A great day of pattern flying at Congaree

Last Saturday I turned in my application and joined the Congaree Flyers. It's exactly 30 minutes from my house, and more convenient for all of my flying friends than Fort Jackson is. This is the first time I've gone out for a casual day of flying full patterns at one of my clubs since last fall. And still no ill neuro effects.

The sky was overcast hiding the sun which would have been right in our faces due to the direction of the light breeze. The grass was pretty freshly cut and we've found that the south end of the runway is a great place to stand and fly for the surest footing. It's a 15 foot wide by 300 foot long strip of heavy polyester made specifically for this application, and staked into the ground. After one Summer, the grass seals the edges in place. Now that the club has some Control-Liners, they're going to lay us a 15x15  pilots' pad about 50 feet off the end of the runway for us to stand on, and two 15x25 strips 180 degrees apart for takeoffs. The usual prevailing winds will determine where we choose to lay them. Pretty cool.

I have a lot of leg strength and balance to regain after my Winter layoff and it was getting the best of me, but I managed 4 full flights on the Tutor without any mishaps, all rolling landings with empty tanks. The only bad run I had was on the second flight when the fill-cap blew off of the pressurized tank and she went too lean to fly without overheating and sagging. And it sprayed raw fuel all over the plane. It was such a mess that it took 3 rags and a copious amount of Windex to degrease it. After my last flight at Triple Tree that cap was swinging from its safety string just like today. I thought maybe I'd forgotten to cap it, but now I know it blew off. I took a needle file and roughed up the brass tube where it exits the tank and it seems to grip fine now. It's pink Brodak tube.

I mentioned I was having balance trouble, and it was worse than I expected. It's worst of all in the overhead 8. If anyone watched my Triple Tree video, I planted my feet and flew a great OH8  solid as a rock. Looking back I now realize I had the engine running considerably faster today, and it was pulling like a mule. It's a 50 ounce plane, close to my comfortable limit of about 55 oz. I figured out too late that I self-inflicted my stability problem by flying too fast. DOH! When I have a brain fart I have a doozie... I sure wish I could have a do-over on that. This TT Pro.39 needles so easily it's almost like having a throttle. Variable speed, all 2 stroke. Even better than an LA.46 in that respect, but harder to hand crank. It needs to be soaking wet to light off, so I started using my electric starter at the last contest, and it's a quick brap and off to the races... literally today. So flying slower for the judges I had seven separate stunts that I scored between 30 and 35. Today, I would not have scored as high.

Speaking of that, the other day in my TT flight report, Crank asked:

crankbndr wrote:...How many of those can you rack up before you move out of intermediate?

Well I went on blabbering about scores and reasons why not to move up. Today after my flights, Wayne came to me and told me I'm wasting my time hanging around in Intermediate. My shapes are good, my equipment is good, my prep is good, and if I use this Summer to get my bottoms accurate, my scores would be in the 470 range, and I would likely improve faster against tougher competition. And it's true. Everything I've ever done has gone to a higher level when I had to beat more skilled opponents. Shooting pool, playing baseball, drag racing... and so on.

Well okay, then. Y'all may recall me saying that my life's goal in CLPA is to Belong in Advanced. I thought it would never happen. But he's been watching me fly ever since the first plane I ever flew bigger than a Baby Flite Streak(the Shoestring), maddeningly spare with compliments or pats on the back, and suddenly this. I can't help but take him seriously. I can do this. Many of my bottoms are improving. This Spring, I have peppered scores of over 30 points(of a possible 40) on Outside squares and loops, Triangles, all takeoffs & level flights, all landings, and all inverted flights. I'm just throwing away big points on my bottoms and pullouts. Still not stringing them together, but better than previous seasons.

Of course, this all depends on me getting my legs back. At Huntersville, I could not even stand up after launching, I had to crawl off the circle, bloodying my knees, and even rolling away if I had to hurry. Quite embarrassing, but funny for the crowd. I didn't mind, but was concerned. By TT, I could struggle up and walk off ducking. Today I was slow but much more able. So, as my strength and balance returns, and I don't have that feared neck problem recur, I have high hopes that I've got this. Another big goal for me accomplished. If I never win a trophy in Advanced I won't be disappointed... at least not until/if I get truly competitive in the next class.

I'm off to make a little movie I shot today. Just a tour of Congaree.
So, untill I return in an hour or so,
see y'all in the funnies,
Rusty