98 & 99

Two botched launches The wing came up slow and off to one side. When i did get up the left brake line was locked in a loop around the pulley. I sorted it out without problem but it was disconcerting not to have any pull at all. Another problem was that I started with the risers a little lower in my had and so I wasn’t able to “get on the A’s” with as much pressure as I usually have.
The landings were great! 1/3 power and brake. I have no doubt that I could have eased off the brakes added power and lifted of any time.

96 97 Simms

Bad launch that looked great. I was launching 90 degrees off a very light wind. The wing was oscillating and I took off with the wing far to one side. Instead of centering I stayed on the brake and turned hard into the sky. It worked because the Simonini has plenty of power for my weight but if I had been in another machine with less power it could have been bad.

95 Simms

Chip Marek and I. Also a very strange little dude who had followed me from the gas station. Not the best of days, Marek and Chip were planning a long flight and I had only enough gas for about 45 minutes.
Marek got up quickly and I went north to the golf course and then to the Park. When I got down Chip was standing by his machine which was badly damaged. he explained that he had put it on his bumper rack to check out a problem and forgot to bolt it down properly before testing the machine. It jumped out of the rack and broke the prop…cage…and muffler. $1000 + in damages.

94

Nice long late season flight with john Sieb. No Ipod and it made me more sensitive to motor noise. I heard a sympathetic vibration between 4400 and 4700 RPM. I also heard the spare”non vented” clipping against the frame. I hung over John while he flew low at the south west end of the lake. The landing was a hard surprise, I remember feeling a drop in temp just before flare. Proof that Vince’s repair was good.
I’m working on getting as much speed as possible before lift and trying not to use any brake.
I reversed the throttle to be able to get to the kill switch easier.

93

Broke the top left joint by the motor mount. Probably flew with it that way because the take off and landing were very smooth. I seem to remember that the motor was moving a little more on its mounts during the pre-flight.

85 Titan

High Humidity and low cloud cover. Nil winds
Taxi was a little long with one take off bounce, but the wing was well centered and so was the buggy. I stayed low below the clouds probably 300 to 400 feet. The whole area over by the marina was socked in. The new exhaust is quieter and the whole unit feels stiffer somehow.
After the flight I was feeling nostalgic and walked around the field to the site of my last foot launch . The crash site was very apparent with bits of cage and tubing scattered around. I picked up a big piece of sun bleached prop and took it home to hang in the shop as a keepsake.

83 & 84 Apex

Dry Lake Bed Apex

Dry Lake bed 30 miles North North East of downtown Vegas called Apex. I got to the field at 6:15 and flew with Pierre and another pilot that he had invited. One of those guys who acted like he knew everything but didn’t know anything! He had a 7 year old monster that he had owned for three years but never flown?! What a goof! He started it and walked around with the motor running but never set up for a flight.Apex is a nice place to fly. Big Dry Lake bed with smooth air. I noticed that it started to get bumpy when you flew past the border of the lake. Huh?Mechanical:I had to bush out the motor considerable to get the thrust line back to horizontal. The frame damage is all too abvious when you can see the curve in the vertical tubes that should be straight. The 176-C his still shutting off. It’s been a problem ever since I moved it to the trike…