The Chofu Airport Open Day is usually held every year, but it was cancelled last year due to the natural disaster on Oshima Island. After waiting for two long years, the day finally arrived. My previous blog post is here: Tokyo Chofu Airport (Chofu Hikojo, Chofu Airport) Shooting Notes.

In the morning, I took the Keio Line from Shinjuku to Chofu Station, and then a 10-minute bus ride took me to the airport. This year’s schedule was the same as previous years: a lottery for Cessna flights, local snacks, visiting the Apron, various aviation supplies for sale, used aircraft parts, dance performances, aviation knowledge lectures, etc. This time, I specifically asked a professional about the ATC rules in this area. It turns out that this airport is just an info station, and FSC still needs to contact Haneda. To avoid the US military base, everyone flying south heads towards Yokohama.

One of my main goals today was to see what second-hand bargains I could find, and also to try my luck at the Cessna lottery. As a result, I bought some used items, but my luck with the lottery still wasn’t great… Below is a record mainly with photos.

First, let’s look at the various second-hand parts and instruments. Of course, this is a small general aviation airport, so the items sold aren’t like the large airliner parts found at the Aeronautical Science Museum near Narita Airport, but the small parts are suitable for collection and are cheap, which suits me perfectly.

As you can see from these photos, the parts sold here were used by general aviation companies based at this airport, coming from small propeller planes, including various instruments, engines, tires, antennas, charts, books, magazines, etc.

The prices aren’t high either; an instrument costs about 2,000 to 3,000 yen, and the more expensive ones like an autopilot are around 20,000 yen, which is quite a good value. Aircraft seats were also brought out for sale, but no one bought them. Finally, the price was dropped to 500 yen, but they still didn’t sell. What a pity. My home is narrow, so I can’t fit too much stuff. I picked up an ADF Indicator as a decoration. It’s an S-Tec model IND-650A ADF Indicator, and it only cost 1,000 yen. I also picked a bunch of charts. Although some are outdated, they are very new, and a few were even unopened. Altogether it cost 1,500 yen. There were also a bunch of free magazines—free is free, so I took them. Hehe, not bad, right? I casually flipped through a 2007 pilot magazine. It contained a biography of the legendary German pilot the Red Baron, and an introduction to RNP. The content was quite satisfying.

Now let’s look at photos taken inside the airport; you can probably get a feel for the Open Day atmosphere. Hawaiian dance performance: Crowds of people on the Apron: Snacks from various countries; I bought a fried bun, and the taste was just okay: The Apron and the Chofu Stadium in the back: Rescue helicopter:

I also have to post some photos of planes. First, look at this Do-228. It has appeared many times in this blog already. At the moment of touchdown, the shutter speed was only 1/160. The spinning propeller effect looks pretty good: When starting the engine, the right side is started first. You can see this clearly in the photo below: Let’s have a close-up of the tail:

Looking at the planes on the Chofu Airport Apron, they were all old faces. Just as I was feeling disappointed, I suddenly discovered this Cirrus SR-22T, which is quite nice. Its streamlined appearance is very trendy and made my eyes light up. So, I’ll cut the photos of the other models.

By the way, I participated in an activity this year: taking a bus around the inside of the airport. There was a dedicated guide introducing the various facilities inside the airport, and it was free. I highly recommend it. The photos below were all taken from the bus. View of the New Central Airservice terminal from the bus: The aircraft fueling station inside the airport, completely self-service: The Runway threshold: On the side of the Runway threshold, there is a low-lying reservoir, which is used to prevent the Runway from being flooded by rain during heavy rains: Wind cone: This is the sign for the engine test site: Distant view of the Apron and terminal:

These things have also been introduced in the blog before. I wonder if everyone still remembers?