fiebichpvJune 4, 2013, 2:35am
Wheat Flight
In between tornados, Kansas does have nice weather. One of those pleasant evenings occurred yesterday (06-02-2013). The wind was 5 mph blowing directly across the runway, temperature hovering around 70 degrees and even at 7:15 PM there was plenty of flying time remaining in the clear sky before official sunset at 8:47 PM. Un-resistable! I want to share it with you.
After completing another portion of my Annual Condition Inspection, I pushed my AirBike through the huge open hangar door, out past the concrete apron and onto the grass. I phoned my friend, Brent Boggs (PPC guy) to act as Safety Ground Support and informed him of my flight plans and anticipated return time. With the pre-flight completed, I was soon rumbling down the sod runway and became airborne when my shadow and the plane separated.
Kansas has been in a serious drought for the past two years, sub-soil moisture is non-existent and the water supply reservoirs for many cities are four to seven feet below normal. That is a lot of acre-feet lost to these shallow basins. At the current rate, Wichita is projected to run out of water by 2015! Watering restrictions are being considered. We need lots of rain.
In spite of the drought, recent rains have raised some reservoirs nine INCHES and added enough moisture to perk up the winter wheat planted last fall. The runoff allowed the Arkansas River to begin flowing again. These rainfalls will help tremendously with the spring crops and first hay cutting. After that---well, we just hope the current rate of rainfall continues.
This is the most beautiful time to fly in Kansas, second is during the fall color change. We have only a few varieties of trees, so the color variation is somewhat muted. Now everything is lush! Trees are in full leaf displaying their dark colors and the wheat fields look like carpets. As one photo notes, an early wheat planting last fall resulted in one field already starting to turn from green to gold. From 700' they appear as huge golf course putting greens.
The wind at ground level was so light that pickup trucks zooming down the gravel roads left stagnant horizontal "tornados" behind them. Bar-B-Q smoke rose almost straight up until being blown horizontal by the wind at about 500 feet. I like to fly through Bar-B-Q smoke, mmmmm!
To reduce soil erosion from rain runoff, many fields are contoured. A side benefit of this landscaping is that we can make our own hills here in the flatlands. Because of the Osage Orange windbreak trees bordering many fields, it is important to pick one with a wide access farm road when chosing an emergency landing site, least a plane get trapped in a tree-bordered field.
The photos below provide a glimpse of what springtime Kansas has to offer and what I experienced yesterday. Staying low, I waved to farm kids playing in their yard, golfers making putts, circled friends farms, and did touch 'n go's at two airparks. Occasionally I let out a blast of smoke and wagged my wings to ground responders. I think that makes the day for both of us.
Returning to Selby Aerodrome I made some practice landings. The first three were unacceptable but the fourth was almost a "greaser", obviously I need to practice that skill as well as flying and photography. Landing at 8:40 still left about 20 minutes of twilight beyond Official sunset.
Refueling finished, I began pushing my plane into the hangar when the unmistakable noise of a distant approaching aircraft caught my ear. It was Don returning from a pleasure flight in his beautiful white Titan Tornado. With my plane nestled in its parking place, he taxied into the hangar then shut down. He was as pleased with the evening flight as I.
God, I love this flying activity!
Paul D. Fiebich
In between tornados, Kansas does have nice weather. One of those pleasant evenings occurred yesterday (06-02-2013). The wind was 5 mph blowing directly across the runway, temperature hovering around 70 degrees and even at 7:15 PM there was plenty of flying time remaining in the clear sky before official sunset at 8:47 PM. Un-resistable! I want to share it with you.
After completing another portion of my Annual Condition Inspection, I pushed my AirBike through the huge open hangar door, out past the concrete apron and onto the grass. I phoned my friend, Brent Boggs (PPC guy) to act as Safety Ground Support and informed him of my flight plans and anticipated return time. With the pre-flight completed, I was soon rumbling down the sod runway and became airborne when my shadow and the plane separated.
Kansas has been in a serious drought for the past two years, sub-soil moisture is non-existent and the water supply reservoirs for many cities are four to seven feet below normal. That is a lot of acre-feet lost to these shallow basins. At the current rate, Wichita is projected to run out of water by 2015! Watering restrictions are being considered. We need lots of rain.
In spite of the drought, recent rains have raised some reservoirs nine INCHES and added enough moisture to perk up the winter wheat planted last fall. The runoff allowed the Arkansas River to begin flowing again. These rainfalls will help tremendously with the spring crops and first hay cutting. After that---well, we just hope the current rate of rainfall continues.
This is the most beautiful time to fly in Kansas, second is during the fall color change. We have only a few varieties of trees, so the color variation is somewhat muted. Now everything is lush! Trees are in full leaf displaying their dark colors and the wheat fields look like carpets. As one photo notes, an early wheat planting last fall resulted in one field already starting to turn from green to gold. From 700' they appear as huge golf course putting greens.
The wind at ground level was so light that pickup trucks zooming down the gravel roads left stagnant horizontal "tornados" behind them. Bar-B-Q smoke rose almost straight up until being blown horizontal by the wind at about 500 feet. I like to fly through Bar-B-Q smoke, mmmmm!
To reduce soil erosion from rain runoff, many fields are contoured. A side benefit of this landscaping is that we can make our own hills here in the flatlands. Because of the Osage Orange windbreak trees bordering many fields, it is important to pick one with a wide access farm road when chosing an emergency landing site, least a plane get trapped in a tree-bordered field.
The photos below provide a glimpse of what springtime Kansas has to offer and what I experienced yesterday. Staying low, I waved to farm kids playing in their yard, golfers making putts, circled friends farms, and did touch 'n go's at two airparks. Occasionally I let out a blast of smoke and wagged my wings to ground responders. I think that makes the day for both of us.
Returning to Selby Aerodrome I made some practice landings. The first three were unacceptable but the fourth was almost a "greaser", obviously I need to practice that skill as well as flying and photography. Landing at 8:40 still left about 20 minutes of twilight beyond Official sunset.
Refueling finished, I began pushing my plane into the hangar when the unmistakable noise of a distant approaching aircraft caught my ear. It was Don returning from a pleasure flight in his beautiful white Titan Tornado. With my plane nestled in its parking place, he taxied into the hangar then shut down. He was as pleased with the evening flight as I.
God, I love this flying activity!
Paul D. Fiebich
