Illinois aerials

[pbool]

b Here are some more pics of Ill from the gyro. One is of my house a few summers ago, another is the pecatonica slough area, an ultralight I saw below, and a truck race at the Pecatonica fairgrounds. JM

[ben]

nice pictures

[barnstorm2]

Good Shots! Do you know the FW UL pilot?

[pbool]

b I don't know who the ultralighter was as I never got up alongside him. I have 3 more to put on here. In the wide view, the nuclear towers can be seen at the upper right on the horizon. JM

[KenSandyEggo]

Is that where Homer works?

[StanFoster]

Good shots of Illinois. Keep em coming.

[WindRyder06]

John and Stan,
If you two keep taking pictures of Illinois we will have to download the state just to visit….. :eek:

Fly Safe,
Chris

[pbool]

b Due to injuries received in a car accident wednesday, I am grounded for a while. This gives me time to sort through some of the photos I have taken over the years. I have scanned some in and will post them. They cover all different seasons and are reather random. I'll try putting on those that at least have something of interest in them. I have lots of shots of farmland and they tend to all look alike. The first pic shows a group of whitetail deer to the left of the treeline. The next 2 are of a private estate that is like a giant park. The jungle looking area is the pec river where I used to fly a lot before the threat of a lawsuit closed the airport forever. The last is of the way I transported my gyro for quite a few years before I finally found a permanent place. John M

[barnstorm2]

Car Accident! I hope you recover fast! Those car things are dangerous! Great photos, Thanks!

[pbool]

b I have time to sit around and do this for a while so here are some more. Actually, I expect to be able to aviate in another week as the most damage I got was from the seat belt. I went from 15 mph to 0 in less than a car length so I got quite a jolt from it. I still can't take a deep breath. One of the pics was given to me by someone who took my picture from an ultralight. 2 of them are winter shots. The last is of the strip where I bought the gyro kit from in 1984 and first flew it from. John M

[StanFoster]

Great shots......makes me want to go fly.


Stan

[barnstorm2]

Sweet strip, I like the cornfield off the end, that gives me a feeling of safety.

I love in-flight shots. I need to get a new camera to do them though. My camera has a fixed wide angle lens.

Stan, when you go flying don't forget to post the pictues :)

[StanFoster]

Tim: I will..... :D

[KenSandyEggo]

That strip reminds me of when I was flying my Ercoupe in Illinois and looking for a grass strip having a fly-in. This was before GPS and Loran. My ex and I had a heck of a time finding it. It just blended in with the rest of the scenery. Of course even then I liked to fly low and slow, so that made it even harder.

[WindRyder06]

Sorry to hear about your car crash.... hope you are back in the air soon!!

Hey great pictures!!! Do you stil have that VW PickUp?



Chris

[pbool]

b I read my own text this morning and see that I said I wrecked at 15 mph when it was actually 45 mph. I wish it would have been 15. I'm afraid the vw pickup met a sad but possibly fitting end. I was launching a boat with it in the rock river when there was a loud pop under the truck. It was the sound of the brake line rupturing. I barely had time to exit the truck before it went clear under water. I had always heard the Germans knew how to make a good submarine. We got it out and had it running again the same day but within a year it had started rusting from the inside out and I had to call in the hospice people. The strip I fly from now has a bad tendency to blend in with the countryside especially when there are soybeans planted on both sides of it. Also, I used to have an ercoupe. It was a 1947 415c with a 75 hp engine and no rudder pedals.Later tonight I'll see if I can put some pics on here. John M

[pbool]

b The first pic is of a closed community called lake summerset. A guy in an ultralight and I in the gyro, landed on it while it was frozen. The fishermen loved it but the lake security people didn't. They let us know that we shouldn't do it again. The airstrip shot is the place we flew out of during a small ultralight fly-in. Sadly the strip has fallen into disuse because the owner got ill. The last 3 are of a strip that held a little ultralight fly-in. At both of these events, I had the biggest, bestest, fastest, and shiniest gyro there. (maybe even the only gyro).

[Charles]

You dont have your windshield on? I can't see it...
I'd like to see a pic from Duane's place if you got any.

Bye for now John...

Charles
Qbc

[pbool]

b I didn't have the windshield when those pics were taken. As far as shots of Duane's place go, I don't think I have any from the air. I have one that shows what the area around there looks like though. Way in the distance, below the tree line, you can see the tiniest bit of green. That would be the runway. When I am able to aviate again, I'll see about getting some air shots. A number of years ago, I loaned my bensen to a guy to do some hops and some damage happened. While the parts were on the way, I put the unit to another use. This was very temporary and the gyro was soon returned to its natural element. The boat was too narrow and tippy, but it worked fantastic when we put it on a wider one. John M

[pbool]

b In response to Charle's request for pics of the place I fly out of, here are 2 of them. I was out there today, and still being unable to fly, I took these pictures from the lowly ground. I was in a horrific crash with the pitbull about 3 years ago and came away with a cracked rib and 1 bruise. This car wreck has caused me vastly more problems than the gyro wreck ever did. After the air crash, I was back in the air the following week. I am hoping to be healed enough by next weekend to try again. The first pic is looking down the runway and the second is looking down the taxiway back to the hangar. He is planning to make the taxiway into a second runway this summer. John M

[Timchick]

Did you have the pitbull flying or was the crash when you were trying to get it in the air? Did you rebuild it?

[pbool]

At the time of the (insert C-word here) I had 17 hours on it. About 3 months later I had it back in the air and now have 129 hours on it. The crash was a result of the prerotator engaging while in flight. In spite of what experts said at Mentone, it is a disaster if it happens. I wrote up a full, detailed description of how it came about and mailed it to the PRA safety guy, but nothing ever came of it. John M

[Low'nSlow]

At the time of the (insert C-word here) I had 17 hours on it. About 3 months later I had it back in the air and now have 129 hours on it. The crash was a result of the prerotator engaging while in flight. In spite of what experts said at Mentone, it is a disaster if it happens. I wrote up a full, detailed description of how it came about and mailed it to the PRA safety guy, but nothing ever came of it. John M

Would it be possible for you to post it here? I had a thought about this when I first learned about prerotators. I imagine many would be very interested to learn from your experience.

[pbool]

I'll write it up and even include 2 photos of the culprit that caused it. It was a pretty bizarre way for it to happen but I suppose something similar could happen to someone else. I'll do it tonight after it gets dark and I have to come in. John M

[Timchick]

How do you like your Pitbull? I haven't talked to anyone else that's flying one. What are the positive things you like about it and what are the negative things (if any)?

[pbool]

About 3 years ago, I received and completed a pitbull kit. Taxi tests were a nightmare, but a few easy mods completely cleared that up. During the crow hop phase it seemed that the engine wasn't reaching full revs and the result was a very sluggish gyro. The airport owner noticed that the exhaust smoke seemed excessivly black and sure enough we discovered the choke cables weren't releasing the chokes all the way. The lever always had been very stiff and hard to operate, so I disconnected them at the splitter tube and tucked it out of the way. The gyro ran much better then and I was soon making trips around the pattern. This went on for (here it comes) several weeks, during which time I would start the engine by reaching into the cowling and wrapping my fingers around the air cleaner. When it starting firing I would cover the other one until it was running smoothly. It has an electric start so I could accomplish it by myself. On this particular flight, I decided to go out farther than usual and explore the flight envelope a little. I took off and climbed straight ahead until I was clear of the strip. I then made a 90 degree turn to the left, levelled out after maybe a half mile then made another 90. By this time I was out of sight of the airport, a fact I still think about. A look at the panel showed everything as it should be with an airspeed of 55. I had just settled back in the seat and was thinking how nice it was going and how smooth everything was when I was jolted out of my euphoria by a very severe shudder that shook everything in a most violent manner. The gyro instantly went into a very fast , flat turn to the right. I applied full left rudder with no apparent slowing of the turn. I then gave it left stick, again with no results. By the time I had done all this, the gyro had gone completely around twice and impacted the ground HARD. The mast was torn off just above the mounting plates and punched a hole in the gas tank which then gushed gas all over my left foot. I made a very hasty exit but luckily there was no fire. I went back to turn the keys off only to disover they were both missing. I then realized that I had them both in my hand. The second big question in my mind at that point was, of course, what happened? The first big question that I and everyone else asked later was, how did you survive that? It took us some time to get a truck and flatbed to the scene, but it was while we were loading it onto the trailer that someone noticed the prerotator motor gear was engaged with the ring gear which was so bent up that it looked like a wave washer. When the cowling was removed the next day, the first thing that jumped out at me was those forgotten choke cables. I had simply unscrewed the not on top of the splitter tube and put it out of the way. They had worked their way out from under the throttle cables and had sprung up and wedged that large nut right between the 2 posts of the solenoid that turn on the motor. See photos. As for the pitbull, I had it back in the air in less than 3 months. When VanVoorhees heard that I had wrecked it, he called up and asked what I needed. I said a new mast and keel. I could get everything else locally. He said he would send me both for free if I would pay the shipping and he did. I now have 129 hours on it and find that it is a wonderful cool weather flier. I now have it apart in a program to lighten it up so it will operate better in warm weather. I had a low level bang-up with and am taking this OPPORTUNITY to incorporate some changes. I liked the pitbull enough to rebuild 3 years ago and the pleasure I have gotten from it justified the effort and expense. John M

[pbool]

To LOW & SLOW, I went to reply to your question and clicked on something wrong and it all went away. The pitbull came with a fixed tailwheel which I didn't like. I changed it to steerable and added footbrakes. I wrote this up and it is posted in the welcome mat forum under pbool, new guy. There are several photos of the tail wheel assembly. If I remember right, I ordered the kit in april and the packages came soon enough that I had it assembled by october. The instruction manual came in the last package but I had it nearly completed by then. I didn't find it particularly hard to build. I work in a large factory in the maintenance department and could get some of the special parts machined up in the model shop. The kit is mostly assembly and doesn't require a big amount of fabricating. John M

[pbool]

Here are some pics of Illinois that don't have snow in them. The one of the farm by the highway looks like it has a landing strip complete with taxiway, but it isn't. Lots of places around here look like landing strips but a lot of them are water wash ways in fields.

[animal]

Seeing what happened with the solinode,I would look into some of those Rubber boots that go over the termanals. if you have not something like that already.

[pbool]

When I rebuilt the pit after the wreck, I eliminated the solenoid altogether and replaced the choke system with a primer. I now have a key operated switch for the prerotator and also a special toggle switch in series with that. The toggle has to be pulled forward and latched up to enable the starter. After spinning up, I then flip the toggle back down. The new starter has the solenoid built into it. JM

[animal]

Good deal sounds like you fixed that Problem.

[Timchick]

Please post some pictures of the Pitbull.

[pbool]

I might have put some of these on somewhere else. Quite a few of the ones I have are of specific components, such as the tail wheel assembly and the mods I made to it. JM