Ride in biplane as real as it gets.

Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 9/01/04): A story and photo caption on Page C1 of Sunday's newspaper transposed the names of a mother and her 3-year-old daughter who attended the 2004 Air Fair. Julie Lowell is Cheri Lowell's daughter.

What tops a trip to Disneyland? How about skimming across the Willamette River in a vintage biplane.

Julie Lowell of Pleasant Hill decided to treat her three kids and herself to a 20-minute flight offered by Stu MacPherson of Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Calif., in his 1929 Travel Air biplane.

They took the trip Saturday during the first day of the two-day 2004 Air Fair at the Eugene Airport's Oregon Air & Space Museum.

The Lowells vacationed at Southern California's Disneyland in June but the biplane ride trumped the trip to the Magic Kingdom, 16-year-old Christie Lowell said.

"This was funner than any of the rides at Disneyland because it was real," she said.

Christie's brother, Cal, 13, agreed.

"This is probably the funnest thing I've done all summer," he said. "I loved that it was a real flight in a smaller plane and that I could feel the wind against my face."

Accompanying Julie in the front seat of the two-seat biplane was her 3-year-old daughter, Cheri. Wearing goggles and an aviator cap, Cheri resembled a pint-sized Amelia Earhart.

Stephanie Lowell, 18, waited on the tarmac for her turn while mom and baby sister buzzed Autzen Stadium, the University of Oregon and several Eugene neighborhoods.

"I figure it will be like a roller coaster, but you're going on something real," she said.

The biplane rides were just one of the featured attractions at the air fair, which concludes today. Hundreds of people milled about the tarmac Saturday to get a closer look at everything from vintage biplanes to inside the cockpit of two F-16 fighter jets flown in from Luke Air Force Base outside Phoenix, Ariz.

Colleen Barrington, 22, of Beaverton, was impressed, particularly with the F-16s. "I think the pilots are kind of cute, too," Barrington said.

Parked next to the F-16s was an Oregon Air National Guard F-15 from Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls. The plane's pilot, Col. John Morawiec, has flown a combined 20 years between the Air National Guard and active duty with the U.S. Air Force.

"It (flying) doesn't seem to get old and it keeps you young," Morawiec said.

Two retired generals, Bob Titus and Robin Olds, highlighted a dinner presentation at the Air and Space Museum.

Thirty-seven years ago, Dave Hubert of Eugene was flying a F-4c over North Vietnam while a member of Olds' command. Hubert heard that Olds was going to be at the air fair and decided to say hello.

"It's very flattering to have the guys remember you," Olds said.

Back on the tarmac, Stephanie Lowell returned from her biplane ride as mom wrote out a check to MacPherson. She said the ride was worth it.

Cost of the biplane rides: $150.

Admission to the Air Fair for four people: $20.

Spending a casual afternoon riding in a biplane with your three children: priceless.

AIR FAIR

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today

Where: Oregon Air & Space Museum at the Eugene Airport 

What: Flybys, aircraft displays and biplane rides; featured aircraft include F-16 Falcon, F-15 Eagle and MIG 17

Cost: $5 adults and children, free for ages 5 or younger.

CAPTION(S):

Three-year-old Cheri Lowell sits in the front seat of a 1929 Travel Air biplane with her mother, Julie Lowell, before taking off from the Eugene Airport for a flight. Stu MacPherson (right) is piloting the rides as part of a two-day event, which ends today, at the airport's Oregon Air & Space Museum. Chris Pietsch / The Register-Guard Chris Taliaferro (left), of Eugene, and his children Brooke, 6, and Jason, 5, get a look at the intake of an F-16 fighter jet.