Ken Brock Freedom Fly in by the inland route.

[Vance]

This entire week we have had fog until early afternoon. There were two days where Santa Barbara only went VFR for an hour. The last two times I have flown to The Ken Brock Freedom Fly In I have gone down the coast to Santa Paula and then up the hill to Fox field before heading over to El Mirage Dry Lake and the gyro cove. To miss the fog I decided to head for Taft and then up the grapevine hill until we came across the high desert.

Ed was cleaning out the truck when I headed for the airport with the sky conditions 400 overcast. I figured I would just hang around until the ceiling was 700 feet and depart special VFR.

As I watched the Airport gate roll back the overcast retreated and there was suddenly blue sky above.

I called Lockheed Martin and they still hadn’t got the word but he looked at the satellite pictures and said that the fog had backed off to the edge of the airport and as long as I was going north east I should be ok. I was in the air by 11:30 with a right crosswind departure to the north east.

I climbed high enough to go straight over the hills but I didn’t like the idea of landing out there if the engine went quiet so I worked my way back to California 166. Off in the mist I could see higher hills but I had no idea just how high. I looked at my chart but it was difficult to be precise because mist made it hard for this one eyed pilot to judge distance.

There was some pretty good turbulence and The Predator wagged her tail through about 30 degrees. She rocked and rolled over the hills. I found there were hills in the air too.

We were pushing a 15kt head wind and 100 degree temperatures. It was smoother near the center of the Valley and got rougher as we approached the sides. When the valley would take a turn sometimes she would sink at 600 feet per minute and sometimes she just climbed all the time wagging her tail. It was fun trying to anticipate the way the wind caressed the mountains but I found I was often wrong.

The road follows the river and Ed likes the tortuous path of the deep channel cut through the floor of the Cuyama valley and the way it fades off into the mist.

We followed the valley all the way to New Cuyama even though we needed to turn left. The area looked a little rugged for an emergency landing. New Cuyama is the home of a dead airport. It used to be the refuge for lost airplanes when the fog closed the coastal airports but they recently closed it. You can see in the picture the runway is as long as the town. The building in front was a restaurant/motel called the Buckhorn where they used to serve Buffalo burgers. It too is closed.

It was time to venture over the wilderness so I found a fire break and followed it toward where I imagined Taft was hiding beneath the mist. We crossed a wide plane and a final set of hills before I spotted Taft sort of hiding on the edge of the Valley.

I recently wrote about how I was getting better about entering the pattern for strange airports. I have found that better is not a straight line. I called inbound from 10 miles to the west for a left pattern for runway 25. As we descended the wind changed direction several times. I called in from five miles still set on a left pattern for 25. I entered a nice left 45 and as we became established on the downwind our ground speed dropped off 10kts so I called in that I was on the upwind for runway 7. As I turned base for 7 I could see markings indicating that landing on 7 was a bad idea and I changed back to 25. If a fool is foolish alone does he still feel foolish? Yes he does.

The landing was nice and I taxied to fuel. I have found that each self serve is unique in some way but I can usually manage it. This one had a secret handshake that I could not figure out so after two $.17 sales I walked across the field and recruited help from a pilot for the skydiving school. He generously walked back across the airport in the 100 plus heat and showed me that you had to have the hose lying just so or it wouldn’t work. He got it to work for me.

I asked him about the non standard runway markings and he said that 25 is the only runway for landing and 7 is the only runway for taking off no matter the direction of the wind. It turns out that more than once because 25 is steeply uphill planes have struck the trees at the end of 25 because the terrain continues to rise and they didn’t have enough airspeed.

They even have a nice sign proclaiming that in the middle of the airport.

My cell phone didn’t work well and I figured I would close my flight plan once I was back in the air. It was getting a little close because of the delay learning the secret to the pump.

We had turned the 55 nautical mile journey into around 75 nautical miles with our convoluted path and it took 1.3 hours. It was still 65 nautical miles to Fox Field, longer if we followed the road.

Onward to Fox Field.

[Vance]

I found I could not raise the flight service station as I followed aqueduct toward the pumping station at the base of the Grape Vine.

Just past the rest stop on highway 5 at the bottom of the hill and still 37 miles to Fox Field I found I could raise the General William J Fox tower. I asked them to please close my flight plan before they came looking for me. There were very nice, apparently I am not the first to have this challenge. I also told them I was inbound with Victor. They told me to call at ten miles.

I was trying to identify the entrance to the high desert that I had found by truck two years before when The Predator was down for a new heart. The mist made it very difficult for me to follow along on the chart and my road map was not much help either. I finally just turned left toward a great wide plain and found an amazing rollercoaster ride. The heat rising up out of the valley meets the cooler mountain air and causes some amazing waves. A local at Fox Field told me that sometimes the clouds look like a breaking ocean wave but they just sort of hang there. I kept backing off the power and picking up the speed as we climbed from our 6,500 foot cruising altitude to over 9,000 feet. Sometimes in between we would be sinking at 1,000 feet per minute. I left the throttle back because pattern altitude for Fox field is only 3,151 feet MSL and it was flat for as far as I could see.

I called in at 10 miles and they told me to make a modified straight in for runway 6 and report 3 miles. I asked them to describe a modified straight in and I was to intercept the centerline at some undetermined angle and turn left.

I had been reporting Experimental Gyroplane 142 Mike Golf all along but when I was two miles out I heard “2 Mike Golf, it looks like you have a rotor, do you have wheels?” I reported that I had wheels. ATC asked me to pick up my speed and land mid field for traffic established on the down wind. I ran her up to 90kts and reported traffic in sight. The landing was nice and the winds were variable at 6kts. I pushed “The Predator has landed button” on spot and headed for self serve. As my rotor slowed down my cell phone began to ring. It was Ed who had just arrived at the airport and wanted to know where we were. After a short discussion Ed parked in the restaurant parking and came out to greet me.

I asked her if she wanted to fly to El Mirage and she was quick to say yes. Off to the east there were some ominous clouds and I wanted to let the forum know that we had made it ok even though we were a lot late. The 65 nautical miles from Taft had taken 1.3 hours. That works out to 2.6 hours of flying to cover 117 nautical miles plus more than 45 minutes trying to milk the self serve. Needless to say it was not done in the shortest distance. The GPS shows almost 154 nautical miles.

I sat down in the lobby and fired up the computer. A nice gentleman asked if he could take pictures of the gyrocopter for his day at the office picture. He said there was some dry lighting to the east but no sign of precipitation.

I called Lockheed Martin and they felt there was precipitation on the way. I went off to the airport administration office and asked for a place to park The Predator out of the Rain.

He put a call to Barns aviation when he saw the Predator began to roll. Ed saw it too and chased her down. She was in the middle of a dust devil that was about 30 feet high that snapped the gust lock like a toothpick. I foolishly had not chained her down because the wind was variable at 6kts. It takes at least 25kts of wind to get her moving. The weather changes fast in the high desert.

There were clouds with little tails to the ground all around but so far no rain has fallen on us.

The Predator is nestled in the Barns Aviation hangar and has a new gust lock fashioned from donated wood and fabricated with a borrowed drill and rasp.

They open at 8 am and I will figure out what to do then.

We found a nice motel in Lancaster for $42 a night.

If it is raining tomorrow morning I will post to help John. If things look good we are am off to El Mirage and the Ken Brock Freedom Fly In and the computer will stay in the truck.

If you don’t hear from me by 8:30 John; conditions are probably good for flying.

I won’t take off with rain or lightening ahead.

Thank you, Vance

[StanFoster]

Vance- I love flying with you.......thanks


Stan

[Vance]

Thank you Stan,

I love having you along.

For John and others planning on flying to the Ken Brock Freedom Fly In, check the current terminal area forecasts and please decide for yourself.

At 6:00 AM WJF aka Fox field is predicting from 5:00 am to noon variable at 3kts, noon to 4:00 PM wind 230 degrees at 7kts and from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm winds 220 degrees at 14 gusting to 20kts.

EDW aka Edwards AFB terminal area forecast is predicting 4:00 to 5:00 PM wind 240 degrees 15kts gusting to 25kts and thunderstorms. 5:00 PM to 9:00 wind 240 degrees 20 gusting to 30.

RIV aka March AFB terminal area forecast is predicting 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm wind 280 degrees 12kt gusting to 20kts and thunderstorms.

No one else is predicting thunderstorms within 100 miles of WJF.

I took a morning walk and it looks like a nice day to fly! It is calm with high scattered clouds.

I am off to fly assuming everything looks good on The Predator’s pre-flight inspection. The estimated time of departure is 8:30 am pacific time and the estimated time of arrival is 9:00 am. Ed will take a little longer with the truck.

Thank you, Vance

[Mike484]

Vance, this is what I love the best about you. Your flying stories along with the pictures are some of the best threads on the forum, keep it up, it's very enjoyable.

[All_In]

Yaw Mon, Vance is the best!!!

Thank you for sharing your time and life with us!

It's raining here so have to wait until it clears. Might not see you until tomorrow, bummer!

[Vance]

Thank you Mike,

Thank you for the kind words.

I love to share the fun with friends on the forum.

I dropped my camera yesterday and it would not take pictures this morning.

I got them to open the hanger a little early so I was off by 7:30.

I had some nice flying and then practiced landings on the lakebed. All the normal ways I figure out where the runway is don’t work on the lakebed.

I was using ground effect on the horizontal stabilizer to know when to flair and it worked pretty well.

Marion is going flying with me tomorrow and I am honored to have such a luminary flying with me.

Thank you John,

Glad to have you along.

Edwards was right, we got a thunderstorm around 15:00 Pacific Time and big winds for around 45 minutes. There was thunder and lightning to the east but only a light drizzle fell on the lakebed and no lightning.

Tim Marcy pounded a big stake into the ground so we could tie the Predator down. It is next to Carl’s motor home. The new gust lock held up well.

We all look forward to seeing you tomorrow even if you have to drive up. Don’t be a party pooper.

Thank you, Vance

[Vance]

As of 6:12 AM EDW aka Edwards AFB terminal area forecast for Saturday shows scattered thunderstorms from 14:00 to 19:00 pacific time with wind variable at 25kts to 35kts.

It may be like Friday with very little rain and less than an hour of wind. As soon as it stopped it was nice for the rest of the day.

Please come on out, it is a lovely gathering of gyroplane enthusiasts.

If you are going to fly check the weather and decide for your elf.

Thank you, Vance

[Vance]

,Ed and I spent Friday night in Lancaster. I was not able to get my camera to work so we stopped by Wall Mart on the way to El Mirage to purchase a new one. Naturally they didn’t have the one I have or the one I wanted. The fellow who works in the Camera Department worked very hard but came up short. I purchased a cheaper Canon camera knowing that if I don’t like it I can take it back in 15 days. It is smaller and has less zoom than the one I dropped. So far I like it better.

We were on the road to the Lakebed from Wall Mart at a little after 8:00 am Pacific time and arrived at the Ken Brock Freedom Fly In a little before the pilots briefing at 9:00. I had spoken to a very nice lady the day before about a flight in the Predator and talked to her at the meeting.

She helped me with the Pre-flight inspection and she was my first flight.

We climbed up to 700 feet and I pulled the stick back until the Predator began to sink at around ten kts of indicated air speed to demonstrate slow flight and a tail slide. I pulled the power back and let the nose drop until we were pointed at the ground and doing around 85kts at a very steep angle of descent. I added power and did a steep 360 in both directions remaining around 600 feet AGL to demonstrate maneuverability. I dove off to the side of the lake and followed a road that had some tight turns in it to demonstrate the motorcycle in the sky perception of gyroplane flight. We flew a left pattern and I tried to demonstrate a nice smooth engine out landing. This was repeated 44 more times during the day with some variations for individual desires.

I was honored to have Marion as one of my passengers and we installed the rear stick for her. I hoped to get instruction from her but she has not offered any pointers on what to do better. I thought the landing was inelegant but she liked it.

I Gave Tim Marcy a ride. We have been trying to get together for quite a while.

Ed did a great job of briefing and debriefing people. She kept me fed and hydrated.

There were many particularly memorable experiences. I will only touch on a few.

David, who spoke limited English, accompanied me on a fuel run to Southern California Logistics AKA VCV, the old George AFB. They were very nice there and when he admired a pin the one attendant had in his lapel the attendant gave it to him. I suspect it is one of David's prized possessions now and the key to a memory.

The wind came up with gusts to 22kts and the people kept coming. I made them all aware that I was blind in one eye and brain injured and they all seemed undeterred. One gentleman felt I was joking and he played along. He looked slightly uncomfortable when Ed explained to him after his flight that I was not joking.

A lady in high heels and a silk dress seemed very proper but screamed like a kid on a rollercoaster each time we would make an abrupt maneuver. Ed had her take off her high heels.

I gave a very nice lady who worked for the BLM a special ride and showed her the park from above the highest hill. She had one of the biggest smiles of the day.

I gave the final and 45th ride of the day as the sun set and I had to raise my dark shield to land.

If I didn’t mention you it does not mean your ride and reaction were not memorable. These are just some of the highlights for me. I am hoping that some will share their impressions of their ride.

As the sun set there were four left and Ed said I would delay my departure to take them flying Sunday.

We were late for dinner and Brandon had saved Ed and I some of his wonderful cooking.

We had a wonderfully entertaining presentation by Bruce Chernov about the history of gyroplanes in the media. He had collected some amazing pictures and graphics and had a story about them all with a great computer presentation.

I was honored to receive two awards, the furthest flown to the Ken Brock Freedom Fly In and the person and machine. I felt it should have been the couple and machine, Ed is a part of everything I do with gyroplanes. Mark Givan deserves the credit for the machine. The plaques will have a place of honor in our hangar and help to remind us of the remarkable weekend. They will also initiate some hangar flying with the other pilots at SMX.

It was a lovely warm night and in the morning the smallest sliver of a moon rose as Ed and I talked about the people we had flown. It was fun to imagine that some would remember the experience fondly for a long time. It was time well spent.

Sunday Morning I did a particularly careful preflight and went up for a maintenance flight and chased some other gyroplanes around the sky. One of the participants commented afterward that he was surprised at my aggressive flying. I didn’t feel it was that aggressive.

I made a particularly bad landing at the end of that flight and re-inspected the aircraft.

The last of the five Sunday morning flights was DaJoin, a new PRA Chapter One member who had worked very hard throughout the event. He was sure I didn’t like him because he had been on my blind side and I had ignored him. Ed tried to straighten him out but I don’t know if it took. If you are reading this DaJoin; I was very impressed with your hard work and I like you fine.

I checked the weather several ways and made the decision because of the late departure to fly to WJF, Santa Paula and then up the coast. I felt I would have some big winds if I reversed my incoming route by going to WJF, Taft and Santa Maria.

I had used up most of my fuel so it was off to VCV first.

It was almost 11:30 by the time I was ready for departure and the FBO gave out vouchers that allowed you to eat in their nice restaurant for a dollar. Unfortunately the restaurant was closed on the weekends.

I called Lockheed Martin and found out the fog went all the way to the edge of Magic Mountain so I went back to the Taft Plan. The briefer concurred with that decision as well as my wind assessment. I called Ed with the new plan.

It was gusting to 30kts when I arrived at WJF and the wind was swirling around in a most disruptive way. I called Ed and she was only around 30 minutes passed Lancaster so she turned around. She had my clean cloths, toiletries and computer.

As I filled The Predator the wind became somewhat fierce.

I rented a hanger for the night and was heading to the new home for the Predator when Ed rolled up in the Ford. After we bedded down the Predator Ed gave me a ride to the $39 motel. After some nice interaction she headed toward home. I love that woman and how she takes care of me.

I may still have a problem with fog tomorrow even on the Taft route. It is all about timing. I hope to leave here at O’dark hundred and get an early start from WJF. The winds can be treacherous in these hills and it is usually best in the early morning before things heat up from the high desert sun.

Ed has some pictures of the big smiles that she will post later. She has a particularly busy day at work tomorrow so it may be a while.

Thank you, Vance

[GyroJon]

Spectacular Pictures. Excellent write up about your Trip.

[Learjet]

Vance, fantastic reading and great pics. Thank you for sharing

[Monarchist]

Always a pleasure to read your adventures Vance, and I can't wait to make it out to CA some day and bum a ride from you in your beautiful machine!

-John

[Vance]

Thank you Jon,

Glad to have you along.

Thank you Dave,

I am glad to have you along.

It is fun to see the differences in the gyroplane adventures and challenges in our diverse environments and aircraft.

I find great joy in sharing the fun.

I have been checking the weather and at this moment it looks like the costal route wins.

SBD, AKA Sandberg has an ASOS showing winds 350 degrees at 15 gusting to 27 and 6:00 pacific standard time. The sun isn’t even up yet. SBD is just 25 miles west of WJF. This is an area famous for severe mountain wave activity.

At this point the biggest challenge for the costal route is SMX, AKA Santa Maria with the terminal area forecast showing IFR conditions until 11:00 and then winds 290 degrees at 15kts gusting to 25. The current ATIS has visibility at a quarter mile and the ceiling at 200 feet. It is all about timing.

I look forward to it John, I have called the cab and I have to go.

He was going to give me a deal for 160 dollars, yikes!!! He thought I wanted to go to LAX. WJF is five miles from here. I suspect that English is his second language.

Thank you, Vance

[M._Springer]

I can't think of any reason that I would feel the need to offer you instruction in flying the Predator. Your handling of that machine is just perfect and you make better landings with one eye that a lot of us do with two. If the rudder pedals had a longer reach and were not too close up for my legs I would have loved to try my hand at flying your gyro.
Thank you for the ride. It was just great.
Marion

[Vance]

Thank you Marion,

It was an honor to fly with you and I appreciate the kind words.

It is one of the high points of being pilot in command.

Thank you, Vance