thunder669July 17, 2011, 4:54am
tonight was a perfect evening for friends, family and flying. my neighbor Jeff lives a few houses down from me is a 747 pilot flying to tokyo and back and today was his annual summer party. His house is where our grass and paved runways intersect and the weather turned out amazing. low winds, maybe a little warm at 92 degrees but just wonderful. he had great food a live band and of course flying. unfortunately Jeff's bell 47 is down for maintenance but luckly one of our other chapter members has a freshly restored bell 47 and brought it out to give rides in it. they are huge into the young eagles and will be flying young eagles in oshkosh this year. this brings us to the flying. my 11 yo daughter went for her first helicoptor ride and got her offical young eagles log book which she is so proud of. and they weren't doint just a quick trip around the pattern, they were going on 30 min plus rides and they would not accept one penny for it, truely great people.
well after my daughter got back from her flight the pilot mentioned a possible hun sighting to the north. i wasted no time in running down to my hangar and pulling out my bird. after a quick but thorough preflight i strapped in and fired up that mighty merlin, oops i mean rotax. i taxied down to 27 did my run up and took off in less then 200 feet. after a few laps around the pattern and screaming high speed passes down the runway (hey 90 is screaming in a max) just to ensure the immediate area was clear and of course to give a couple good photo ops to the people at the party i peeled off to the horth in search of the huns. it was a clear sky so they had nowhere to hide from me. it only took me a couple minutes to spot what had been reported down below flying right on the deck i saw red and black so i dove down ready for battle as i closed in i saw who it was. just a couple of our local ppc guys also enjoying the calm evening air. now knowing that the area was safe i did a couple passes down their strip to help them feel more secure about the new show of force protecting the local skys. at this point i return home and after another high speed pass at about 10 feet AGL i circle back around and make a perfect 3 point landing and taxi back to the party and park right in Jeff's backyard to a bunch of questions and comments on the plane. unfortunately this is when reality set in and all to soon i had to taxi the plane back to the hangar, get a shower and head to work. man i wish i could have stayed and joined in on the festivities of music and ice cold beer but hey gas and 2 stroke oil isn't free so i go to work and make money to help keep the skies over mid michigan safe. will try to post some pics tomorrow
There was also a really nice cherokee and cessna taking advantage of the nice weather and flying around the area
well after my daughter got back from her flight the pilot mentioned a possible hun sighting to the north. i wasted no time in running down to my hangar and pulling out my bird. after a quick but thorough preflight i strapped in and fired up that mighty merlin, oops i mean rotax. i taxied down to 27 did my run up and took off in less then 200 feet. after a few laps around the pattern and screaming high speed passes down the runway (hey 90 is screaming in a max) just to ensure the immediate area was clear and of course to give a couple good photo ops to the people at the party i peeled off to the horth in search of the huns. it was a clear sky so they had nowhere to hide from me. it only took me a couple minutes to spot what had been reported down below flying right on the deck i saw red and black so i dove down ready for battle as i closed in i saw who it was. just a couple of our local ppc guys also enjoying the calm evening air. now knowing that the area was safe i did a couple passes down their strip to help them feel more secure about the new show of force protecting the local skys. at this point i return home and after another high speed pass at about 10 feet AGL i circle back around and make a perfect 3 point landing and taxi back to the party and park right in Jeff's backyard to a bunch of questions and comments on the plane. unfortunately this is when reality set in and all to soon i had to taxi the plane back to the hangar, get a shower and head to work. man i wish i could have stayed and joined in on the festivities of music and ice cold beer but hey gas and 2 stroke oil isn't free so i go to work and make money to help keep the skies over mid michigan safe. will try to post some pics tomorrow
There was also a really nice cherokee and cessna taking advantage of the nice weather and flying around the area
Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return
