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Newsletter Volume 31, Number 5

Calendar

Happy May Birthdays to:

Skip Forester on the 7^th
Alan Garduque on the 14^th
Yuri Litinov on the 19^th

Club Business: Elections

To date we have the folowing nominations:

President   John Gould  &   ___________________
Finance    Christoph Bohmann  &  _________________
Secretary   John Nogatch  &  ____________________
Programs   Ken Pheley  &  ____________________
Activities   no nomination  &  ___________________
President Emeritus John Martin

March Meeting Summary

Those that attended the March meeting were delighted and impressed with the speaker Ace Ken Pheley brought. Jim Prizzio imparted a wealth of knowledge on flying. From carrier decks in the 60's to P-51s, Yaks, and landing helicopters on mountain peeks to resupply of forest service lookouts or fight fires. He shared his broad experience and patiently answered dozens of questions. Thanks Jim and Ken. More Aces should attend to experience some of these great programs.

Saying Goodby to a Departing Ace

From: "Douglas C. Groom" ali@cruzio.com
To: "Kennie Ruth Patterson" krp@acsol.net
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 20:08:51 -0800

Subject: Re: Departing Flying Aces
This is the part about being Aces manager that is the most difficult. I have spent some time reviewing your file and it brought back many memories. Your unbroken membership of almost 16 years makes you the seventh most senior, and perhaps I shouldn't mention the eldest Ace! Ulrich and Patterson livened up many an Aces function. And all those hours in your Comanche. But 8 years away in Colorado is as loyal as you can get, so I guess I will have to accept your resignation.
I will forward you news to the membership and Kevin and Sandra (Burchette) Fisher who now live in Discovery Bay, CA
I am looking forward to seeing you and your new husband at the Inn.
Fondly,
Doug

An Ultralight Introductory Flight

The presentation for the Flying Aces meeting on Saturday, April 8th was given by Bill Bardin, owner of "Ultralights of Sacramento." 916-488-2359 http://www.ultralightsofsac.com/flight.html

As a bonus, the door prize was a free 15-minute introductory flight on an ultralight plane at the Lodi airport. I won- but what did I win?

The next Saturday, I drove to the Lodi airport (1O3-one Oscar three) to visit Bill and his Ultralights. The airport is located on highway 99, about three miles north of Lodi. The ultralight school is on of three on the field, but they own the prized hangar nearest the road. The curious public is most likely to walk into their hangar first.

Lodi is also a hotbed of activity for skydiving. On this particular afternoon, a dozen or more jumpers were drifting down onto the airport every 15 minutes.

My first impression was to notice the small, colorful planes parked on the ramp near the hangar. There was a rainbow of oranges, reds, yellows, blues and white colors. Inside the hangar was an ultralight floatplane with purple wings. I was going to ride in a Quicksilver (tricycle type ultralight), but the school's collection also includes a Challenger, which has front and side wind fairings for comfort, and covered fuselage surfaces for speed.

I introduced myself to the owner's son, Brian, who showed me the assignment board with my name next to an instructor's, Brad James. Brian gave me some options, after which I gladly added $20 to bump my ride up to 30-minutes. At that moment, Brad rolled up to the hangar in a bright orange Quicksilver with another student alongside.

Brad has a big smile. He jumped out of the Quicksilver, walked up and introduced himself right away. Without wasting any time, he put me into a snowmobile suit and a pair of riding gloves, threw two earplugs at me, and gave me a quick tour of the ultralight. I was impressed by the safety and sturdiness of the construction, and his knowledge of the systems.

Brad took the time to answer questions about the wings, fabric, instruments, engine, and flight controls. The plane includes a shared center aileron control, but separate rudder and throttle controls for students and instructors. Satisfied with some understanding of the mechanicals, I jumped into the left seat and put on a flight helmet, which included a microphone and basic built-in headphones.

Brad pull-started the engine like a lawnmower, which put up a familiar two-stroke clatter behind our seats. The prop was clutched, so it did not turn until it is engaged. Brad jumped in, took the controls, and taxied us to the runway for takeoff. Steering on the ground is performed by stepping on the rudder pedals, with control linkage to the nose gear.

With a 7-knot crosswind, we took off in about 300 feet of runway! The first thing I noticed was the wind. There was lots of it, and at 100 feet above the ground it caused a tremendous chill factor. I fully appreciated the "snow suits" we wore.

The next thing I noticed was our slow motion over the ground. Brad made it seem effortless as he turned a slow spiral to gain altitude while avoiding a dozen skydivers coming to the ground from above us.

We skipped over the highway and piloted toward some farmland with a patchwork of dirt furrows, grape vines, cow pastures, deep grasses, and even long water ditches. Brad gave a demonstration of steep turns, slow flight, and power off glides. Then he flew it down to the ground, really low, about 50 feet above the grass, and gave it the gas! We blew past cows, trees and creeks at 50 miles-per-hour. What a rush! To someone who is accustomed to sitting behind a cockpit at 5,000 feet, the sensation at tree top level was fantastic.

Brad flew the ultralight back up to 500 feet and gave me the controls. I was able to bank, turn, fly a crabbed angle, and almost kept it straight and level for a minute or two. The plane felt very delicate in the wind, and needed to be corrected for every little bit of turbulence, but it never grew tiring. Without much to look at besides an altimeter, it's truly flying by the seat of the pants. And it was a big help knowing the Quicksilver is built to withstand six positive G's of force.

I returned the controls to Brad, who somehow found the airport again (a nice trick from only 500 feet up!). He landed on the runway, barely using the same 300 feet from which we took off.

You couldn't meet a nicer bunch of people, and I would recommend the introductory flight to anyone. A general aviation pilot has little to learn because the flight fundamentals are the same. Let's hear from those of you who might be interested to having an Aces "fly-in" at the delta, including rides on the ultralight school's floatplane! I'm hooked.

E-Mail Addresses

E-mail articles and notes for your newsletter to the club secretary, John Gould at gould42@aol.com

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