#313 Simms

First Sunset Fight of the Season

Finally an afternoon without thunderstorms building over the foothills! I packed and was at the field at 7:30. There as hardly a cloud in the sky and the breeze was half a knot from the south east. I set-up on the high side of the field where the weeds were a bit shorter. There was no problem getting the buggy rolling because of the slight grade and the wing came up perfectly. I think I’ve found the best was to lay out with a slight V and the center tucked up to the cell openings. Take off speed was 24 mph which leads me to think there was a gradient just above the surface.

The light wasn’t great for photography but I tried a 360 degree series anyway.


The air was good with a little mixing going on. I watched a kid practicing motocross for a while and as the breeze built I played with crabbing the wing across the field. When the sun set behind the foothills I turned on the forward strobe. It would be great if I could find a way to turn them both on while in flight. I boated around the field for 20 minutes and when the breeze started to shift to a Westerly decided to land.
For no good reason I was uncomfortable and flew as I expected something bad to happen at any minute. Huh where did that come from? Perhaps it was because I had to sort out a brake line which was not tangled but had wrapped and tightened on the wrong side of the risers. (NON EVENT)
I did have an issue where I had changed the position of the throttle and pinched my hand badly during landing. Part of it might have been because I wasn’t wearing the trusty golf gloves, the “D” ring on the Velcro was pinching the flesh between thumb and forefinger and when I flared it bruised the area behind my knuckles big time.. I’m going to have to sit in the garage and play with it since I’m still having trouble finding a comfortable grip.
PPG NEWS…
Jeff Baumgartner has sold his PPG Plans for Sky Bolt and website to Jeff Goin and his inventory to Terry Lutke. Jeff and Terry plan to keep this excellent design available for pilots who want to build their own. This level of cooperation speaks volumes about their unselfish love of the sport and I applaud them for it.
Bubba has invited everybody to his place next weekend for a midsummer fly-in. I’m bummed, this is the 3rd one that I’m going to miss. Next year for sure!

312 Simms

Launched at 6:00 light air. Flew over to Green Mountain stayed at 1000 ft AGL landed after a touch and go. No Drama. Only bump was when I flew through my own wake. I’m feeling the wing a lot better expecially during landing.

Heard from Terry L. today…the prop has not arrived yet.

Yesterday the interview with Will Jones was posted….it sounded good!

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

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.

302 & 303 Dumb Chute Story: The longest run out ever..1840 feet

Beautiful Morning at Meadowlake

Headed toward the junk !

1840 ft. Take off run !

Only 410 ft. to the trees…Hell….

It looked a lot less than 400 ft. to the trees, when I finally started to get some lift and was able began a slow turn along the north perimeter of the field. All I know is that I wasn’t about to abort until I had to. I’d plowed through 1500 feet of tall grass, crossed the ultralight runway and nearly clipped a big airport windsock. I was just barely touching the ground and the weeds were holding me back. The GPS clearly shows that I was going 27 mph which is plenty enough speed to take off. It was really ‘touch and go”, I was running out of field and the trees and junk were coming up fast. I knew that in another few seconds I would have had to abort or go into the trees.

I didn’t quit, even though I probably should have and I managed to clear the area without mishap…but the next time I go off into tall grass, ……I hope I know the area better.

There might have been a low level wind gradient because at 300 feet it was blowing from the SW but at the field the windsocks were all hanging limp. Whatever it was… I’m betting on a down wind take off .
Next time I’m at Meadow Lake in nil wind

I’m going to use the micro light dirt strip.

The first flight was 35 minutes and nice smooth air. I chased some antelope and followed Mathew to the east end of the field. Climb was 125 ft. /min even though the RPM’s were slightly down. Later, when I came back, the wind was building from the South and it made for a nice landing.

Second flight was short and sweet because it was starting to get ratty. I backed up on the entrance road and took off to the right of the vehicles. Much quicker launch with short grass.

When the thermals started and the wind came up we goofed around the field and kited. John Black was working with a 28.5 obsession and putting on quite the show, doing cobra launches and generally working the all of the risers instead of just the brakes. Jerry did some kiting and I even pulled out the Eden III for a bit. It’s a great place to kite and I’ll have to remember to bring the harness next time.

I got a chance to drive the S-trike.
It’s a well engineered cart using light weight aircraft tubing, joined with rivets and lugs. The IVO motor seems ok but I never really goosed it. The Flat Top frame is ok. I prefer the rigidity of my one piece cage. Twin brake and steering pedals were “Trick” BUT… lost motion in the cables made the steering feel sloppy and while it may be the same pedaling as GA aircraft, it’s counter intuitive. The reverse cambered front wheel wants to follow the wing but I can see how that could make for oscillations until you get the hang of it. It’s light but the CG is higher and I felt like I was in some kind of kids pedal car. I’m sure it flys great but it would take some getting used to. It just wasn’t as stable feeling as the heavy “ol buggy” with my ass inches above the dirt.

Later the six of us went to Frankie’s for breakfast. It’s all good.