Month: July 2009

308 & 309 Vance Brand Airport

X-Country at Vance Brand

Marek and I got there early and flew before everybody else showed. Both back tires were flat, probably from the tall weeds I’d been rolling in. A can of “Fix-A Flat and Marek’s air pump took care of that. We took off about the time Robert Kittilla and his student showed up. The winds were very light and steady. After about 30 minutes we landed and prepared for the cross country.

Vance Brand from 4 miles out

I blew the first launch when I let off the A’s too soon but the second attempt was perfect. It was starting to get thermal almost immediately and so I went for altitude and steered to avoid the blacktops and other heat sources. Beautiful country with lots of small ponds and country estates. Unfortunately we didn’t stay together because it would have been fun to travel as a flock but I did see John flying low and Mark off in the distance.

Hay Stack Mountain

Boulder Reservoir

When I got over the Reservoir I choked because it looked like two wings were in the water I flew closer and decided it was just a couple of boats rafted bow to bow. Both ways I concentrated on level flight and my throttle control is getting better. The earth was warming and I was flying through areas of lift and sink that were dramatic. The 4 stroke couldn’t overcome the sink and I was dropping at 80 ft./min. with full power.

I never used the foot steering because I had the trimmers out most of the time but I was allot more comfortable flying cross country in this machine than anything else I’ve flown.

When we got back I watched Robert’s student crash on take off. It was a combination of switchy light air. warm air and too full a gas tank. No injuries or equipment damage. John got back 20 minutes later than the rest of us and seemed to have no issues with the bumpy air. In fact he took a quick flight on Roberts Velvet. It’s the first wing he has flow other than his Paratoys “Muse”. He said, “It made me a little nervous to be so fast down low”. As talented a pilot as he is he should be flying a spice.

As usual there were swoop divers to entertain us.

307 Simms

Another Downwind Launch!
It was a 890 ft downwind run out through the weeds.
30 mph take off speed 2833 ft AGL…42 minutes flight time.
When I got to the field it was dead calm, so I set-up SSE on a gentle grade with 200 feet of short weeds. Sure nuff…by the time I had hooked up the buggy and put on my helmet the wind was coming from directly behind me at 4 mph. If I were going to reset I would have had to move more than 150 yards and the odds were that the wind would have shifted again. So…I cussed and decided to wait. After 5 minutes it looked like the pattern was set against me…. so I watched the wind sock and when it looked like it was slacking …I punched it.
Off we went, like something out of a Disney Movie, a couple of times I hit a particularly big weed (more like a small bush) and felt the buggy slow down. It was very like the launch a week ago in Colorado Springs. I was moving fast and could feel it wanting to fly but the tall weeds were keeping me in the ground. I finally popped some brakes going 30 mph and the buggy came up. It’s lucky I didn’t damage my delicate IVO prop because I was plowing through some pretty thick stuff. It broke the ignition off the stem but it was only a spot weld on less than 1/4 inch rod and inherently weak. My fleece jacket was impregnated with hay seed, each one is going to have to be pulled out individually and I bet it’s going to take an hour.
Very nice flight. I saw a Delta trike flying between the hogback and the foothills moving like a bat out of hell North to South. At first I thought it was two in a tight formation until I realized that the trailing craft was really his shadow on the mountainside. Worked on level flight and steeper spirals. I really pulled some brake on the final flare ans was surprised by how much resistance there was. I’m thinking that this wing can take allot more input than I’ve been giving it. I picked up a big twig during take off it was in the brake lines close to the wing. There was enough drag on the right side that I had to let out the right trim to fly straight.

306 Simms

Nice ordinary flight, light breeze from the WSW.

I launched from the only place I could find where the grass was short enough to get the buggy rolling. The run out was going to be 30 degrees off the wind but I figured it was worth a try. So…I layed out 10 degrees off and prepared to damp the right side during inflation. The wing came up crooked as expected, I added power and with moderate brake input got it stabilized almost immediately. Cross wind launch went surprising well. It’s all good!

Down wind of the damn over the golf course there was allot of sink I was just barely able to hold altitude at full throttle. I didn’t want to fly over the golfers at 100 feet so I flew west until I was up wind of the dam and there was the lift! After doing a few turns I headed to Red Rocks but cut north before leaving Bear Creek Park figuring that the west wind would be throwing some rotor by the cut in the Hogback.

I explored the far north area returned to the field and did lazy circles until I was low enough to set up for final.

The landing was 10 yards off the target at idle. Not good enough for competition but sure as hell PPG 2

When I got home Marek called and said that I was on News 4, Tracy recorded it and will burn me a copy. Very cool.

305 Meadowlake Air Park

Great Day Flying above the Clouds!

54 degrees…. Very light breeze from SW…Glass Smooth Air

The take-off was quick despite the humidity and calm air. I flew to the south of the LZ and played with Mathew and Jerry. We were not in close formation but I was close enough to see a big smile on Jerrys face.

I noticed that the RPM’s are dropping to 3450 instead of 3650 which confuses me because the air density should be lower making for higher RPM’s. It might have to do with motor break-in. The climb was an improved 125 ft/min with the PPS 250. I experimented with adding brake pressure and watching the climb increase and practised harder turns.

After Jerry & I split-up I headed South East for about 5 miles climbing all the way to 9237 MSL or 2430 AGL which is a new high for this motor. I saw some low clouds forming in the south and flew to them catching some lift. When I got to the clouds I was 500 feet above them and it was clear that I wasn’t going to get a trophy shot without diving into unknown conditions, so I headed back to Meadow Lake with the clouds chasing me all the way. I landed with 50 minutes of airtime.

For the next 15 minutes we watched the clouds build and were glad to be on the ground. Jerry and Matthew did a little kiting and both commented on their wings hanging back and not wanting to fly….Humidity?

Flight 304 Simms

Nice long flight. Nil winds 55 degrees.

Max Altitude 2340 AGL.
This morning I used the ramps to get the buggy started rolling over the weeds and it worked great. There was lots of lift and in calm air I was getting 125 ft/min. Flew to Red Rocks and tried but failed in getting a good shot of the Rocks from west to east. Huge lift over the hogbacks but lots of sink beyond them. I made two passes over the “humps” to get high enough to get up and behind the Theater. I noticed that the development NE of the rocks looks like a possible temp LZ at least until they start building. The roads are in and a few houses but I doubt (hope) that they are occupied yet. If the wind is south or sw it looks like a nice down grade paved runway.
It was already getting bouncy down low by 7am but I did a touch and go just because I didn’t feel like quiting when I first touched down. With South Park and Lucent out, this is gonna have to be it for awhile.