Funny …. Avation Dictionary

■ALTERNATE AIRPORT: The area directly beyond the active runway when the engine quits on take off

■ALTIMETER SETTING: The place where the altimeter sets. Usually hidden by the control column during a near-minimums instrument approach.

■BANK: The folks who hold the mortgage on your aircraft.

■BI-PLANE: What you’ll say to your bird if flying costs keep going up

■CARBURETOR ICE: Phrase used by pilots when explaining accident caused by fuel exhaustion.

■”CLEAR”: Warning shouted two seconds after hitting the starter button.

■CONTROL TOWER: A small shack on stilts inhabited by government pensioners who can’t hear. When they become blind, they are sent to centres

■CRITICAL ALTITUDE: Minus six feet.

■CRITICAL ENGINE: That part of your airplane which used to be under the cowl, but is now in intensive care at the maintenance shop.

■DEAD RECKONING: You reckon correctly, or you are.

■DE-ICER: A device designed to operate under all weather conditions, except icing.

■ENGINE FAILURE: A condition which occurs when all fuel tanks become filled with air.

■FIREWALL: Section of aircraft especially designed to allow all engine heat and smoke to fill the cockpit.

■GLIDING DISTANCE: Half the distance from your present position to the nearest decent landing area at the time of complete power failure.

■GROSS WEIGHT: Maximum permissible take off weight, plus an extra suitcase, a case of bourbon, rifle, ammo, golf bag, bowling ball, and diving weights.

■HOLDING PATTERN: The term applied to the dogfight in progress over any radio facility serving a terminal airport.

■RANGE: Five miles beyond the point where all fuel tanks have become filled with air.

■WALKAROUND: What you do when waiting for weather to clear.

■LANDING FLAP: A 4000′ roll out on a 3000′ runway.

#467 & #468

Yesterday I psyched myself out and this afternoon I almost did it again. It was probably the right thing not flying yesterday… my head wasn’t in it … but today there was no excuse. It was a real effort go get myself moving but once started everything went smoothly.

It was 48 degrees at the field with a light North Easterly breeze. The first launch was quick but I noticed a pull to the right.   My first thought was the cam buckle was under the Hang point loop but instead it was a serious root tangle just right of center.  The brake lines had been twisted together near the wing and there was a obvious pucker where those three lines attached near the trailing edge.   The air was a bit switchy and the wing was dancing overhead so I turned back and landed on spot. 
The second launch was good.  The wing came up high to the right but it centered and I taxied another 40 feet before adding power for liftoff.  The weeds here are nasty, it is easy for a line to get under the base of the plant and it takes a hell of a tug to break it loose.  Usually a snag makes the wing come up crooked but on the first flight it pulled out a 6 inch root and really twisted up the brakes. 
The air was still twitchy so I pretty much stayed near the patch and below 1000 feet.  I practiced a wingovers for awhile and finished with a good hard spiral.
It wasn’t Epic … not even special but I’m glad I went.

#466 Titan

52 degrees at 3:30  light breeze from the North East. 

John Sieb took off first …My launch was clean partly because I layed out on the dirt with fewer weed stubs.

John and I returning to the field after sunset… but the sun was still shining at altitude

 Just a few Pelicans are left at Chatfield

A side benefit of experimenting with the throttle strap is that it is forcing me to do a slow roll out.  The strap is a little too wide and right now it inhibits my ability to “mash the throttle” until after I released the “A’s” and rearranged my fingers   I was rolling and accelerating slow which gave me so much more time to pay attention to the details. The wing comes up…release the “A’s” …stabilize the wing … reposition the hands to get more throttle … accelerate … and take-off.
I’m going to trim the Velcro before my next flight and should have better throttle control but I ‘ll remember how it felt to get the wing stable over head at a third to one half power ….

6th Annual Birthday Flight

#464  &  #465 
Double Nickles

Titan with a fresh breeze … 54 degrees and John Sieb to round things out.  The goose hunters were hoping to bring in a flock and did !  Dispite us flying around. A large group came in as I was making final approach they got 4.
The first was short because the air was ratty but the second was nice.  I was having trouble with the weeds snagging the wing during inflation and had to abort when a tip was nailed firmly to the ground.   BUT I made it a point to keep the taxi slow for a good long time before committing to launch.and was pleased with the landings.
John and I flew around the patch a bit but it was getting chilly and we landed about 4:30

No Fly Day

     At 3:00 John was already up and climbing to the North.  

I unloaded and watched the wind shift through 290 degree arc.  It was a cold wind with lots of moisture (well …lots for this country) and for some reason I didn’t feel like flying.  I watched and waited for 45 minutes and it was cycling South East to North and North West about every 20 minutes.  I almost pulled the trike back down but once I decided not to fly my head wasn’t in it.

As the sun dropped to the foothills it calmed down for about 5 minutes and John Sieb came into sight, high following Roxbourough Rd.  He said, “it wasn’t too bad”, but then he told about getting tossed and  a partial collapse with serious altitude penalty.  John always has had a better bump tolerance than I so I felt good about sitting this afternoon out.  He had a good flight and I was glad for him…

We chatted a bit about wings and the Salton Sea Fly In When the cold started to get to me I headed home.

#463 Titan

Spontaneous Aviator
My appraisal was done by 2:30 the sky had a thin skin of high clouds and it looked like it might glass off.  So.. at the last minute I decided to fly.  I hurried home, pulled on my boots and was at the field setting up 3:30.The wind was light from the south so I triked to the south end of the field and set up.  While I was going through the final checks the wind picked up freshly from the west.  I didn’t expect success but waited for a lull and gave it a try.  No Joy the wing did just as expected and came up way too crooked to attempt correcting it.  Moving to the center I reset and launched without brakes to the South West.
The air was smooth for the first 500 feet but at 600ft. I was starting to get buffeted by small puffs which could have been some rotor off the foothills.   Flying East over the big open fields I went downwind at a pretty good clip.  A couple of times I was swung fairly hard with the wing banking 30 degrees so I turned back and slowly made my way back to the field.  The throttle was not fastened as tightly as usual and it did not like going to idle so when I got to the power lines I was still at cruise and just barely penetrating.  I was actively flying the wing and didn’t want to let off brake to change the trim so I just tufted it out and took my time.  I was glad to be high when I caught some sink and dropped 50 feet before leveling off.
Below 200 ft.it was down right rowdy.  Twice I came in on final and bolted, once when I was popped up and then some serious sink had me dropping to fast for comfort.  The third try was nice. The breeze was strong and I came in at less than 10 mph and touched down as light as a feather. 

Steve Abbey flew by just after I landed, my wing came down behind ready to inflate and for about 2 seconds I considered relighting the motor and joining him.  He overflew me going East and when he turned back was parked right over my head.  I watched him slowly make his way back toward home and collected my wing.

By the time I was ready to go the winds were way beyond flyable.  I smiled at my good timing and threaded my way between the goose decoys back toward the highway.

#461 & #462 Snowflake

Calm …Clear … and Cold
38 degrees but the air was as sweet as it gets. 

Mike and  I both got in two flights and I had a chance to try the radio.  It needs a little tweaking to be reliable but Mike did a great job getting it operational.  Both take offs and landings were good, I really liked the last landing I touched down way up the runway and did a long taxi to the truck

The weather looks to be bad for the next several days so I was glad to get this one in.

#457 & # 458.5 Titan… A repeat of last night

No Breeze …
60 plus degrees
Clear skies
I launched at 4:30 and flew till 5:45 low on fuel…  getting chilled….  and could barely see to land.  I even did a touch and go to squeeze a few more minutes of airtime.  In other words…. another perfect evening.
PPS 250
This is the second day that I have flown the Power Play Sting 250.  What a great wing for the 4 stroke.  This wing has had several hundred flights.  First with Monte Flemming a flying his big powerful Monster and then a year with the Briggs & Stratton Trike Buggy.  Yeah…Its had a couple hundred flights and been repaired once…But…. for pure comfort… I can’t beat it.  It  inflates slow but it always seems to lumber up and center over my head as it hardens for takeoff.  The brakes hang at a comfortable place so I don’t have to mess with a second toggle and the climb rate was a respectable 275ft/min and decent was 400ft/min
This wing flies…. like a  big boat sails. 
Big smooth banking turns that say…
“I’m in no hurry”. 

Not a puff on the water