I never will forget back in 2002 I showed up at Mentone for the first time. I had flown my Bensen since 1979....but stepped away from it until my youngest graduated from High School. So here I am at Mentone talking with Tom Milton whom I knew very well from years past. Next thing I know I am getting a ride in an RAF 2000 with Dofin Fritts....whom I did not know at all. I paid if I recall $50 for a ride. Dofin took off then on climb out he let go of the controls. His arms were crossed but he kept mentioning to me .."Pretty stable isnt it? " Well, even I knew that you just because you can let go of the controls...doesn't mean its stable." But he kept rambling on and on and on about the people on the ground saying how unstable an RAF 2000 is. By the way, Dofin's RAF had no HS on it. He had a serious heavy chip on his shoulder. Anyway he had me take the controls and just a little time later I slowly eased back on the throttle and Dofin got all ballistic on me. Cussing me out also. I said something back in my defense but don't recall what it was. Then I started doing a turn and he went off on me again and cussed me out again. I distinctly remember telling him...take the controls and then I crossed my arms and said take me back to the airport. I was not happy. He landed and when we got out I told him I was not paying him $50 to cuss me out.
He did apologize but I saw he had serious psychic problems.
I later bought me an Air Command low rider...and flew it to Mentone the next year. But the following year I did buy an unfinished RAF kit ...finished building it...put a Parham HS on it...and put Sportcopter rotors on it. It had a 2.2 Subaru in it, but it served me well until I bought a new SparrowHawk kit from Terry Eiland...and flew it to Mentone a few years.
