Can you say CARNAGE? There where many solo crashes (five if I counted correctly)
including Barry Baskin's beater Ellipse 2V, a
total loss this time. And there were three mid-airs. In one mid-air going opposite
directions (down wind plane took too low of a
line), the upwind plane sliced the downwind guy's tail off. The tail-less one hit the
ice plant hard while the other finished the
race. The most spectacular mid-air was between Gavin Botha and I didn't hear who the
other pilot was. They were mixing it up from
the beginning of the heat and came close to hitting each other a handful of times.
Near the end of the race they both made
aggressive turns at the pilot's platform turn, got tangled together and both plowed
into the ground at high speed - plane confetti!!
I spent most of the day at turn B where much of the excitement was. There were also
some spectacular near disasters. Like Tom Copp
flying a new Acacia pulled a very hard turn B with a too far aft C.G. After
completing the turn, it tip stalled and augered right
into the ice plant. Fortunately, the augering slowed it down such that there was NO
damage.
And who can forget the single engine full sized aircraft LANDING on the airstrip?
Remember, the Davenport Slope Site is actually
a working dirt airstrip called Las Trancas airport! This plane flies over and banks
out toward the ocean. I'm at the turn A area
and yell The Plane, boss, The PLANE!! Nobody listens to me; they figure this guy
won't actually land and so they keep racing.
The plane comes around and turns into the wind and I look down the strip and there are
MANY cars projecting onto the dirt strip. I
say to myself, there is no way this guy is going to land. So he proves me wrong and
touches down in 500 feet less than he is used
to (he reported this fact later). If he continued in a straight line, he would have
collided with at least two cars. But he
quickly exercises his rudder and disaster is averted. The take-off was equally as
spectacular - he was in the air and climbing at a
30 degree angle in about a 100 yards showing us his belly at full throttle as he banks
out over the ocean. Sorry I forget what
aircraft it was; somebody will fill that detail in for me. This was a macho bush
pilot clearly. The pilot had a friend with him
and he was very jovial about the impeded runway - he just wanted to show his friend
the airport!!
The wind was light for much of the morning. I guesstimate it peaked at 20 knots but
was lower than this most of the day. 23 pilots
registered, but by the days end, the number still competing was definitely lower. 7
rounds were flown. I expect they will fly 3 to
5 rounds max tomorrow. All in all it was a very exciting day. I am looking forward
to winning the worker's raffle tomorrow so I
can take home MY new sweet yellow/purple Acacia!!
Pat McCleave wrote:
Hey Guys,
Any news yet from the ISR? Midwesterners want to know details.
See Ya,
Pat McCleave
Wichita, KS
-- James
.-_--.
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