An interesting day at the field, starring a Giant Pitts Bipe

When I cracked my eyes this morning and looked at the clock it said 10:59. Damn, what a party, but I figured I better get up before sunset. So I was mainlining some coffee thinking I had time today to finish the minor details on the Yak and make some headway on the reedy. About then, my phone started blaring Hot Rails to Hell, my non-specific ring tone. It was one of my Jackson Flyers buddies calling to tell me he had his Pitts at the field if I wanted to see. I couldn't miss that, it's an amazing plane. I'd seen a picture and video and it's truly a marvelous machine.

So I loaded up and went to the fort and got there as he was rolling the plane out of his trailer. He looped a rope around the prop and i helped him lug it to the staging area.

Here she is, 89 pounds, 36" prop, and big enough to straddle and ride.




That restraint Charles is carrying didn't fit, so he recruited the only three of us out there to hold it back while he cranked it. Hmmm, I hoped I had what it took to do the job, and I warned him that I only had about 130 pounds to contribute. One guy stood in front of each wing and I straddled the tail with one leg in front of each side of the stab. He fired it up and I was now in a wind tunnel. He throttled it up and down and the stab was digging into my legs as I bent my knees to get some extra leverage against the monster. He called out, Okay, full throttle and revved it up. I had to lean over and hold onto the canopy to remain standing.

When he was satisfied, he waved us off and it lurched toward the runway as he grabbed the tail and it looked to me as if the plane, not him was in charge. But he knew how to handle it. We had about an 11mph wind according to NOAA and it taxied down the runway, made the turn and lined up. He called, Taking off, and away it went. I had my video camera trained on it, so it'll tell the rest of the story. Turn the sound all the way up to get the full effect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFQCXgR0KdY
I recommend the link rather than the imbedded video









The engine just shut off. An unusual thing for a twin cylinder gasser. It's in the sand pit on the other side of the runway. If he hadn't had such a tailwind, I think he could have leveled it off, but just couldn't grab enough air. I drove over and used my car as the recovery vehicle, and it smells like gasoline now, but I certainly can't whine about that. I felt so bad for him. He retained a great attitude, but I bet he was miserable after it sunk in on his drive home. I had 3 grocery bags in my car and we filled them with the debris. Hopefully there's an explanation mixed in there somewhere. I wish Wayne had been there, as he's an FAA accident investigator. He can see things the rest of us don't notice.

That was flight # 13. Here is flight 12 from last weekend at the club picnic, which I wasn't sent an e-mail reminder about. Grrrr.

https://youtu.be/Jo03RhdoWH8?t=1m50s



Sooo, I piddled in the shop later and accomplished nothing, and figured I'd write this story.
And that's the way it is, March 23, 2014.
Good night.
Rusty