fiveboy
04-13-2009, 05:21 AM
Heres a story about Saturday that only fellow pilots could appreciate:
Jay (my best pal since im 14 and my hangar mate) and I decided we would fly together for the first time - he in his Quicksliver me in JJ. We met at 8am so we could get the drop on the static cooler air. When we got there Pillos (probably the best ultralite pilot in Panama and Jays instructor in the Q) said Ill fly with you. lets go to "Green Fields" which is an area of land that appears when the water in the lake is low. We flew out. There was the slightest cross, more of an angle really, so rather than go down the center line I picked a corner of the runway and landmark in the distance that put me more directly into the little breeze and made a textbook flat take off. Its my habit to circle the field once before I head off so that I can make sure there are no engine bogeys and I can have altitude before I cross over the squalid huts and the canopy before the lake. I was now behind and above the two. GORGEOUS. Low water lots of places to land, very tropical and Nat Geo. I had told the guys you two land and Ill circle because I didnt relish the thought of landing on a strange beach which I may or may not be able to get out of. As it happens its a large area and there is quite a lot of "strip" though it does have driftwood, soft parts, some coral here and there (I never knew fresh water had coral!). Its really nice but I still wasnt going to land.
Pillos landed as I overflew him. Then I turned and was coming toward Jay as he was on final (parallel not close). As he was at my 3 I made my turn toward him to watch him land and overfly. I watched him level out and I thought... why is he landing where there are all those clumps of tall grass here there and everywhere vs the clearing past all that? He touched nose first, the wheel dug in hard, and then it basically crashed on its nose. At this point I was just overflying him at about 300 feet agl. I looked down and then back and I didnt see any movement. I was literally praying that he was ok and that there would be no fire. I was now over an area that was much more clear and didnt look soft so I cut the engine and came in for a fast emergency soft field landing. My mark from the tailwheel showed I landed in about 20 feet. I had to wait for the rotor to stop and then I ran back to see if he was ok or not.
He was just getting out of the wreck. The frame and pedals etc had crumpled around his legs and he was trapped and could even reach the shut off for the motor (which thankfully is above and behind as a pusher). We have since discussed putting an engine kill switch within reach, something I intend to do for everything past the battery so if I am going in I can de energize everything. In fact he thought his leg might be broken because he couldnt move it until he was extricated. He had dirt all over his back and neck, his pants were shredded on one leg and he had scrapes and some bruisng on a leg.... thats all! SUPER LUCKY. He came in too flat, to short and just dropped it in.
Ok so now what do we do? Pillos calls some of the members and flies back and gets Maxie the resident (literally he lives there) mechanic helper and they return with tools and start taking apart whats wrecked and making an assessment. After that Pillos flies back and comes back with two other planes (there are now 5 on the beach) and the entire front end from another members equivalent plane and we spend the next few hours deconstucting and then reconstructing. In the sun in the middle of nowhere where there are crocs.
Fixed!
Now its time to leave. The wind is now blowing pretty good but at least its straight down the "runway" we had cleared earlier. I have practiced soft field once since I got here... so I volunteered to go first. I had mentally rehearsed exactly what I would do and where I would aim all day. No nerves all focus. I get the prerotator (second time that day with the new install of yet another cable) to 180 by really babying along. I do a standard take off at much higher speed into a good wind and as soon as the nose lifts I "feather" that puppy up fast. ZOOM I am clear in no time. I circle once to gain alt and by the time Im over everyone to head back im at 1000 feet agl with a strong tail wind. PERFECT.
Landed with no incidence. Some ten minutes later everyone else landed. From 8am to when we got back - 6 hours.
Big adventure.
If Pillos ever figures out how to download the photos I took on his phone, Ill post them.
Jay (my best pal since im 14 and my hangar mate) and I decided we would fly together for the first time - he in his Quicksliver me in JJ. We met at 8am so we could get the drop on the static cooler air. When we got there Pillos (probably the best ultralite pilot in Panama and Jays instructor in the Q) said Ill fly with you. lets go to "Green Fields" which is an area of land that appears when the water in the lake is low. We flew out. There was the slightest cross, more of an angle really, so rather than go down the center line I picked a corner of the runway and landmark in the distance that put me more directly into the little breeze and made a textbook flat take off. Its my habit to circle the field once before I head off so that I can make sure there are no engine bogeys and I can have altitude before I cross over the squalid huts and the canopy before the lake. I was now behind and above the two. GORGEOUS. Low water lots of places to land, very tropical and Nat Geo. I had told the guys you two land and Ill circle because I didnt relish the thought of landing on a strange beach which I may or may not be able to get out of. As it happens its a large area and there is quite a lot of "strip" though it does have driftwood, soft parts, some coral here and there (I never knew fresh water had coral!). Its really nice but I still wasnt going to land.
Pillos landed as I overflew him. Then I turned and was coming toward Jay as he was on final (parallel not close). As he was at my 3 I made my turn toward him to watch him land and overfly. I watched him level out and I thought... why is he landing where there are all those clumps of tall grass here there and everywhere vs the clearing past all that? He touched nose first, the wheel dug in hard, and then it basically crashed on its nose. At this point I was just overflying him at about 300 feet agl. I looked down and then back and I didnt see any movement. I was literally praying that he was ok and that there would be no fire. I was now over an area that was much more clear and didnt look soft so I cut the engine and came in for a fast emergency soft field landing. My mark from the tailwheel showed I landed in about 20 feet. I had to wait for the rotor to stop and then I ran back to see if he was ok or not.
He was just getting out of the wreck. The frame and pedals etc had crumpled around his legs and he was trapped and could even reach the shut off for the motor (which thankfully is above and behind as a pusher). We have since discussed putting an engine kill switch within reach, something I intend to do for everything past the battery so if I am going in I can de energize everything. In fact he thought his leg might be broken because he couldnt move it until he was extricated. He had dirt all over his back and neck, his pants were shredded on one leg and he had scrapes and some bruisng on a leg.... thats all! SUPER LUCKY. He came in too flat, to short and just dropped it in.
Ok so now what do we do? Pillos calls some of the members and flies back and gets Maxie the resident (literally he lives there) mechanic helper and they return with tools and start taking apart whats wrecked and making an assessment. After that Pillos flies back and comes back with two other planes (there are now 5 on the beach) and the entire front end from another members equivalent plane and we spend the next few hours deconstucting and then reconstructing. In the sun in the middle of nowhere where there are crocs.
Fixed!
Now its time to leave. The wind is now blowing pretty good but at least its straight down the "runway" we had cleared earlier. I have practiced soft field once since I got here... so I volunteered to go first. I had mentally rehearsed exactly what I would do and where I would aim all day. No nerves all focus. I get the prerotator (second time that day with the new install of yet another cable) to 180 by really babying along. I do a standard take off at much higher speed into a good wind and as soon as the nose lifts I "feather" that puppy up fast. ZOOM I am clear in no time. I circle once to gain alt and by the time Im over everyone to head back im at 1000 feet agl with a strong tail wind. PERFECT.
Landed with no incidence. Some ten minutes later everyone else landed. From 8am to when we got back - 6 hours.
Big adventure.
If Pillos ever figures out how to download the photos I took on his phone, Ill post them.