It’s not the biggest aviation event around, but the Mojave Experimental Fly-In, coming up April 17-19, is surely one of the most unique. The two-day event brings out homebuilders who have been working on their own designs over the last year, to show off their work and share their expertise in the California desert. This is the fourth year of the fly-in, and this year’s edition adds a slumber party complete with pizza and movies, a “bug-smasher poker run/flour bomb” event, an indoor free-flight and RC flying competition, and showings of an in-progress documentary film about the Mojave pilots.
The film “Design, Build, Test” will follow the community of test pilots working in the Mojave Desert as they work to develop their airplanes. “This is the story of a community that is deeply committed to breaking new ground in aviation without any guarantee of safety or success, and they rely solely on their own courage, ingenuity and drive to push the limits to accomplish this feat,” says the filmmakers’ website. “They live their entire lives within the endless loop of design, build, test — the pursuit of faster, higher, longer, farther, better, with no rules.” The fly-in is open to the public, with fees for some of the events; details are posted online.
