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I've been spending too much time having too much fun to write about
it.
Tim Kaiser is piloting the Enterprise at
present, targeting long-time pilot Terry Cohen's slice of Oceanside
bliss. It's been some time since we've shared air so this should be fun.
The last several days have been fantastic. Mike Britt, Elisabeth,
Eric and the gang have been exquisite hosts through a steady stream of
students and friends including Masha who enjoyed her first time aloft.
Disappearing Island
Mike Britt's paraboat adds many launch options. A particularly cool
one is disappearing island, just east of New Smyrna Beach airport, which
is under Atlantic seawater during high tide. Thus the name.
Boats surround its beach, snuggling onto the sandy surround and
disgorge occupants who generally hang out nearby. That leaves plenty of
room to launch paramotors.
A sizely group of us headed there on Tuesday, the barge festooned
with too many paramotors. It took two trips—one to drop off the gear and
another for passengers. The barge would be hard to sink since its floats
are filled with Styrofoam but that didn't stop us from trying. We had to
position occupants for leveling purposes. Plus, there are a limited
number of life jackets.
This was my day for motor issues but Eric was gracious enough to lend
me time on his nicely running SD 100. And I got to try out Albert's
"Mike Britt Christmas Special" trike. That was especially fun because I
got to try out some techniques.
The techniques aren't particularly new—experienced trikers have been
doing them for some time. But I've described them and wanted to put my
words to the test. The gist about how best
to drive the trike around while kiting the wing. Where do you put the
wing before and during the turn to reduce tipping tendency? How much?
Where do you put it in a crosswind? Should it be exactly overhead or
slightly upwind? This was the perfect place to experiment because any
sliding would reveal technique failure without flipping. You can prevent
a flip with propitious use of steering towards the tip. If the trike
starts to tip in one direction, immediately steer slightly in
that direction. The test was a resounding success. Thanks Albert!
Eric and I did a quick spot landing contest. Right after he nailed
one I took his SD and Escape up. Ready for the excuses? Mostly I wasn't
ready for a bigger wing and ended up short. It looked perfect turning
final at 50 feet but I way overestimated glide. That big wing wafted
seemingly straight down. Oh well, next time.
The River Rats go deep. In a few hours this island
will disappear below the Atlantic Ocean's rising tide. Fly quickly.
Some photos by Masha Dessureault, see file name.
River
Eric is one driven, dedicated instructor. Every morning they head out
for the flying field, leaving with the parabarge at 7:15 am. Not 7:16
am. Visiting friends who tag along best be ready lest they miss the boat.
The first river day was Masha's first flying day. After she'd done lots simulator
work, tandems, several hours of ground school, practice with a video and
kiting in the trike, she was ready. With Eric on two radios, they went
through several inflations before she headed aloft. She had at least two
more flights after that before bumpy weather shut the training down.
Several of us continued to fly and Rick from Virginia flew back to
Christmas, landing in the field next to his van.
A couple days later, on the next River visit Tim was able to join us for what turned out to
be perfect conditions. He tried out the new Pluto wing to compare with
his Silex. He liked it a lot. I took the Pluto up for some airspeed
tests but it had gotten too turbulent by then.
Besides Eric, Masha and myself, numerous other pilots joined us at
various points including Mahsa's mate Marc Mourre, Frank and Joan
Savignac, Rob Catto, and Rick from Virginia.
The misty morning boat trip out was enjoyable on its own. I'm sure it
gets old after a bunch of trips but it's a cool way to enjoy the nature
that passes just a few feet away.
Christmas, FL morning: Looking back on these pictures I realize what an
incredible opportunity we had just to see these sights, let alone fly
them. It was especially fun sharing it with these people.
Afternoon Formation
It all came together last afternoon (12/14) at Mike's place. At least
10 of us were airborne at the same time. As usual I had a photo mission
in mind. Thanks to Eric, Frank and Tim who obliged my requests.
Beach pilot Todd showed up for his first inland flight which
obviously went well as we shared some air together cruising down low
around a nearby ranch. We're careful to give the cows and horses their
space but these animals are well acclimated to the sound of
propellers--this is airboat country.
1) Eric Dufour gets his wingtip within about 5 feet of my fisheye lens
in order to get this shot. He's flying his new Power Vega. 2) Todd Adams skims the ranchland below me.
3) Frank Savignac and Tim Kaiser snuggle up to my right. 4) The
formation in good form. Photo by Todd Adams.
This Takes the Cake
After flying, out came the food and tales—either at a restaurant or
in the glider shop. People with a passion are somehow more fun to be
around and this group is no exception. Thanks to chefs Elisabeth, Marc
and Masha who's fare was fine. Simple and tasty.
  Be careful about those Wal Mart cakes. After one fine dinner of
hot-dogs, we got out plates, forks, and ice cream, then opened the cake
box. Yum, yum. Lips were licked and Mark cut into the cake. "Hmm, that's
pretty stiff?" he said in his French canadian accent. "Maybe it's an Ice
cream cake?" I mused. Then he separated the piece. "That's, it looks
like, no...is that...Styrafoam?" Yup, the Walmart folks had sold their
demo cake. It was sure disappointing but boy did we get a lot of humor
mileage out of that one. When Mark returned to Walmart their only
comment was "there's our demo cake!"
Terry's Beach
Our last day mission was to visit long-time pilot Terry Cohen—Mr.
Black Silex. Terry is another one of those brilliant but subdued sorts
that's so fun to be around. He's done well for himself but is driven more
by a zest for adventure. He lives life to love it. You'll not hear about
the gazillion dollars he's made, rather you'll hear how much fun we
have. Refreshing.
Tim and I met up with him at his gorgeous place on the inland
waterway. After a quick tour and some kibitzing on the back deck we hit
the road, following Terry to one of his local haunts.
Man do I love beach flying. A steady 8 mph wind made launching
brainless. Bring the wing up, yawn, and when you're ready, turn around.
It's fun to just stand there or walk slowly while keeping the wing
overhead. It's so otherwise unnatural. Deep down it's the realization of
a that impossible dream where you walk airborne. This kind of flying
lets me savor it—to stretch out the enjoyment. So I sqeeze in some push
and start walking. Then a bit more to lengthen the stride as lift makes
me light and a final push puts me into flight, dragging my feet in the
sand. Wow is that cool.
We did several flights and, of course, with some swooping and
extensive foot dragging. I had to remind myself about low, downwind
maneuvering. A few times, for a few seconds, I would have been most
unhappy with an engine failure.
Although we had to head out afterwards, Terry (and most of the FL
pilots, it seems) will be going to Paul Czernecki's fly-in near Fort
Myers. I'll be there looking forward to seeing many others.
Terry Cohen flies a vintage DK GTO.
Neither looks its age. Tim, Terry and I put a collective mile-long
foot-drag down on this beach's soft sand. Third row pictures by Tim
Kaiser.
Homebound
That's all for this trip. I'm currently jetting back into my home freezer
of Chicago. No flying for me there, it's too easy to anticipate the next
southern sojourn. Flying fun may be over but it's fun to share with you,
to relive and savor. Thanks for letting me. |
Before abandoning their soon-to-be-submerged airport, these island
flyers gathered for a last snapshot. Disappearing Island is covered at
high tide but presents wide-open flying during low tide. You need a boat
and an aircraft radio—it's well within New Smyrna Beach's Class D
airspace.
SideStory:
Motor Madness
An interesting side story concerns my recalcitrant motor. It would
lose power then would barely start then finally wouldn't start at all.
Eric Dufour's many years of two-stroke tweaking has
made him quite the mechanic. He's like a bulldog, too.
We went through the basic troubleshooting process
that including two different carburetors and a rebuild kit. After
digging deep enough to check the seals, Eric found no
smoking guns. In fact, he commented how it looked good inside despite
its many hours.
He had a brand new Black Devil carburetor (WB37c),
never ran, that we decided to try. It completely solved the problem.
In fact, it solved a couple other issues
I'd been having, too.
She's started on the first pull for the past two
outings. First pull. Go figure. It's like having a brand new machine.
It's my own advice in the
troubleshooting section: be quick to replace the carb. It's easy, quick
and likely to help. That $80 solution would have saved hours of effort and a
almost-missed flying session.
She now runs as good as the day I bought her 200
flight hours ago.
Helicopter Tour
After picking Tim up at Orlando we played tourist.
Even then we couldn't pass up the $25 helicopter ride.
My main interest was seeing another helicopter pilot
and machine in action. Like paramotoring, it's the liftoff and landing
that is most interesting. Boy was that eye-opening!
The reason the ride is so cheap because it's so
short: 4 minutes. To pull that off they waste no time changing
passengers, cruising or setting up the landing.
The R-44's blades were still turning as Tim and I got
in. Attendant whisked passengers off and on so the practice is quite
safe.
Landing was a demonstration of what the machine
can do in capable hands. Our arrival slowdown began, from full
cruise, at maybe 500 feet. Steadily and somewhat vigorously we slowed
until reaching a hover at the pad.
There was nothing abrupt--it was a well rehearsed
maneuver done within the machines capability.
I'd recommend it to anyone. |
