| My work always
leaves me somewhere with little to do on an overnight. Of course I've
always got more things to do than time to do them but there's nothing I
have to do for work. It's really one of the beauties of the job, I
don't have to sweat it when I'm off.
But thanks to the hospitality of Long Island pilots Atilla, Darren and
Steve, this overnight would be far, far better. Atilla offered to fetch me
from the hotel and Steve had an extra motor that he was willing to let me
use. Turns out, I'd gone camping with Steve and Darren in Phoenix--this
proved to be a fun little reunion.
It was absolutely awesome. I warmed up with a couple of lame forward
attempts then flew my brains out. Between flights it was fun to alight,
chat for a while then go flying again. This pattern was repeated by all of
us all morning.
Sod. Man do I love sod! Then these guys had the nerve to complain about
the "weeds". I'll show them weeds. Darren has worked out
this field but tries to keep it low key. We were ok to foot drag, though
and boy did I make use of that. Dew sod -- that's the best.
Steve's little Top 80 ran like a -- yeah, one of those. That motor is
really quite amazing. It has nearly instantaneous throttle response,
decent power and a great throttle range. I tried the Sky 100 for the first
time and it has loads of power. It was a bit noisier and the mid-range would
wander a bit but it was very smooth and quite thrusty--well more than my
Snap 100. There's a slight lag in throttle response. It feels almost like
turbo charger and it pushes like it's turbo charged, too.
The 31 ITV wing that Steve let my fly was quite a bit too large but no
less a blast to fly. It is very, very easy to inflate and, being so large,
was weirdly slow. That was fun, actually, coming down and being able to
fly that slow.
We flew together although I don't know if were all up at the same time.
It's always such a pleasure to spend time with other passioned pilots
and this group of guys certainly qualifies. I most appreciate the
hospitality and look forward to sharing air at a future event. |
(Above)
Steve Launches from the splendid expanse of sod. 
 
 
 
(Yours truly trying to
come up with a shot that tells the story on carabiner position and wieght-shift
turns. Why draw a diagram when you can go fly it? Right: the group of 4.
The guys were wonderful hosts!
|
