Category: Incident

Bubba’s High Altitude Fly-In

I’ve been home from Bubba’s Event for almost a month but for a number of personal reasons I haven’t posted my report.  In a nutshell I had two good flights and one spectacular crash with minor equipment damage and no injuries.  For a complete report on the Fly-In, see Mike Bennetts Blog.  He picked up the ball and has written a very comprehensive post.     http://mbppg.com/info/bubba.html 

After two successful albeit fast launches I rolled the Falcon. 
The irony is within this You Tube Video

As with most incidents there were several things that contributed to the mishap.  Here is the way I remember it.  The first two launches with Mike’s 30 meter Eden III were fast.  In both cases I took off and touched down again before getting off.  In both cases I floated for a couple hundred yards before starting to climb.  Once up, the flight and landing was pretty standard.  Flight speed was around 32mph and my climb was about 125 feet/min.

On my last launch I touched twice and on the second touch I came down crooked with the trike contacting the ground with the front and right rear wheel.  The trike flipped and rolled once landing on the wheels, I was then ejected to the right in the opposite direction of the roll.  I immediately turned off the motor but not before it damaged the wing. Here are some of the things I did wrong:
1) I did not fasten the seat belt.   This is not a common mistake for me but I have done it twice… both times with witnesses.  It was fortunate that I was able to stay with the machine during the roll…  One effect of not being belted in was that when I hit a bump and got bounced, I lost contact with the right steering peg.  It could have caused the cart to turn so that when I did get lifted the thrust was out of alignment with the wing.
2) Once the wing came up and stabilized I didn’t check it again.   After the first touch the wing started an oscillation, which unknown to me, got progressively worse as I accelerated.  I lost situational awareness as to what my wing was doing relative to the trike.   HUGE MISTAKE !
3) I did not abort or reduce throttle after the first touch.  Despite the fact that the launch was obviously going bad I stayed on the throttle when I should have aborted or reduced power and stabilized.  The first thing Bubba asked me was … “Did your throttle get stuck.  It is very telling that I thought I could salvage the launch right up until the trike started to roll.  Looking back I my head wasn’t in it.  The weather wasn’t expected to be flyable and going out to the field was a last minute decision.  I rushed to get ready and like my last post “Rush and Pay the Piper”,  BOY DID I !
4)  The front wheel on the Falcon was bent and not appropriate for the terrain and speed required for lift-off.  The guys pointed out my bent front wheel when I first arrived.  It must have suffered from some of my lurching launches at Simms when the trike is rolling full speed over a bumpy surface.  This might have also contributed to the reason I didn’t abort.  The Falcon does not handle high speed taxiing as well as the Trike Buggy did … it was a little like trying to foot launch in no wind or down wind … It felt too fast to abort, and if that were the case I shouldn’t have tried to launch.. 
Looking back … I was an accident looking for a place to happen.  I was rushing to get up and in the wrong frame of mind to be flying.  My previous two flights were successful but my head was not in the game and it was dumb luck that prevented serious injury.

Time to take a break from flying.

Here are a series of pictures that Shelia Boulten took … See if you can follow the sequence.

Good inflation
Still good gaining speed
Bumpy ground
foot off peg
Emergency take off
Back down …foot off peg
Emergency take off
two point touch down
Trike is 100 degrees off course
Trike is 180 degrees off course and rolling
back on wheels / pilot is ejected
Turns off motor
Here is a link to Mike’s photos of the repair
http://mbppg.com/media/photoalbums/joe_trike/index.html
Mike Bennetts’s Video

#420 Simms

Simms… Good Flight… Tough Launch … I’m going to have to find a place that is smoother or cut some weeds! The reserve got snagged pulling one pin and opening the front half of the container. I spotted it right after launch and closed the velcro but it was not a good thing! Chip and I rethreaded it later that evening and I was happy to see that the chute will not need to be repacked but I will need to spend some time picking the weed and seeds out of the velcro.

I flew for an hour at Red Rocks Amphitheater and was headed back to the field. Even though it was 70 degrees on the ground I was getting chilled from flying in the shadows. And so…I’m hightailing east chasing the sun and there right in front of me was Chip who had just taken off. Well this was fun… we danced in the sky for the first time in a long while. I’m reminded of the time we were West of Chatfield and confronted by a News chopper. I turned tail and ran for cleaner air while Chip charged right at the chopper kind of like young Saint Bernard. Our flying styles haven’t changed, tonight I was content to float above and take pictures while he put on a beautiful show above the lake. Lots of freeflight in that boy… nice smooth diving turns and hard banking spirals.

The sun set… I was cold and Mr. Lutke’s CT Marvel was running on fumes. Time to go home! The landing was nice, there was just enough breeze to slow way down and when I touched , I could hardly feel it. Seriously nice… Chip stayed up till the approaching darkness forced him down. Typical free flight guy, he boated around the field for 5 minutes before setting up to land.

You meet the best people 500 feet above the earth!

Fathers Day Weekend Sat. 417 – 418

Beautiful Country !


Marek does a foot drag on the swoop pond

I knew this was going to be a very sad weekend so I scheduled myself to be as busy as I could. Friday night I slept over at Chip’s. I went to bed early and got up to go to Vance Brand airport by 0600. Once again the plan was to meet up with Robert and Marek at 0700. Last time they stood me up but I doubted they would do it again. It was a beautiful morning, as I drove by Boulder there were balloons lifting off… a good sign that the weather would be favorable.
At the field … Marek, Robert, Mike Bennett, Greg and Gary were admiring Kurt Hill’s prototype PPG Trike that Robert had dubbed the “Wheelchair”. It has two small counter rotating props and is configured as a tail dragging trike with a rudder. The seat is trick, it is an aluminum bucket that wraps around the torso and goes all the way up to provide full back neck and head support. It lays way back in the same position as a low hook in free flight harness. It will be great for watching the wing but it might strain the neck while watching the road during take off. He didn’t fly because he is having trouble steering while on the ground. Seems the trike looses control and starts to spin out when it comes up to speed. It has a rudder but it is more of an air baffle for the props than a steering vane. I’m no expert but it just seems to me that the small back wheel is just too squirrley and prone to over steer. But… it looks cool and who knows maybe one day he will work the bugs out and fly it.
Vance Brand is farmland flying. It’s pretty but there are no elevation changes and the landmarks are all major x-county flights. I wasn’t in the mood to get to far away from the patch so instead I worked on take off and landing and got in (4) 30 minutes flights. The best thing about this site is the nicely groomed field. It’s as good as launching off of a golf course. There was just barely a hint of breeze and for the heck of it I did one launch and landing with the trimmers full out. It’s a great feeling to keep off the brakes and see how fast you can go and still keep the wheels on the ground. When the machine does rotate I add power and watch her climb. Terry… I neglected to charge the batter on my GPS so I cannot document the climb rate but it was stunning! Landing with the trimmers out on a smooth field is also great fun. Hands up… till the very last second and then…with a nice smooth steady flare you can float at one or two feet for a long way while the energy is bled off, swapping speed for lift.
Sometime during my last flight, Dan K. suffered a motor out just after take-off. He got up to about 15 feet and was starting a hard banking turn when the motor died. With almost no time to flare he came down in a butt landing right into a small berm. Had it been a flat surface it probably would have damages the frame and we would all have had a good laugh but the berm was bad luck. Robert Kittila. and Mike Bennett loaded him into a truck and off to the ER. At the hospital Dan learned that he had two compression fractures, surgery was not required but he will be wearing a back brace for the next couple of months. I later learned that the day before he had a motor out at 200 feet. The problem was a loose spark plug which he replace with an old plug at the bottom of somebodies tool bag. The replacement plug was even worse.
After stopping at the piano store for a couple of hours I hit the sooper market and bought the fixings for the CSYC Raft-Up I was hungry and decided on Italian sausage and thanks to Stefania … chocolate crepes. The Raft-Up was nice all the usual suspects brought way too much food. I got a good chance to check out Dana’s boat which is much better suited to go to Blue Water than my Hunter. I think it is an Island Packet if not it is very similar. He has done a great job getting it ready for adventure, it has a generator and except for some more instrumentation it looks ready to go.

Larry Bob & Roy … Swapping stories

Good Food … Good Company

Greg provided entertainment by flying low and slow all along the shore.

I have to give him credit, 2 hours in the morning and another two that evening.
It’s the passion!

Roy Burley came out with me… planning to make it an early night but after the last boat peeled away we found ourselves below deck on the Hunter swapping stories and getting to know Dana and his companion. Good folk. Next week Roy will be racing in San Fransisco … Good Luck

#373 Falcon Walmart

This was an off day. I met with Kevin on the corner of Woodman & Markscheffel, it was too wet and muddy so we went to his 2nd choice which they call Falcon Walmart. I’m sure it was a better site a year ago but the construction has continued and the field we selected wasn’t that big. No problem for foot launch but a little tight for me. The field has recently been cut but the cuttings were still there and perfect little chunks of tangle weed.

The wind was fresh from the South and while we set up it shifted slightly to the east. My first launch was aborted when the throttle cable snagged a line and I couldn’t get it free…even with the wing mostly loaded. There wasn’t alot of room to fool around so I aborted before I got too far down the runway. While I reset Kevin took off and soon I was ready for
#2 This was a mess…The wing came up fine but my acceleration was poor and it fell back. I tried to save the launch. Big mistake… The PPS will not come back up unless you have control of the A’s. I’ve been thinking of reinstalling the A assists and this would have been the perfect time to have them. I would have probably got the wing back overhead but what happened instead was …the wing fell back and caught in the propwash, it pulled the buggy back and turtled. Fortunately I was able to kill the engine quickly. The cage was tweaked a bit but the spinner and soft damp earth saved the prop.

Kevin landed and encouraged me to try again. I wasn’t too keen after two bad launches but the air was good. So…I started the motor to be sure the prop was still balanced and tracking clear of the cage. The motor came up to 3600 but I couldn’t get any more.
#3…The wing came up clean and started to overshoot but I added some brake and accelerated. The run out was long and I barely had enough room but eventually I got up and started circling the field. Climb rate was lousy and I noticed that the RPM’s had dropped to 3400. After several laps I started to get some altitude. The air was good with just the slightest currents. After 10 or 15 minutes I did a fly-by and landed. It was a nice landing, with a low & slow turn just before final and a 3/4 throttle gentle landing.
Kevin…thanks for the ear plugs!

Today I dressed for cold weather but didn’t need to. The gloves I selected were not nearly as supple as I thought, it hard to handle the lines and when I had to reset twice I was clumsy and hot in the “snow suit”. Next time …set up the wing ….test fill it … then put on the heavy clothes.

To Dos…
1)Add washers to the cruise control nob. DONE
2)Check the PPS for snags and debris…check the mallions on both wings
3)See about pulling the cage back into round.
4) Rig the A assists for winter flying
5)Check pitch of the props

Monument Valley 09 Thursday

Thursday

Despite the drama of damaging the rig I got a good nights sleep and was at the field by 6:45. Ivan came to the rescue, with three other pilots, he put his auto body skills to work and was able to straighten the frame beautifully. It’s round and stiff and unless you know where to look… invisible. THANKS IVAN!

AM

The morning was a blow-out, gusty and switching winds. We stood around and some of us kited. A couple of guys even went up for very…very short flights but it wasn’t good air and since there were going to be lots of opportunities over the next few days I didn’t sweat it. About 10:00am I met with Jerry and a few other guys for breakfast at Gouldings. Other than flying, the topic of the day was the foul weather that our families were experiencing only 8 hours away. Denver had just broken a 100 year low temp record. Black ice had put the city in gridlock …but at the gathering… we were enjoying 72 degrees and beautiful skies.

PM

The afternoon was spent with housekeeping, showers and a nap. At 4:30 we headed down to the field and waited for the winds to come down. It was coming from the Northwest and I set-up downhill, across the runway expecting to lift off at the helicopter pads. I missed it, but Ivan was setting up to the left with the same plan and we started our launch together. I saw him …he saw me…we aborted together and it was just dumb luck that kept his wing out of my prop. We apologised to each other and started over. Of course Beery got the whole thing on video

//www.youtube.com/get_player

The Eden III felt good but the climb was miserable. Once I was aloft I planned to stay up awhile and enjoy myself. It felt good to be back at Monument Valley, it’s taken on the feel of “home field” I had flown here in similar conditions several times. The wind was moderate from the west which meant it was going to be twitchy at the south end of the runway, possibly rotor more likely sink. It flows through the cut from the campground and has to be churned up when it comes out of the channel. It’s best to go down the runway at least 100 yards below the hanger. I cruised the open country between the LZ and the highway, enjoyed a few mild wingovers and took in the scenery. Other pilots were laying out their wings and I knew it was going to be a good weekend. The air was a little too rowdy to be getting close to the rock faces but it was fine for playing at 350 ft out in the open. When the air went from level 2, to level 4 bumpy, I turned back to the airstrip and practiced low level approaches from the far north end of the runway. It’s a little more tricky with the thumper because the motor is slow to power up. I touched the runway several times before finding the right combination of power and brakes and finally managed to float several hundred yards before setting down to taxi the wing back to the truck. It was a trick, to keep the speed high enough to control the wing, but not so loaded that a puff of wind would lift me. It is easy to get complacent and let the wing wander because the buggy is so stable, but when the wing is off center and a puff hits… you get light on one side in a hurry!

That night a bunch of us had dinner at Gouldings restaurant. The salad / soup Bar was a big hit and when they ran out of minestrone they replaced it with chili …big mistake… Ivan and Uri probably had 5 bowls apiece. Later, Ivan, Uri, Chad and I watched Sycro-Acro Freeflight videos with Bob Peloquin’s in his RV.

I saw God Today #350 & #351 Chatfield

Lucky guy

Intermediate syndrome is an affliction that usually affects a pilot after 40 or 50 flights, or whenever they first start to feel good about their abilities.

It’s characterized by over confidence in both man and machine and it usually leads to a blunder that endangers life. It could present itself in any number of ways… an error in judgement, or a bad reaction to Mother Nature. It might be technique or a mechanical issue. Whatever the cause, if the pilot survives the incident…he should think real hard about either quitting or redoubling his efforts to improve.

It might be time to go to a maneuvers clinic or have some quality radio time with a good coach. It’s absolutely a good day to go over the machine and wing with a fine tooth comb.

Optimistically, there is an epiphany that stays with the pilot for the rest of their career, because on that day… the bag of luck is now half empty and the bag of experience is not yet full.

When I realized that my life was being supported by a glorified key

chain and some thin 1/2 inch webbing…

I thanked the Creator that I was still alive.

Then I looked for the best way,

to proceed to earth…

as directly as possible.

I’m still shaking my head trying to figure out how it happened.I attached the riser on the left side to the cheap plastic beaner that I use for the foot steering instead of connecting to the heavy stainless beaner that ties the wing to the buggy. I didn’t realize my mistake until I noticed that the foot steering cable was pressing against my left side. When I saw that the rig was being supported by a glorified key chain and thin 1/2 inch webbing…I couldn’t believe that I was still alive. Not only was the beaner unrated and not designed to carry a load, the loop it was attached to was loaded against the stitching. There were two places where a failure was imminent. Looking at the materials it should have failed when I loaded the wing before take-off …and… I wish it had. It would have been more dramatic and made a bigger impression but it wouldn’t have killed me. As it was a non-incident, I hope that the magnitude of the error sticks with me.

I had to get down …right now! I was 400 feet AGL and about the correct distance to glide back to the field, so I did a slow flat turn toward the field and landed without incident.

What were the causes that lead to this huge goof ?

1. I had switched to the Eden III which does not require the extra loop of webbing to get the hangpoint right. When it is configured this way the hangpoint loops are not long enough to reach the normal keeper on the bullet bars. So…I end up attaching the beaner to a loop on the foot steering for transport.

2. I must not have had enough coffee because it is almost impossible to imagine an alert mind attaching a plastic carabiner to the riser. It is so much more difficult to thread the correct carabiner that it should have set off alarms when that slim plastic beaner tip slipped through the loop so easily. The length was about right and when I pulled on the riser to take out any slack, it pulled the hangpoint loop just as if it were correctly attached.

I thought perhaps I should move the foot steering forward on the bullet bars to get them away from the hang point straps, but I don’t think I’ll do that. Having the webbing behind my shoulders is cleaner and I doubt I’ll ever look at the foot steering again without remembering the day I hung from a cheap 2 inch plastic carabiner.

This is the first real stupid mistake I’ve made in PPG and certainly the first one that endangered my life! I was deeply affected by the experience, and it was heavy on my mind for several days. I will strive to learn from this and be a more responsible pilot.

I vote for better pilot.

310 & 311 East Springs Airport

It’s a good thing I got up early because the thermals were starting to kick up by 7:20.
This morning is the warmest of the year 63 degrees at 6:00am…Light breeze from the North.

Two short Flights 20 minutes and 10. First to 1200 feet and the second to 500. I cut the first one short to greet the new arrivals and should not have because the good air didn’t last.

Kevin later explained to me that, often the dawn breeze is from the North or else calm. It might stay that way for several hours but eventually it starts moving either to the east or south.. If it switches to the East…watch out for bumpy air. Also, the more Westerly the SW breeze also makes for bumpy air.

Jerry Kerr

I launched just ahead of Jerry and we stayed together for awhile. He kinda hung off my left side at 8:0clock and then flew over the top. The difference in our climb rate was dramatic. I think our decent is about the same but I’m guessing that he has a 100 ft/min or better advantage. I hope the Power Fins will do the trick …I’ll settle for a noticeable improvement at least 175.

Oops! Forgot my Helmet

Once again …It seems like when ever I change the routine I forget to put on the helmet. Today I’ll blame it on the new thigh mount for the Garmin 176-c. This time I was grooving to Cirque Du Sol …getting al cosy with my lap toys and meanwhile, my helmet was on the ground next to the buggy. I must have rolled over it during the initial power-up, …I do remember a slight hesitation before I started to accelerate. Anyway it must have been rolled in the prop wash because it was full of vegetation. No harm done … at least it didn’t go through the prop like my Monument Valley Cap.

Equipment Notes

I look forward to getting my radio back from Capt. Black. I’ll actually be able to talk with my friends…imagine that? I haven’t had radio communications in the air since my second flight with Brian Smith and I’ve missed some good opportunities because of it.
Jerry and I were talking about seat belts and the value of a 5 point with quick release. After thinking about it, mine does have a good quick release and do I really need shoulder straps? It might make it hard to reach forward. On the other hand if I have a really hard landing or roll it will keep me under the roll bars better.
John Black showed up late. His flight to the coast fell through and he needed to burn off a little anger. So… Jerry Kevin and I hung around and shared a soda pop. I teased a little about the latest video and he made like his starter button was fouled by water. No hard feelings …it was a non-event. The winds were variable and after switching from reverse to forward he went up for a quickie and came down with a smile. Below is the second instalment of Capt. Blacks incident videos. No Crash Dummies were injured in the making of this video…..

Capt. Black and the Pond of Doom

By Alex Donaghy
John Black’s famous fall

#292 & #293

South Park…Blue Sky….Light Breeze from SW
First launch was quick and I wonder if the little rougher terrain had anything to do with getting up fast. I really do not see how but it was pretty warm and there was high humidity so I expected it to be a long runout.
GOOF #1
No Earplugs ! Damn quiet motor…….
I changed my routine by setting up before getting into the flight suit and I think thats what caused the problem. I can say that even at full power I could live with the noise…I landed after 5 minutes anyway …just because.
Second Launch was also quick. I flew for an hour and crossed Santa Fe and C-470. It was smooth as glass once at altitude but that field is a bitch. Bumpy air and so small that you have to start the turn as soon as possible. The south east corner has a huge drop off and when I started to turn, the buggy dropped with the terrain. It was not like a bump, just sinking air where the land drops off. Maybe the reason for the quick launch was the breeze….lite as it was…it was flowing up the lip and making lift.
Goof #2
Pre Flight….Pre Flight….Pre Flight…When I landed my left tire rolled off. No damage but I hate to think what would happen if it had come off in flight. This is the second time that bolt has loosened up so I’ll either have to use lock tight or check it every flight. I was trying to come in slow and it’s a good thing I was using lots of power and lots of brake. I don’t think I had much speed at all when I touched down. The back of the buggy only drug about 2 feet and the wing didn’t overshoot.
It was a really beautiful morning …To bad my camera is broken because I had great views of Chatfield, Downtown Denver, and the house.
The best thing about this place is that it is close to home with great scenery and an easy hop to Chatfield Reservoir. But it is also a very challenging launch site. You have to start to turn as soon as possible to avoid High Power Lines and the business park. There is way too much concrete and structures all over the place and unless the wind is from the South it’s no go …and there is barely enough room to make a trike approach for landing. We are going to lose it soon because they are going to build a church here…Not a huge loss. I’m going to try the field off Lucent where I met the “Mid Day Flyer” last week.

East Springs Airport *** Flight #283 & #284

East Springs Airport

Is a little farther east than Meadow Lake or the Soccer LZ but it’s a nice place to fly. There is one long North West runway with a dirt taxi way. The only people flying were us…no ultralights and no GA, just Matt…Kevin…Jerry…Alex…John…Shad and I with a half a dozen spectators thrown in for spice.


There was a fresh 5 to 8 mph breeze from the north, I set-up and was off the ground 5 minutes after arriving. I’ve been looking forward to flying here because I wanted to try the Eden III 28m at altitude and knew that I would need a long smooth place with lots of room for the climb-out and this was perfect. Even with a nice headwind the climb was poor. Never over 1oo ft/min and on the second launch I was only 25 ft/ min for a long time.

But …the Eden III was wonderful!
I could feel the wing so much better and the turns were smooth and much tighter. I didn’t try any hard carving but was able to get into nice banking turns with moderate brake. I expected that I would have to use a huge amount of brake pressure …thats what I remembered from the last flight at the Salton Sea, but it wasn’t much different than flying the Simonini. It just felt good and I’m going to hurry and get a new high altitude wing.


If I’m going to fly the Eden I’m going to need to lengthen the hang straps enough for the trimmers to be above the hang point. I wasn’t able to let them out today because they were friction locked on the safety webbing.

I spent an hour flying a right hand pattern around the airport… running south at 45 mph and then doing a low and slow into the wind above the taxiway. I never got really low because of ground turbulence but it was good practice. For a little while I chased a pronghorn and two coyotes but the real excitement came after the flying was over.

The second flight was short and sweet. I launched with Kevin’s help into 8 to 10 mph wind. The Eden came up clean and after clearing the north end of the runway I hauled ass back to the south end. It was blowing much stronger a couple of hundred feet up and it looked like it was going to continue to build so I turned for final. The landing was great, not exactly vertical but I was modulating the throttle and activly flying the wing to keep into the wind and under the wing. After I killed the motor I sat in the buggy and kited for awhile. Unfortunently I was paying so much attention to the wing that I didn’t notice that I was rolling backward. The next thing I knew the buggy was being hauled to the right by Kevin and the wing was pulling to the right.

the wing won…and I rolled over.

I should have killed the wing as soon as possible but I don’t think I realized how strong the wind was and it’s probable that I would have experienced a real incident if I’d yanked on the brakes. I hate to think what would have happened if I’d been flying the PowerPlay. I remember a couple of times that when I went to delate the wing the brakes would go so far and then no amount of pressure would buy me more imput.

Thanks Kevin…I didn’t realize the situation I’d put myself in … your quick action turned it into a so-mo roll instead of serious damage.

Terry…Your cage is stronger than I thought…it wasn’t misshapen at all!

147th Monument Valley First Time

To Awesome for words

The Desert Turtle

Drove straight through to Monument because it was blowing like hell in Glenwood … Grand Junction… and Moab.

Gouldings Village is a wonderful place to base a fly in. Everything you might need Hotel…Campground … RV Park…Gas Station Grocery Store Restaurant Hotel. And…Best of all the is a private airstrip with the only traffic being a couple of tourist flights mid morning.

#147 May 29th 2008

Blew first launch…Second was fine, flew an exploratory flight until I got cold and landed on the strip. 45 minutes

#148 May 30th 2008
My first and I hope my last turtle. I watched it blow most of the day. Not bad , about 10 kts and gusty. At 4pm I gave John Fetz a call and talked about the best way to fly this area. What to watch out for and how to avoid the dirty air on the lee side of the monuments. He told me of the time he landed on a monument and flew off. “one of the proudest days of his life”. He didn’t say anything new but it was good to talk it out with an experienced guy. Stay away from the lee side or stay 100 feet over the tops. He advised me to wait till the “magic Hour”…one hour prior to sunset and the fly till you just have enough light to land.
I didn’t…2 hours before sunset I was out there with a photographer who is camping close by. The wind was up … I kited a bit and decided to go for it. Big mistake… The wing came up hard and fast. I damped the surge and when it fell back it pulled me right over. Luckily I was able to kill the motor and there was no damage other than a few scratches on the prop.
I flew for 50 minutes and returned to the field. I did a couple of touch and go landings because it was so nice I really didn’t want to quit.
#150

May 31st 2008

Best Flight So Far !

Stayed in bed a little longer and noticed the photographer dude had already gone. It was a Nil wind launch so I lined up on the runway and tried to see how fast I could go before lifting off. Wow ! It’s easy to be spoiled by a smooth surface. I could feel the wing loading up and the pressure on the brakes was a nice firm touch. I could go into a hard clean turn as soon as my wheels left the ground.
I flew out past the welcome center and into the valley itself. Since I had taken a jeep ride the day before with a Navajo kid I knew where I was going and …Well….the pictures tell the story.