Flying to the Ken Brock Freedom Fly In!

Vance

Gyroplane CFI
Staff member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
18,357
Location
Santa Maria, California
Aircraft
Givens Predator
Total Flight Time
2600+ in rotorcraft
I had been checking the weather for more than a week to try to find patterns. This time of year locally (KSMX) it is pretty simple; coastal fog in the morning until the wind comes up a little and the fog returns when the winds die down.

Santa Ynez (KIZA) has fog in the morning that usually burns off sooner than SMX because it is further inland and warmer.

Santa Barbara (KSBA) is similar to SMX but because it is on the beach the fog may linger all day although it usually burns off sooner than SMX.

Santa Paula (KSZP) has the same costal weather we have but it is warmer because it is further south and less foggy because it is further inland. There winds can change suddenly and it is not unusual to have the active runway change three times during the day.

Taft may have ugly winds in the afternoon and sometimes tulle fog so thick they have huge pile ups on highway five. The wind often comes up in the afternoon and the runway is one way so taking off with a 20kt tail wind on the 3,200 by 60 foot runway is a real possibility.

General William J Fox Field (WJF) is pretty simple, gentle winds in the morning and big winds in the afternoon.

Rosamond Skypark Airport (L00) is a lot like WJF with a little bigger more unpredictable wind.

Between Taft and the high desert the winds can be so bad they have an Automated Surface Weather Observation Station at Sandberg (KSDB). They also get snow but not this time of year.

Edwards AFB (KEDW) is the closest weather to El Mirage and sometimes even has winds in the middle of the night.

Because Ed was still sick and Bob’s dad had a heart attack I had to revamp my packing scheme Thursday morning for the no ground support flight. I headed down to the airport through the thick fog in the M as the sun was coming up with a suitcase in the passenger seat and my back pack in the trunk. I pretended it looked promising and loaded things up as soon as I finished the preflight inspection and topped off the tanks for the first leg either to Taft or Santa Paula. SMX was still below IFR minimums as 10:00 came and went. I cleaned up the hangar from the weeks projects to prepare for the flight.

I greased the shimmy damper on the nose gear and busied myself with minor items as I watched the field go from 200 foot ceilings to 800 foot ceilings and then back down to 500 foot ceilings.

Lockheed Martin had an airmet for low ceilings and mountain obscuration along the entire costal route so Taft was looking better. There were several pilot reports of moderate to severe turbulence and the briefer checked both routes.

There was a small round dark cloud over the airport that refused to move and the wind kept brining more fog.

My patience and good judgment ran out at 11:30 with the ceilings at 800 feet. I asked for special VFR and closed traffic for my maintenance flight. The ATC gave me left closed traffic and the fog looked worse from 500 feet AGL.

The post flight inspection went well so I asked for a special VFR departure to the north east. Winds were 7kts straight down runway 30 but the dark cloud refused to move. Because of the intermittent below IFR conditions they had a lot of traffic coming in on 12. ATC gave me an intersection departure from runway 12 at foxtrot. I was to report reaching VFR and leaving the class Delta air space. As I waited at the hold short line for landing I watched several airliners emerge out of the fog as if by magic.

I found taking off with a 7kt tail wind provided some interesting challenges but as we climbed out things actually looked better to the East so I asked for a departure to the East South East and it was approved as requested. I was glad I had greased the shimmy dampener. I reported reaching VFR conditions less than a quarter mile from SMX and saw blue skies in about a half mile. I asked to cross the centerline to the east and it was approved as requested. I made the decision to head down the coast toward Santa Paula and rearranged my radio call sheets. I had marked three different routs on the chart with a few alternates.

As we turned east we encountered a 15kt head wind that grew to 20kts before we reached the San Marcos Pass. Santa Ynez looked iffy with 800 broken so we pressed on. The head wind seemed to accelerate the fuel gage’s descent but I made the decision to forgo a fuel stop at SBA. Patchy low clouds pushed us inland through No Name pass and the head wind weakened to 10kts as I called inbound to Santa Paula at 10 miles.

There were two aircraft in the pattern that were giving good radio so I slipped in easily.

A Citabria lined up for takeoff as we turned final but he was off quickly.

We touched down near the displaced threshold, called clear of the active and taxied to fuel.

I filled her up and stopped by to say hello to Al Ball and see if I could get him to fly his 18A up the event. He had more excuses than I had reasons. He told me he had decided to sell his 18A that he has been restoring as long as I have known him.

I had a quick snack at the picnic table and watched the tail dragger learning process.

It was time to head up the slot to Six Flags Magic Mountain so I called Lockheed Martin and they had winds at WJF at 6kts and even SDB was only reporting 17kts.

I have a tight schedule today so the flight to WJF will have to wait.

Thank you, Vance
 

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Onward to General William J Fox Field

Onward to General William J Fox Field

Take off was quick and we turned for our downwind departure I rejoiced at the 5kt tail wind. It was short lived and soon we were in some pretty wild mountain turbulence with head winds from 10kts to 30kts and some wild elevator rides.

I decided to head south along the grapevine rather than go straight over the ridgeline to WJF. As the winds picked up and I found an uncomanded climb from 4,800 feet to 6,800 feet I regretted that decision. I also had an 800 foot sink at full power.

The 50 minute flight took an hour and 20 minutes. As we descended over the high desert I checked the ATIS for Fox Field and in spite of an 18kt tail wind runway 6 was in use. I was to make a left base entry for runway 6 and report entering base. “Experimental 142 Mike Golf pick up your speed to 160, I have a Citation coming in behind you.” I replied “Experimental gyroplane 142 Mike Golf, unable, I am peddling as fast as I can.” We were making 8Okts of ground speed.

Fox tower asked; “Say again type aircraft?” I replied “Experimental GYROPLANE 142 Mike Golf.” “Sorry, I thought you said it was an RV.”

I watched the Citation land and it was not pretty. He nearly hit a wing tip and used the entire 7,200 feet of runway so I braced for trouble. It did not come and the landing was as nice as could be with a steady 090 degree 15kt wind. It was not lost on me that my heading out of WJF was 090 degrees. It was afternoon and time for the big winds. I chained her down and grabbed a bite to eat.

Thank you, Vance
 

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Onward to the KBFFI!

Onward to the KBFFI!

I had my mission focus so I checked ATIS and called ground for a taxi to runway 6.

After the magneto check I waited for a dust devil to pass and asked for a straight out departure with a slight right to the east.

The take off was quick and bumpy. We flew 800 feet above the ground with the winds blowing the chart around so much it was hard to read as we worked our way the across the 35 miles of high desert toward El Mirage Dry Lake and the Ken Brock Freedom Fly In.

We were rocking and rolling so I did not take a lot of pictures.

The charts didn't seem to line up with the rock formations.

I also had a road map and I followed the roads. I did not want to fly low enough to read the signs so it was mostly guess work.

The head wind became a gentle tail wind and in the distance I could see gyro cove and a gathering of enthusiasts as we flew over Marion’s home.

I made a nice enough landing and pulled up next to Carl’s green RV and secured her for the night.

There were enough friends that the rest of Thursday was a blur.

I was not organized because of the last minute change of plans and many of my friends wanted to help. I could not figure out how they could help and I just wanted some time to organize things and come up with a plan.

I met up with Russ and that worked out very well. He is a remarkable man and we had a lot of fun sharing a room in Adelanto. Lights out a 21:00 but the conversation lasted much later.

Thank you, Vance
 

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A lovely Friday!

A lovely Friday!

Russ and I were up fairly early and headed out to the lake. He agreed to be my ride into town Friday night but I was on my own after that.

I left my suitcase at the motel and just brought my back pack out with preflight briefings and releases anticipating a busy day.

Russ had some 100 low lead with him and it found its way into The Predators tank in the afternoon.

Britta came by bemoaning her lack of an aircraft and I told her I had two scheduled and I would love to take her flying afterward.

I finished up my preflight and still no passengers so after the pilot’s briefing Britta and I went flying around a bit. She decided to join me for the first flight to VCV for gas and we had a nice breakfast in their lovely restaurant.

The young man with the gas truck was building a gyroplane so he was very interested in the Predator and the goings on at the lake. He was scheduled to work thru the weekend so he couldn’t come out to the lake. I told him I would try to bring the event to him.

We didn’t get back to the KBFF till almost 11:00.

I was trying to give rides without ground support and I felt it was not going well. It is an FAA requirement that the seat belts be demonstrated and explained before taking a passenger up. I found this difficult to do without unplugging and unbelting and even then there were some challenges to be managed with belts and helmet plug in. The push to talk button on Ed’s helmet is small and people had a hard time with it.

The temperature was going up and The Predator’s performance was going down when Wes, Sindy and Todd Reeve came by. Wes had wanted to go up last year but the density altitude got the better of us. He wanted his son Todd to have a flight so I told him that if he would give me a ride from the motel in the morning that I would fly Todd first thing after my preflight. The deal was struck and I gave Sindy my cell number.

I continued to struggle without ground support with some of the riders helping with the next person.

Kevin Richey came by and offered to make a run into town to get some gas. I gave his wife a ride last year and again this year. She must like it. There were only around five people who had flown with me last year who wanted to go up again this year.

I was able to fly two of Marion’s daughters and made a new category of landing that I have named the “bounce and go” with one of the daughters right in front of Marion.

We went flying later and just Marion’s presence in the back made it a wonderful flight. I tried to understand her romance with El Mirage and play to it. It gave me a new appreciation for the magic of the lake bed. We traced the edges of the lake in the sky. We flew over the hill near her house and caught some lift. I played it and we simply circled our way into the heavens. The flight was one of the highlights of the event for me.

As it began to cool off I went looking for Todd and we had a nice early evening flight.

A brilliant full moon made the lake bed a fantastic place to be as the sun set.

It was late before I tracked down Russ and he gave me a ride into town. We were so engrossed in conversation that we missed out turn off twice.

As I was exiting Russ’s truck Wes, Sindy and Todd pulled up but I didn’t recognize them in the dark. They had decided to spend the night at the motel rather than coming and getting me in the morning.

I was tired but sleep did not come easy. It felt good to rinse the dirt off and I pretended the water was ideas as I tried to find a more creative way to manage rides on Saturday.

Sorry there are no pictures, maybe someone will add some.

Thank you, Vance

P.S. My friend Dan just emailed me some pictures so you can see what was going on. Thank you Dan!
 

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Vance

The pics looked great as always and sounds like that you had a great time as well!! How many gyros and helicopters were there out there this year?? Did I read correctly that next year will be the 50th anniversary??
 
You should be proud of The Predator!

You should be proud of The Predator!

Hello Mark,

I had a great time.

The Predator held up will to considerable abuse.

Saturday was the busy day and I will write about that and the fun on Sunday and the flight home.

I heard the number 24 aircraft there but I suspect more.

They came and went so it was hard to get an accurate count.

Scott Hedger showed up with his Helicopter on Friday and his gyroplane on Saturday.

I don’t know how many people were there, it seemed like more aircraft and fewer extraneous people.

I gave fewer rides than last year.

Yes, the next KBFF will be the 50th.

I talked to many people who remember your early days and building The Predator.

You should be proud of The Predator, she is a remarkable aircraft. I gave her a bath today.

It takes me a while to write about such an eventful weekend. I write about it and then check things and make sure I have not left out some salient event. I try to find better words to describe things and edit out things that are not relevant.

I don’t have any pictures from Saturday but I took a lot going home on Sunday.

Thank you, Vance
 
Saturday’s happenings from my perspective

Saturday’s happenings from my perspective

I was up early Saturday and trying to organize things.

I realized I needed to ask for some help or some of the fun of giving rides was going to leak out.

Kevin was the first person that came to mind but he was very busy with his Lego gyroplane.

A little before 7:00 the phone rang and it was my ride. I thought they were calling me from the lake but they were right there in the motel.

I hurried to get ready for departure and off we went in Todd’s very nice truck.

Their stay at the motel had not gone well.

As soon as we arrived at Gyro Cove I began working on the preflight.

I had given the helmets to Carl for safekeeping and he was up flying but he had put the helmets in the seat before he left. Carl was another who looked out of me throughout the event.

Todd came by and offered to help with the preflight and shortly Wes and Sindy joined us.

Wes’s flight went well in the cool morning air and I took one other up before the pilot’s briefing.

Both landings were compromised with opposite direction traffic. The lake bed was getting busy and the weight shift boys seemed to have trouble with the concept of left traffic. At least they are easy to see.

We had an opposite direction gyroplane that was less easy to see.

Scott Hedger showed up just before the pilots briefing and injected his special enthusiasm and safety focus. He convinced a gyroplane pilot who was just starting up to come to the briefing.

Scott wanted to organize a special Ken Brock memorial flight and a flight to VCV. Ken is the one who got Scott hooked on gyroplanes so he felt it was important to honor his memory. He felt a flight to VCV was a good opportunity for someone to fly to a controlled airport that didn’t have a radio. They ended up being a flight of six with three NORDO. I always enjoy Scott’s energy, creativity and imagination so I agreed to the memorial flight but demurred on the flight to VCV.

I asked Kevin for help and he asked Doug and Paul. They agreed if I would move the operation down to the chapter two embassy and join their chapter. I ended my next flight there and Doug worked very hard till sunset with a two hour break for weather at 14:00. He did well managing the four five gallon containers so we always had a light fuel load. We used it all and then some. More than half the flight is wide open as we climb to 1,000 feet above ground level before slow flight and pulling the power back. It is back to full power for the more aggressive maneuvers to maintain altitude.

Doug’s skills improved as the day wore on and we scheduled some of the larger enthusiasts for Sunday morning.

He worked till sunset; I could not have managed it without him. My count is twenty rides Saturday, fewer than last year. Doug handled the debriefing well and managed the schedule seamlessly.

There were basically two types of rides. Some people had trepidation about flying and wanted me to be as gentle as possible and some were looking for a thrill ride. I did not yield to the temptation and kept her down to 75 degrees. They were all fun and the post flight smiles were priceless.

The banquet was fun; Sindy had purchased a very nice steak for me and did a great job of cooking it.

Brandon was missed.

Kevin won the Man and Machine award and The Predator won the furthest distance flown to the event. At that time 540 trip miles showed on the GPS.

I am sorry I don’t remember who won the furthest distance or the furthest distance towing a gyroplane. I do remember it was over 1,100 miles of towing.

I hooked back up with Todd, Wes and Sindy for a ride to the motel a little after 22:00. Because of their motel challenges the night before they drove back out to the lake and drove back to town to pick me up Sunday. They did a great job of taking care of me and they are basically new friends although I had met Wes and Sindy the year before.

Sleep came easier and my old body found some new places to hurt.

I have pictures of Sunday’s flight home but they will have to wait because I have work to do.

I gave Lester a flight to lunch yesterday. He makes acoustic guitars for a living. A gyroplane flight was a long time dream of his and he liked every part of it. We met him at the Thunder Over The Valley air show and I fly over his house in Nipomo often. I found some things to address in the post flight inspecition.

I began the two step post El Mirage washing process yesterday and need to finish up today when I get done with work.

Thank you, Vance
 
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Sunday headed for home.

Sunday headed for home.

I got a call early Sunday from Wes who was using an unfamiliar phone so I was not able to understand him. We worked through it and got to the Lake a little before 9:00.

Preflight went well and my two scheduled flights didn’t show.

I had talked to Lonni several times and she wanted to become a pilot. She wanted me to take her mom, aunt and Marion flying first.

I had just enough gas for a flight around the lake and a flight to VCV so I asked Lonnie. She hustled around and soon we were flying over the lake bed. I told her I could not compete with Steve and fly my regular flight including following the winding dirt road. At some point we chased Glen around a little; he was trying out his Sky Wheels. Lonnie was clearly ready for more so I invited her to fly with us to VCV. I didn’t know the restaurant was closed weekends.

The flight over was nice and because of Scott’s flight of Six yesterday landing on the ramp ATC offered me the same option. I demurred and was to make right traffic for runway 21. Lonnie, who has been pouring over the FARs, noticed that the segmented circle showed left traffic and had not understood ATC. It was fun explaining their reasoning and procedures.

Our gyro friendly fuel truck driver filled her up and thanked me for they gaggle of gyroplanes that had showed up Saturday. I tried unsuccessfully to explain that I had nothing to do with it.

Lonnie loved the complete and sumptuous accommodations. We were ready for breakfast and after giving us the bad news about the restaurant being closed our friend offered the airport van and to lead us over to the best breakfast in Adelanto.

We had a great breakfast and shared a lot of conversation about the FAR’s, the flight and life in general.

It was almost 11:30 when we got back and I began the loading and good by process.

I could see the winds coming up but there is no way to hurry the process with so many friends coming by.

I called Lockheed Martin from Kevin’s motor home and the coastal fog seemed absent with the strongest winds being 13kts at Camarillo.

It was almost 12:30 when I made my first attempted take off. The wind changed direction and I aborted the take off and turned around to take off to the west. Less than half way across the lake the wind changed to about a 12kt tail wind and the blades tried to flap. It was short lived and we made a low pass down the flight line waving goodbye.

Soon we had a bumpy ride and dodged the dust devils showing an 80kt (92mph) ground speed with a 60kt (69 mph) indicated air speed. The afternoon high desert weather pattern had begun. The divergent flight paths kept the camera in my pocket and the speed down until we neared the pass toward Agua Dulce.

The highway presented a wonderful white ribbon following a meandering path through the hills. The turbulence seemed to escalate in the pass and then settled down to a steady 15kt tail wind over Santa Clarita. I could not find an altitude that was less bumpy so we stayed high.

The tail wind was saving fuel so we didn’t stop at Agua Dulce (L70). I could see we were not likely to divert for weather before reaching Santa Paula. L70 is the same frequency at Santa Paula (122.9) and I was surprised to hear runway 22 was in use indicating at some point in the next 30 miles the 15kt wind would reverse directions in the canyon. I braced for more turbulence.

I stayed high in the canyon because of the Fillmore NOTAM for 2,500 feet and below for UAVs.

I also wanted to miss the aerobatic box near Santa Paula.

I marveled at the patterns of the dry creek at the bottom of the canyon.

I found the wind shear and it was relatively benign.

We flew upwind over the city and joined the left downwind pattern for runway 22 slipping in between a Citabria and a Cessna 182.

We filled up and I had a quick visit with Al before I had lunch at the picnic table under the trees. Santa Paula is a lovely place to be on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Thank you, Vance
 

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Hi Vance,

My buddy and I came up late Sunday morning, and it was nice to meet you. Thank you for posting the pics! It would be an honor to ride with you one day.

David
 
Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum!

It was nice to meet you too David.

I hope you will take me up on my offer to fly to San Luis Obispo.

We do not have a lot of gyroplane enthusiasts in the LA area.

I took a Lester on that flight yesterday and we had a lot of fun.

He wrote me a nice email saying “Thanks for the ride yesterday and fulfilling my lifelong dream to fly in a gyroplane.” and a lot of other nice things. I am going to stop by his hours near here and see how he builds guitars. He builds around 25 a year.

Thank you, Vance
 
The Final Leg!

The Final Leg!

I checked with Lockheed Martin and it sounded like a lovely day to fly but not a great day for pictures with mist along the coast.

I was on the cusp of wanting to be home and not wanting the adventure to end.

There is certain sadness in the last takeoff of a flying adventure.

It was not going to be a quick flight with a 12kt head wind.

The sun reflected silver off the ocean inviting us toward the cooler temperatures.

The air changed as we approached the pacific and once we were inside the cooler air I turned west over the hills.

We flew over the crazy patterns of the costal oil fields toward Santa Barbara.

I checked the ATIS for SBA and called Santa Barbara approach from 20 miles east and was given a transponder code, radar contact was established and altitude verified. I asked for a transition through their air space to the west climbing from 2,500 feet to 4,500 feet then north over the San Marcos Pass. It was approved as requested. ATC was very busy and the next twenty minutes was filled with traffic alerts. There were a remarkable number of East bound flights flying VFR at 4,500 feet. The sunlight shining off the mist made it harder to spot opposite direction traffic. Santa Barbara approach has a collision alert alarm that sounds like the French fry alert at McDonalds. I go on high alert each time I hear it in the background. Fortunately it was usually not for me.

The feel of the air changed over Lake Cachuma and I could smell the Barbeque at Cold Springs Tavern.

It was soon replaced by the hot horsey smell of the Santa Ynez Valley.

I slowed down a little just to make the flight last and worked at appreciating the details.

We were soon traversing the brown rolling hills dotted with live oaks and catching the occasional thermal.

I slowed to 50kts as we caught lift along the ridgeline of the oil fields and pulled the power back to 2,000 RPM.

I checked ATIS and call Santa Maria Tower.

“Experimental 142 Mike Golf, make a straight in for runway 30 and report 2miles.”

Three miles out I heard “Experimental 142 Mike Golf, number two behind the Cherokee on a left base, report in sight.”

I already had the Cherokee in sight and was cleared to land. I was still two miles out when the Cherokee turned final. He stopped on the runway and seemed confused about what to do as we approached the numbers at 50kts of ground speed. The tower asked his intentions and he wanted to taxi back to 30. He had just wandered past Echo and the tower told him to turn right at Foxtrot no delay, gyroplane on short final. We were at 1,000 feet AGL and I slowed to 30kts indicated air speed making 18kts of ground speed letting the nose down once the Cherokee crossed the line. As I touched down at foxtrot I was to call ground when off. I called ground expecting to hear about separation and heard “welcome back Vance, 2 Mike Golf, taxi to parking via Echo Alpha have a great evening Vance.”

It was like walking into Cheers.

I let Ed know I had landed with Spot and sat in the afterglow for more than a half hour.

It feels good to be home.

Ed is feeling a lot better and Bob’s dad is smoking again.

Thank you, Vance
 

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WOW!!
So Awesome!
 
for not flying my own gyro at the KBFF this year, I had a wonderful time.

for not flying my own gyro at the KBFF this year, I had a wonderful time.

Fly-ins are about more than flying. A very large part is seeing old friends and making new ones, getting up to date on what's happening in the gyro community and so much more.

As usual, it was good to see everyone again. I turned down a ride with Al Bright in his powered parachute...that probably was a mistake on my part for I probably will be learning all about powered parachutes if daughter Linda has her way . She is talking of one day getting into that type of flying machine herself and wants a two place machine. After a ride with Al Bright she was hooked on powered parachutes.

I love the fact that my daughters and granddaughter are friends with my gyro friends. Thank you Vance for the great flight with you and Predator and for taking my girls flying. Granddaughter thinks you are right up there next to the Most Holy One. She is still talking of her Sunday flight with you.

I enjoy talking with Wayne, he is such a fountain of aviation knowledge.

And there is Glenn of the green 50th aniversary shirt...I think I fell in love too Glen.

It's impossible to list everyone whose company I enjoyed this past weekend. I look forward to seeing you all again next year.

Thank you all for showing this old gal a great time that will become good memories.
Marion
 
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Nice to hear from friends!

Nice to hear from friends!

Thank you Glen,

I need to learn your economy of words.


Thank you Mitch,

I feel you would have enjoyed the event a lot and I know you would have enjoyed the flight up and back.

Our flight up the beach pales in comparison to the flight to Santa Paula.


Thank you Marion,

It is always a pleasure to visit and fly with you.

I feel more connected with the Romance of El Mirage now.

Thank you for sharing your “girls”, they add a lot to the event.

Lonni is doing a great job of learning the FARs and understanding their application. As you know the latter part is what most people miss. I cannot remember the last conversation I had about the segmented circle and its application. Her questions about the role of ATC were thoughtful and to the point.

Thank you, Vance
 
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Hello Mark,

I had a great time.

The Predator held up will to considerable abuse.

Saturday was the busy day and I will write about that and the fun on Sunday and the flight home.

I heard the number 24 aircraft there but I suspect more.

They came and went so it was hard to get an accurate count.

Scott Hedger showed up with his Helicopter on Friday and his gyroplane on Saturday.

I don’t know how many people were there, it seemed like more aircraft and fewer extraneous people.

I gave fewer rides than last year.

Yes, the next KBFF will be the 50th.

I talked to many people who remember your early days and building The Predator.

You should be proud of The Predator, she is a remarkable aircraft. I gave her a bath today.

It takes me a while to write about such an eventful weekend. I write about it and then check things and make sure I have not left out some salient event. I try to find better words to describe things and edit out things that are not relevant.

I don’t have any pictures from Saturday but I took a lot going home on Sunday.

Thank you, Vance

Thanks for the reply Vance!! Sounds like a GREAT time was had by all!! Did Carl go for a ride with you? He is a long time gyro buddy that I haven't seen in a while!! With the 50th anniversary of the KBFF coming up next year I may have to come out!!

Thanks again for the great stories and pics!!!
 
Fun at the Fiftieth!

Fun at the Fiftieth!

That would be great to see you there Mark.

Carl was not the only one who asked after you.

Carl did not go flying with me.

Thank you again for all your help Carl.

It looked to me like everyone had a great time.

Thank you, Vance
 
The summation.

The summation.

I was going over what I had written looking for grammatical or spelling errors.

As I read the story I realized I left out a lot of my feelings.

There were moments on the way up when I felt uneasy with the turbulence.

There is something disquieting about being in an open aircraft 3,000 feet above the ground unable to manage air speed, altitude or yaw with anything approaching precision. The indicated air speed was swinging wildly between 40 and 75kts. I often saw the yaw string briefly at 30 degrees from the direction of flight and felt the wind hard against the side of my face.

Most of my fantasies about where the turbulence would be were simply wrong because I was not able to predict the wind direction.

I found joy in the cessation of chaos and a feeling of accomplishment as we touched down at General William J Fox Field.

On the flight back I felt less insecure because the divergence seemed more casual and predictable. I don’t know if it was actually less, I was flying better or had simply developed a higher tolerance for divergence. The maximum yaw string divergence was probably less than 15 degrees on the way back.

I should point out that the weather I encountered was not reported anywhere and occurred while the wind at Fox Field varied between nine and eleven knots. I would not knowingly fly into weather like that. Next time I will go straight toward Agua Dulce instead of turning left just to keep my altitude down. It didn’t work.

During the Ken Brock Freedom Fly In as I shared the gyroplane experience, often with complete strangers I found real pleasure in executing the maneuvers with precision. I find joy in imagining how they will remember the flight. Most of the debriefings were about maneuverability but a surprising number were about how smooth it was. Surprising because in my opinion The Predator is not smooth.

My inelegant landings were a great embarrassment to me. This was exacerbated because I am usually pleased with my landings and feel as though I brag about them in my flying adventure narratives.

There were many unexpected magic moments for me where my spirit soared or my confusion was raised to a higher level.

I found satisfaction in not finding a single thing in any of the preflight or post flight inspections. I try hard to maintain The Predator but she is on the far side of 1,200 hours and first flew 13 years ago.

By the time I left I had a much better connection with El Mirage. I had a feel for the history and the romance of El Mirage Dry Lake and felt more a part of that history and romance.

My dry lakes racing is very different than my flying requiring a different focus and resources. They are both about passion and involve supportive friends. Both leave enduring memories of the pageantry.

I felt a bond of friendship that is very difficult to describe. I felt helpless without Ed as ground support. My friends were so generous in helping me manage. I did not encounter a single harsh word during the event or on the flight up or back. It was like disharmony had been suspended.

As a person with a traumatic brain injury I was particularly pleased I did not succumb to Friday’s chaos and simply worked through the details. The key was abandoning my independence and trusting my friends. This is not easy for me because I struggle to achieve functionality and independence. I find admitting my limitations and accepting help particularly difficult. I made a conscious decision that I wanted to have fun and realized that my friends would have fun helping me with that process.

The hard numbers are:
685 nautical miles, 788 statute miles for the adventure.
An average ground speed of 54kts (62 miles per hour) including several miles of taxi time at 10kts.
A maximum ground speed of 97kts (112 miles per hour).
12 hours and 38 minutes of time in the air.
We used approximately 87 gallons of 100LL and two quarts of oil.

I feel it was time and money well spent and I look forward to our next aviation adventure and next year’s Ken Brock Freedom Fly In. I am grateful for the opportunities. I find that sharing the fun with my friends on the forum enhances the joy I found in flying an experimental gyroplane to the 49th Ken Brock Freedom Fly In.

Yesterday I shared the challenges and solutions with my friends at Jodi House, my traumatic brain injury support group, and they could all relate. I feel very fortunate that my many friends have helped to give me the resources to have such an adventure.

Thank you, Vance
 
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Vance,

That was a great story!! You must be quite an inspiration to the others in your support group at the Jodi House!! Hopefully the trip down next year will be smoother than this last one!! It is nice to know that the Predator can handle the turbulence that you experience.. If I would have experienced that I would probably need a change of drawers when I landed!!

Hope to make it out for the 50th next Sept. and see everyone!! Trying to get a few others that used to be part of PRA Chapter 5 to come too!!
 
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