Extravaganza fun

[mrdakota]

here's a shot of the designated smoking section. I thought I had a great smoke system.......not

[mrdakota]

A confusing parking lot, every day I'd have to relearn were I was parked.

[mrdakota]

My only photo taken durring the record launch, right after my 124th machine and I departed the exit area.

[mrdakota]

Why did everyone land? Is what I thought to my self when I took this photo. But now I know why, They got those awsome photo shots from the ground.

[mrdakota]

Josh on base after a flight.

[mrdakota]

I told Josh it was wet and there were puddles near to Big Brutus....OK, I got wet too.
Keith Storrs

[mrdakota]

I picked up this hitch-hiker on the way to the north on Friday.

[Waltm]

LOL - And I thought that me and the rest of the coonasses were the only ones ballsy enough to actually land by Big Brutus. Alright for the yankees!!

Those oysters were OUTSTANDING! Craig (Crazy) Gaspard brought two icechests full out on Thursday. Nail and I sat there and shucked-n-sucked a lot of 'em while trying to get every watcher to try 'em. They're really good with some ****tail sauce and a cracker. I usually just slide 'em on down with nothing.

I was one of the first to take off and one of the first to land. I took one of Zane's friends up with me. I fly a elliptical and we made six passes around the pattern before it just got too cold. I was going to try and stick it out until the end but ended up landing fairly early. Turned out to be a good thing. I got a lot of good pictures of everyone else coming in.

Walt...

[ZipItyDoDa]

Ahhh theres the big shovel huh? I did the water trick down in Macomb too. Just under the grass enough so you couldn't tell.....till you hit it!!:(

[Dan Kearfott]

Hey guys I just wanted to take the opportunity here to say how nice it was to meet all of you at the fly in. It's nice to finally put a face to a name. I have to say though that I am amazed that an ugly guy like Josh could have such a good looking girlfriend!!!! (LOL) just kidding
I'm looking forward to meeting some more of you guys in the future.
take care and fly safely.
Oh and Walt you don't really have to get that close to the crowds for them to see you. (nice recovery)

[mrdakota]

Originally posted by Dan Kearfott

.......and Walt you don't really have to get that close to the crowds for them to see you. (nice recovery)

What happened to Walt?......
Walt, what happened?

[Waltm]

LOL - It's embarrassing...

I was trying too hard in the competition. It was on the torpedo run (usually one of my best events). I was flying with heavy flare and using power to keep myself level. This will slow your ppc down a little bit but also makes it very unstable in a crosswind. As I came off of the second drop a HEAVY gust of wind hit me and plopped me down onto the ground - faced straight into the crowd.

I had almost no time for a decision and had three choices:

1) Make a hard left into the crosswind and roll over (and over
and over...)
2) Cut the engine and hit the parked machines (and all of the
people who were sitting right in my path).
3) Gun it and try to get over the crowd.

I chose Door #3. Put the throttle to full and squeeked over the parked machines (and sent a LOT of people scattering) by a few feet. Egg on my face. I looked pretty dumb. Lesson learned - use different tactics in gusting winds. Elliptical wings really feel every little change in wind speed.

Walt...

[jwards]

Sounds like a bad situation, Walt. Can you estimate the speed of the cart when you were plopped down....just before you went to full throttle. How far were you from the crowd? Did you have time to look up and see if the "plop down" had unloaded the chute?

John

[mrdakota]

Walt,
At least you didn't spend an hour help wiping machines dry of wet smoke fluid after someone turned on my smoke system with my IGN circuit on and filled the muffler with fluid.
That's egg in the face at close range. Boy I felt about 2mm high after not checking that before powering up.

Keith Storrs

[Waltm]

Hey John,

It wasn't slow enough to unload the chute - probably still going about 30mph. I didn't have time to look but it didn't "feel" like the chute unloaded. Thank goodness that I was right on that call or I'd have just barrelled into the crowd.

I was probably about 20-30 feet from the crowd with too much momentum for my little front brake to stop me before I hit someone. The whole decision process happened in about 1 second and I didn't have much time to analyze my options. All I could do was "fly the plane" - something that my GA pilot instructors have ingrained into me time and time again while practicing emergency procedures.

I'm thankful that everything came out ok but I'm heading back to my airfield to practice some other techniques for competing in crosswinds.

Walt...

[Dan Kearfott]

I was judging the first station of the competition and looking from the rear of Walt's machine when this happened. I honestly thought that he was going to take out the machines and the crowd, I was astonished that he actually was able to pull up and miss everything. It appeared to me that he actually flew right over several spectators and machines. And I talke to some friends of mine that were in his path and they were sh**'n and gettin' when they saw him coming. The crosswinds were pretty tough to handle and we had just been discussing earlier that next year we should lay the competition field out in two directions so that the course could be flown upwind no matter which way it was blowing.
Walt did the right thing and just flew the plane and fortunately all ended well. It's just proof positive that experience pays off so that when you get into those situations your instincts will take over and hopefully do the right things.
Unfortunately Walt's carrier landing score wasn't too good!

[jwards]

It sounds like maybe you should consider moving the competition a little further away from the spectators and parked machines too.

John

[mrdakota]

I thought that there was plenty of room between the crowd and competition area. Walt was just struck by a severe rotor gust and he did what a excellent pilot would do,,,, Stayed away from my machine.

Keith Storrs
now travelin' in Baltimore, MD and Dover, DE thru Friday.

[FrontierFlyer]

"Dan E. Kearfott" <signgod@m...> wrote:
(snip)
>
> I'd also like to take the opportunity here to say how nice it was to
> meet all of you at the fly in. It's nice to finally put a face to a
> name. I have to say though that I am amazed that an ugly guy like
> Josh Wooding could have such a good looking girlfriend!!!! (LOL)
> just kidding

Dan,
Your not the only one that's amazed...EVERY day I wonder to my self, "Self, how does an ugly bastard like myself get such a good looking girlfriend?"
She had a really good time at the extravaganza too...even though she was feeling a little under the weather. She got a virus from me right before we left for KS.
I'm going to write a letter to Eddie Johnson and see if he can ban the Coon-Asses from coming next year...they were all over her! Damn bastards!! :-)
...Just kidding

Glad everybody made it home safe and sound! I FINALLy followed Keith Dials directions and made it home a lot easier than getting there. BUT I did get drenched about half way. I was stuck in a construction zone when the rain hit...and nothing to cover the machine. Just got wet. She is nice and dry now though...ready to fly!!

[Waltm]

Hey Josh,

It was your turn at this flyin. Usually, they just hover around Judy - my girlfriend - and give HER static.

She gives better than she gets, though. They've learned to give her a wide berth. :-)

Walt...

[FrontierFlyer]

Hey Walt!
I can see why they would hover around Judy!
She is a hottie!!

[Waltm]

BTW...

For all you who inquired, Judy's doing well. She is recovering from her motorcycle accident quickly. It just takes a long time for six broken ribs (three of them broken front AND back), a punctured lung and a ruptured spleen to heal. She walks around the house and gets along quite well. She made a quick trip to the store with me yesterday and got tired quickly, though.

She plans on being able to ski with me over the Thanksgiving weekend. We'll see. I think that she's done coming to flyins for this year, however. We just got back from the doctor and her doctor pretty much nixed any travelling for the next 8 weeks or so.

To all those that she's met, she sends her regards. To those that she hasn't met yet, she's looking forward to meeting y'all.

Walt...

[Dan Kearfott]

Hey! what's the deal? How do ugly guys like you get these georgeous girls? When there's good lookin' guys like me out there? (LOL) Just kidding or course, and uh don't say anything to my wife about this O.K.? I know what you're going to say is the reason they pick you, but keep in mind that there are children reading these posts.
And Walt, I'm sure you can make much better Beans and Rice!
good to see ya'all