SloMaxJuly 6, 2013, 2:41am
Sunday nite, my friend Wayne gave me a call and we met out at Daniels Field at around 7:30. The wind was from due West at 8-10, a full crosswind, but after helping Noah with weight and balance for a few minutes, it died down to almost nil.
Wayne and I took to the skies, and he led us up to Randy's Grove. This is a place named by our small group of lite plane pilots, because our good friend and instructor, Randy, used to take newbies up there to impress them flying through the trees. It's farmland with several little forests that form these paths you can fly through that kind of wind around with 100' tall trees on either side. These paths through the trees are really wheat fields, about 200' wide. It's idyllic to wind your way through on a very calm morning or late evening.
Wayne and I flew and chased each other, over, around, under, and through Randy's Grove, for almost an hour. Waynes plane was much faster than mine, but I did get him in my sites more than a few times, and the rat tat tat, as I pressed that button on top of my stick was almost deafening in my plane, though I doubt Wayne could barely hear it. I must not be a very good shot, or I need one of them Mark II sites, cause his plane was not affected in the slightest.
I think I flew my lowly Max the fastest it's gone yet, at least with me in it. With a high throttle and some descent thrown in, it will do 80mph or more, enough to gain on Wayne when he was already down on the deck. The "turns left great, but scary to the right"on my plane, was noticed worse than ever, when Wayne would execute a hard right to get away from my Browning .50 calbres.
I must tell you that, fully half the joy of the flight, was watching Wayne fly his beautiful, gleaming plane (a Rans S-14 w/ HKS) in the light of the setting sun. It almost sparkled and looked so graceful as it would disappear ahead of me, in a hard bank around the trees of the grove.
When it got dark enough that the Rans' dark blue paint job was fading into the trees, we headed home. Back on the ground, Wayne had "that smile" that we pilots know so well. I assumed that I had it too.
Truly, one of my best sunset flights, ever.
Wayne and I took to the skies, and he led us up to Randy's Grove. This is a place named by our small group of lite plane pilots, because our good friend and instructor, Randy, used to take newbies up there to impress them flying through the trees. It's farmland with several little forests that form these paths you can fly through that kind of wind around with 100' tall trees on either side. These paths through the trees are really wheat fields, about 200' wide. It's idyllic to wind your way through on a very calm morning or late evening.
Wayne and I flew and chased each other, over, around, under, and through Randy's Grove, for almost an hour. Waynes plane was much faster than mine, but I did get him in my sites more than a few times, and the rat tat tat, as I pressed that button on top of my stick was almost deafening in my plane, though I doubt Wayne could barely hear it. I must not be a very good shot, or I need one of them Mark II sites, cause his plane was not affected in the slightest.
I think I flew my lowly Max the fastest it's gone yet, at least with me in it. With a high throttle and some descent thrown in, it will do 80mph or more, enough to gain on Wayne when he was already down on the deck. The "turns left great, but scary to the right"on my plane, was noticed worse than ever, when Wayne would execute a hard right to get away from my Browning .50 calbres.
I must tell you that, fully half the joy of the flight, was watching Wayne fly his beautiful, gleaming plane (a Rans S-14 w/ HKS) in the light of the setting sun. It almost sparkled and looked so graceful as it would disappear ahead of me, in a hard bank around the trees of the grove.
When it got dark enough that the Rans' dark blue paint job was fading into the trees, we headed home. Back on the ground, Wayne had "that smile" that we pilots know so well. I assumed that I had it too.
Truly, one of my best sunset flights, ever.
Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. An excellent landing is when, without having to fix it, you can fly the same plane again.