Grass Strip Tour

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This weekend I had the good fortune to fly with some pilots that are members of the local ultralight club.

They took me on a tour of some of the ultralight friendly grass strips.

My first real experience flying on to and off of grass runways. They all were wet some were so soft it was like flying off of a bowl of french onion soup :o

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That is a real MASH unit. It is setup at Clearwater Airpark as the start of a museum. In the hangar to the right ( though you can't see it in the picture ) is a Russian Mig fighter.

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Houses, geese and lakes at the airpark

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feet and trees

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FWUL 2PL

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Low flying

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another

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More

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pilots bane

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Monster Tire Gyro!
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o

[Phil_Ruffin]

Great photos Tim, man you seem to have a great place to fly.

What did the fix wingers think of your gyro and have they ever flown with one before?

[Russell]

Tim just in case you wanted to know the power line you flew over could be 230K or 500K volts :o Russ

[CLS447]

Tim, you are doing great! It's alot of fun flying with others, ain't it? I bet they all think you're crazy flying with those spinning wings.

Did you have communications with them? They probably get off the ground quicker than you,right? Did you get a ride in the Quicksilver yet?

I swore That I was going to put a ton of hours on my 447 last season & we ended up getting alot of rain. I had the time but not good weather. You are certainly off to a great start this year! Keep up the great work & pics!!

Is the new tank on yet? How are your brakes & prerotator working for you? Don't forget to preflight the P.R, well! I had a broken Hiem joint on the prop end of the P.R. & I didn't even know it! Is your rubber wheel wearing nice & round or are you getting flat spots? That's all.

P.S. Don't forget the safety wire !!!!!!!!!!

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Thanks guys!

Phil,

My gyro is the first most of them have ever seen so I am kind of a celebrity. A couple of members turned out just to see me fly. My first couple of takeoffs were 'ungraceful' as I learned how to handle the drag and bumpyness of the soggy grass.

Russ,

Do you know how many Amps?? ;)

Chris,

Yea, considering they are flying 'lawnmowers' as well I figured it would be not so much of difference for them but it turns out they are just as amazed that it flies as the GA pilots and general public. I have gotten so used to seeing only gyros fly at PRA34 It seems to me weird to fly anything BUT a gyro!!

I am waiting on a new bracket and spacers from Doug at AirCommand to install the new seat.

The new blades are coming in real useful though. When I got back this weekend I found that the prop and bolt from by airspeed sender had come off and gone through the prop. 2 of the 4 blades are damaged one with a quarter sized hole! >:(


Rubber wheel is doing ok. I don't use the PR much I just use it to get things rolling then I ride the brake and propblast the RRPM up on the long taxi way. The exception to this was this weekend when trying to take off on the soupy grass strips.

I will double check the PR welds next FCheck! Thanks!

[Screw]

Great pics! What size are those feet anyway?

John-

[barnstorm2]

Size 10. The trees must be small..