially Mark and Peter who traveled half way around the world to get here!

 

We had a ball and the sim worked without giving us too much trouble. Although we had one projector pixel decide to give up the ghost out of over three million. We will be having a funeral for this dead pixel in a few days, arrangements TBA. In the future I will get life insurance on the pixels in the new projectors. It is a real thing! But that's for another thread!

 

I had a little display table set up with some neat stuff on it including a TV that I stole from my father, Ron Rollo Sr. with a slide show of Lear45 photos scrolling through. Lots of insightful stuff to be seen here!

Ron 546

 

Here we are all gathered up at the sim. Mark and Peter are driving:

Ron 547

 

Mark and Peter in the sim getting a little instruction from Eric:

Ron 548

 

Myself and Mark standing next to L45-002:

Ron 549

 

Maciej in the First Officer's seat:

Ron 550

 

Baby Jett giving the sim a look over Maciej's shoulder:

Ron 551

 

Lunch is served!

Ron 552

 

Ron 553

 

All in all, we had a blast and some of the guys even stayed until 2130 hours. I have always said that my door is always open to my Hangar45 friends so if you were not able to make Hangar Day no worries, we can find a date that works. Just so you know, I will be planning another Hangar Day sometime in late 2018 after I have retired from the sheriff's office. So start planning on it!

 

In the meantime, if you have photos or videos of the day please post them here. If it were not for my wife Michelle taking a few photos we would not have half of these!

 

(Posted by Mark C. on 05-09-16)

Hi Ron, really enjoyed seeing your pics here and wish I could've made the trip with Mark S and Peter. Would have enjoyed meeting everyone in person too. Your sim looks great and Mark S was really looking forward to the whole trip and from the pics it's clear that you all had a great time. I look forward to seeing other people's pictures of the day as well. Regards, Mark C. (From Oz)

 

(Posted by Shane Barnes on 05-09-16)

Looks like Hangar day at the Rollo's was a success. Glad all of you were able to get together. Unfortunately work interfered with my plans to make it down and I really missed getting to see all of you in person but I was there in spirit! These "Hangar days" are great opportunities for members to share information, ask questions, and get a first hand look at the many parts going into the builds and to provide the motivation to complete projects still in the works. One question,was the group photo taken prior to eating barbecue . . I didn't see any stains on the T-shirts!

 

(Posted by Eric Tomlin on 05-09-16)

Was a great time at Ron's and I look forward to another one. On a side note, I took a little bit of video:




 

(Posted by Maciej on 05-09-16)

Ron , thanks again for having us at your place. No words can describe the joy of that day, pictures do!

Erict 4

 

Erict 5

 

Erict 6

 

(Posted by Terry Collins on 05-09-16)

Looks like it was a great day for the Hangar 45 crew. So good of you to open up your home for the day Ron. Just curious how all the landings went, that one approach looks well below the glide slope! ,Terry Collins

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 05-10-16)

Hey guys, This past weekend, May 5th 2016, my wife Michelle and I took the trip out to Denver Colorado to see the mountains and to meet Randy Buchannan and his wife Carol in person. Meeting with Randy was a great time. Seeing his sim project in person was priceless! We only took a few photos of us standing in front of his motion base full scale (including a cabin area) simulator but we lost the dag gum camera somewhere in KDEN waiting for the 787 to arrive. For the most part, we had a great time but had a few bumps along the way.  (We did take a few photos with our smart phones)

 

Here we are on the way to Dallas from Jacksonville. Our flight was delayed and they stuck us on a MD80 from 1987. It got us there:

Ron 554

 

Flying into Dallas. (Looks almost as real as P3D!)

Ron 555

 

We did not get into Denver until 2345. It was actually 45 minutes faster than our original flight that was delayed. After getting the rental car and checking into the hotel, we attempted to get a bite to eat but everything was shut down. We may have a red light ticket coming in the mail and split a Snickers bar for dinner!

 

The next morning we met up with Randy and his wife Carol. They have a great place and one of the first homes in the Westminster area! Almost historical I would say. We learned that Randy has a first love of music and has a state of the art sound studio. It was very impressive. His hangar was massive as well. Along with his full scale sim, he also had a kit helicopter sitting aside. In another hangar bay he had a kit plane! Very cool and interesting things!

 

We spent the day talking, eating lunch and checking things out. We did some trouble shooting of the FGC and fired up the sim. Although we did not have time to fly the sim, I was intrigued with his three LCD screen set up and how he has it boxed in and mounted to his shell. Like all of our visual systems, it was not perfect but very functional! Remember, being that his sim is going to be a motion sim, the visual system has to rock and roll with the sim and it has to be solid which it appeared to be.

 

I got to see and operate his rudder pedal assembly. It was actually his first prototype set but I was still able to see the motion and function of the pedals. Very cool!  With three views and Orbix scenery, his frame rates were remarkably high. He was using P3D V3 by the way. With all that said, Randy has some really cool ideas and I am really looking forward to him sharing some photos of his project with us.

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 10-09-16)

Michelle and I just got back from an eight day cruise to the eastern Caribbean with our buddy Matthew.  That is Hurricane Matthew!  Matthew actually got to the eastern Caribbean near St. Maarten before we did. We left out of Port Canaveral Florida and our first stop a few days later was St. Maarten. By the time we got there, Matthew had moved further west just south of Haiti.  St. Maarten has been on our list of places to visit for several years and although we did not meet anyone here, it is worth mentioning here in the meet and greet thread because I do believe the threshold at the end of the runway is on everyone's bucket list!

 

 

Could be a dangerous place they say!  Michelle and I hanging out near the threshold:

Ron 556

 

Sitting at the Sunset Bar and Grill watching planes come in:

Ron 557

 

Michelle waving hello to the Co Pilot. Not sure why the Co Pilot....anyway..

Ron 558

 

St. Maarten is one of the most iconic aviation locations in the world!

Ron 559

 

As an Airbus 320 is taking off, me and several other idiots getting blown away!

Ron 560

 

To finish the story, we stopped at St. Kitts, and then San Juan Puerto Rico. We pulled up to the Grand Turk Islands but could not get off the boat safely due to high wind although it did not look bad and by the way, for dancing with hurricane Matthew, not a single drop of rain that we saw. Well, we did see some rain but it was several miles away.

 

I guess you could say we became "storm chasers" because we ended up following right behind Matthew up the east coast of Florida back to Port Canaveral. As you may know, Port Canaveral was the only place in Florida that the eye wall made land fall as a CAT3 storm. All of our cars were covered in dry sea salt as you can imagine. All in all, not a lot of visible damage along our route home in the Port Canaveral area other than some trees and signs blown over. Matthew even touched our home town of Jacksonville. Eric Tomlin's home town of Waycross Georgia just a little further north was also effected including our friends Greg and Vanessa in Savannah Georgia.

 

All in all, St. Maarten was a great experience! It was a must do at some point in our lives and we will probably do it again if the opportunity comes about.

 

(Posted by Mark Speechley on 10-10-16)

Ron, you lucky duck. Saint Maarten is on my bucket list, so maybe I can do that and drop in to the next Jacksonville Hangar 45 'get your T-shirt' day in 2018!

 

Lots of TV and print coverage on your Hurricane in Australia. One report said 5m storm surge for Jacksonville so I thought good thinking Ron for putting the sim upstairs. Glad to hear everyone safe. I was stuck in Sydney's Kingsford Smith airport on Sunday afternoon for a few hours as Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport was shut due to high winds. The worlds weather has certainly turned to more extremes.