Waltm
06-12-2006, 12:09 PM
On Friday morning I took the long way to West Virginia - I hopped in my Comanche and headed to Mt. Pleasant to pick up a friend, turned south to Baton Rouge (HZR - False River) to pick up another buddy and then pointed the nose north to Huntington, West Virginia for the annual Super Dave Powered Parachute flyin.
We got there late on Friday evening after flying under a heavy layer of clouds that was over most of Kentucky. It was 102 in Dallas, but it was 60 degrees in Ashland, KY - and all I brought were shorts and t-shirts!!! I had to make a quick trip to the Wal-Mart for some warmer clothes.
We were talking to Huntington Approach as I got close to the flyin. They were warning other aircraft in the area about the 'ultralights in the vicinity'. I asked Approach for the location of the flyin and found out that it was right under the FAF for the approach to Runway 12. Made it easy for us to find it. These guys were VERY helpful. When I asked if they knew the frequency for the flyin, they called the tower - who had just had a call from a couple of ppc'ers who were flying in the area. The tower called the flying pilots, got the flyin frequency from them, and relayed it to Approach control who relayed it to me.
I made a few passes over the flyin, which looked to have just about every pilot in the air at the moment. It must have been a very good time to fly. After three passes over the field, I called on the flyin frequency and got the field boss. I asked to make a pass and was given permission to make a low pass over the flyin field.
Now I'd been circling at about 3,000 MSL the whole time so that I'd be well above the ppc pilots. As I turned down the field, I had to make a hard dive to get low over the field. Coming down from 3,000 MSL to 260 MSL (field elevation was a little under 200 MSL) and I never noticed that I'd passed VNE until I was screaming over the field at 210 kts. INDICATED. Thank goodness that they build Comanches VERY well.
I had six or seven powered parachutes in the air when I screamed by them at over 250 mph. One of my good friends, Evan Greene, was in the air when I flew by them, turned my airplane on it's side and pulled up in a hard climb to the heavens. (I think that he's still cleaning out his underwear)
We landed uneventfully at Huntington, WV (KHTS), got a rental car and then headed across the state line to Ashland and the Super Dave's flyin. Dave Lequire has hosted this flyin for the past seven years. I had come three years ago and it's grown a LOT since then. The flying field is much better than the last location when I was there last. This one had two intersecting runways. There was a never a reason to make a crosswind takeoff or landing and there was more than enough parking for the campers.
And there were a LOT of people there in RV's, tents and campers. It looked like it had tripled in size since I last attended it in 2003. There were a lot of RV'ers and it looked like many of them had already been there for a few days.
Kendall Ducote (my friend from Baton Rouge) and I walked over to meet the two FAA representatives who were in attendance. Jay Tevis and Robby Whitesell were with the FAA's Light Sport division and were there for two reasons - to give a presentation on Saturday morning and to give Kendall his annual DPE proficiency exam. Kendall is a Designated Pilot Examiner for Powered Parachutes.
Saturday morning came waay to early for me. I got up and went in for the 6:00am briefing. After the briefing, Kendall was graciously loanded a N-numbered powered parachute from Powrachute in which he was able to take his profiency exam. I watched the other pilots go up but had no desire to go up myself. It was too darn cold for me - 58 degrees. I hadn't brought enough warm clothing so I headed BACK to Wal-Mart to look for a jacket. No jackets (no winter clothing lines out yet) so I settled for a sweatshirt for me and Jay Tevis - who hadn't brought any warm clothing either.
Got back to the flyin to find that a light rain was falling on and off, the pilots had already been grounded and the FAA reps had already given their presentation. We hung around the grounds, talking with friends. John Lett's son, Aaron, had built his own custom made powered parachute. Aaron was a senior in high school. Last time I'd seen him, he'd been a boy of 14. He had done an outstanding job. The workmanship and welding was top notch and there was a lot of ingenuity in his design. I was impressed.
The winds died down again that afternoon and the light rain had ended. The flying competition commenced. John Lett won the bomb drop, Jim Stephenson won the carrier landing competition and two other pilots tied for the 'duck drop' contest (you're given a little rubber duck and have to drop it into a small swimming pool).
Everyone crowded around late that afternoon for the grand prize giveaway - a new powered parachute provided, in part, by Buckeye Industries. First, however, was a raffle off a 50/50 jar. You bought a chance and, at the end of the evening, 50% of the money was raffled off. The rest went to support the flyin. A lady up in front won the raffle. When the powered parachute drawing was held, her husband won the powered parachute! It went to a well deserved person. I understand that he had sold his ppc last year to help pay medical bills. He and his wife had attended just to visit old friends. He'll be up and flying again, now.
It was a good flyin. Dave puts on a great flyin. It's become one of the larger ones of the year. Put it on your list of 'must attend' flyins along with the Sho-Me Chute flyin in August, the Extravaganza in September and Freddrick Shoeffel's Utah flyin in November.
Pictures posted in the Photos forum.
Walt...
We got there late on Friday evening after flying under a heavy layer of clouds that was over most of Kentucky. It was 102 in Dallas, but it was 60 degrees in Ashland, KY - and all I brought were shorts and t-shirts!!! I had to make a quick trip to the Wal-Mart for some warmer clothes.
We were talking to Huntington Approach as I got close to the flyin. They were warning other aircraft in the area about the 'ultralights in the vicinity'. I asked Approach for the location of the flyin and found out that it was right under the FAF for the approach to Runway 12. Made it easy for us to find it. These guys were VERY helpful. When I asked if they knew the frequency for the flyin, they called the tower - who had just had a call from a couple of ppc'ers who were flying in the area. The tower called the flying pilots, got the flyin frequency from them, and relayed it to Approach control who relayed it to me.
I made a few passes over the flyin, which looked to have just about every pilot in the air at the moment. It must have been a very good time to fly. After three passes over the field, I called on the flyin frequency and got the field boss. I asked to make a pass and was given permission to make a low pass over the flyin field.
Now I'd been circling at about 3,000 MSL the whole time so that I'd be well above the ppc pilots. As I turned down the field, I had to make a hard dive to get low over the field. Coming down from 3,000 MSL to 260 MSL (field elevation was a little under 200 MSL) and I never noticed that I'd passed VNE until I was screaming over the field at 210 kts. INDICATED. Thank goodness that they build Comanches VERY well.
I had six or seven powered parachutes in the air when I screamed by them at over 250 mph. One of my good friends, Evan Greene, was in the air when I flew by them, turned my airplane on it's side and pulled up in a hard climb to the heavens. (I think that he's still cleaning out his underwear)
We landed uneventfully at Huntington, WV (KHTS), got a rental car and then headed across the state line to Ashland and the Super Dave's flyin. Dave Lequire has hosted this flyin for the past seven years. I had come three years ago and it's grown a LOT since then. The flying field is much better than the last location when I was there last. This one had two intersecting runways. There was a never a reason to make a crosswind takeoff or landing and there was more than enough parking for the campers.
And there were a LOT of people there in RV's, tents and campers. It looked like it had tripled in size since I last attended it in 2003. There were a lot of RV'ers and it looked like many of them had already been there for a few days.
Kendall Ducote (my friend from Baton Rouge) and I walked over to meet the two FAA representatives who were in attendance. Jay Tevis and Robby Whitesell were with the FAA's Light Sport division and were there for two reasons - to give a presentation on Saturday morning and to give Kendall his annual DPE proficiency exam. Kendall is a Designated Pilot Examiner for Powered Parachutes.
Saturday morning came waay to early for me. I got up and went in for the 6:00am briefing. After the briefing, Kendall was graciously loanded a N-numbered powered parachute from Powrachute in which he was able to take his profiency exam. I watched the other pilots go up but had no desire to go up myself. It was too darn cold for me - 58 degrees. I hadn't brought enough warm clothing so I headed BACK to Wal-Mart to look for a jacket. No jackets (no winter clothing lines out yet) so I settled for a sweatshirt for me and Jay Tevis - who hadn't brought any warm clothing either.
Got back to the flyin to find that a light rain was falling on and off, the pilots had already been grounded and the FAA reps had already given their presentation. We hung around the grounds, talking with friends. John Lett's son, Aaron, had built his own custom made powered parachute. Aaron was a senior in high school. Last time I'd seen him, he'd been a boy of 14. He had done an outstanding job. The workmanship and welding was top notch and there was a lot of ingenuity in his design. I was impressed.
The winds died down again that afternoon and the light rain had ended. The flying competition commenced. John Lett won the bomb drop, Jim Stephenson won the carrier landing competition and two other pilots tied for the 'duck drop' contest (you're given a little rubber duck and have to drop it into a small swimming pool).
Everyone crowded around late that afternoon for the grand prize giveaway - a new powered parachute provided, in part, by Buckeye Industries. First, however, was a raffle off a 50/50 jar. You bought a chance and, at the end of the evening, 50% of the money was raffled off. The rest went to support the flyin. A lady up in front won the raffle. When the powered parachute drawing was held, her husband won the powered parachute! It went to a well deserved person. I understand that he had sold his ppc last year to help pay medical bills. He and his wife had attended just to visit old friends. He'll be up and flying again, now.
It was a good flyin. Dave puts on a great flyin. It's become one of the larger ones of the year. Put it on your list of 'must attend' flyins along with the Sho-Me Chute flyin in August, the Extravaganza in September and Freddrick Shoeffel's Utah flyin in November.
Pictures posted in the Photos forum.
Walt...