Going to Cirrus Migration 8 in Dayton

I just recently returned from Dayton, having attended the annual Cirrus Migration get-together. This was my first time at Migration, and Migration's first time not being held in Duluth. I attended partly to see if ForeFlight should exhibit there next year, partly to make new acquaintances, and partly to learn more about Cirrus. I managed to tackle all three goals quite nicely.
I flew up to OH on Thursday with great weather. I had a 10-15 kt headwind for the trip so it took a bit over 2 hours to get there. Charlotte approach gave me a few vector headings around their airspace but shortly cleared me to point directly to my destination - very cool. As I crossed the mountains they sent me up to 10,000' (I was at 8,000' before, just below ATC's minimal altitudes for that area).

I used ForeFlight Mobile HD on my iPad to follow my progress along the IFR low altitude charts. It was also handy for frequency lookups - I like to guess at the next frequency ATC will give me so I can pre-load it.

I landed at KDAY after a bit of time in the clouds near Dayton. The FBO parked me along taxiway H, along with a few dozen other Cirrus aircraft (my bird is the close one on the left, with the cover).

I spent the next few days attending the various events at Migration. I had the privilege to meet a large number of current and soon-to-be ForeFlight customers as well, which was the highlight of the trip. We went to the Air Force museum at Wright-Patterson, which easily rivals or beats the Air and Space museum at the Smithsonian. I plan to take my sons there in a few years, when they are a bit older and able to appreciate it all.

During the first night we had a dinner, all 500 or so of us, at a park in town. Just before we went into the tent to eat, I was walking around taking in a few of the sites (and giving the occasional demo of the iPad). After a bit I saw a older gentleman sitting by himself on a circular bench around a tree, off to the side. Sitting down sounded like a good idea, so I went his way and sat opposite him. After a bit I heard him talking on a radio, and using the words "air boss". That perked my ears so I started to pay attention.

I soon realized he was coordinating the fly-bys for a few different aircraft. First he cleared in a P51 (red tail!) and we watch him pass. He was a bit off to the side, not directly overhead, so the Air Boss said "do that again, but more East this time". Again the Mustang flew overhead, this time giving a better view - gorgeous airplane!

Next was the Wright flyer, I believe it was the 3rd model
the Wrights created. It was a bit slower, but was very impressive to see. I couldn't help but marvel how far we've come: I flew in that morning at 200 MPH with massive amounts of situational awareness the entire time - the pilot of the Wright flyer was working his rear end off the just keep the airplane flying properly. Only 1 century between the Cirrus and the Wright flyer, yet their capabilities, safety, comfort, and design are worlds apart.

After the flyer came a pair of Cirrus SR22s: one was like mine, the other was Cirrus' new turbo engine model.

And last but not least was the Cirrus Jet. It came overhead once, after getting lots of directional help from the Air Boss, but was so quiet few people even looked up to see it. The Boss said to me "That was kind of quiet wasn't it"? I said "yeah, I don't think anyone knew it was there, maybe they have the power way back". Then the Boss got on the radio again and said "Jet, nice pass, cleared for another, this time can you make some more noise"? Almost immediately we heard the pilot respond and the jet engine build up volume in the distance. When he passed over the next time everyone took notice - it was a really great pass in a steep turn.

For my return trip on Sunday I ended up with near-perfect conditions for the flight: clear skies and a great tailwind. I averaged around 200 kts of groundspeed for the trip and was back home in well less than 2 hours.



The fog in the valleys looked like glaciers in Alaska - I could almost swear I could see them flowing down from the peaks:


Here's a video of part of the return trip:

Returning home from Dayton - Cirrus SR22 from Jason Miller on Vimeo.

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