San Marcos - 65th Doolittle Anniversary

Sunday my friend was in town and we headed out to the "The 65th Annual Doolittle RaidersReunion". They had one B-25, the Yellow Rose and a PBJ, the Marine's version of the B-25. There were a few other planes, a Stearman, a Cessna 140, and as we were getting ready to leave, a TF-51 Mustang showed up. This is the trainer, or two-seat version. It was very beautiful. Nicest I've ever seen. I accidentally deleted all of my photos from this show, but I have my friend's.

After this show, we went to a local ultralight field and then on to a fly-in community. There was a Pietenpol flying there and it really caught my interest. Flies like my Airbike, but has a 4-cycle engine and two seats. Maybe....

Chris's Saturday Photos

Gotta Love It....

Chris called me last night and wanted to fly this morning. When we arrived, it was so foggy you couldn't see the end of the runway! By the time we were ready to go, it had cleared up enough to fly. It was a perfect day. No wind and very smooth. We flew mostly to the East of the field and did some high flying and some low flying, upsetting a few cows. We both had our radios on, and it was nice to be able to communicate. After almost two hours, I landed and Chris was soon on the ground too. He offered to take me up and we were off again. It was a neat flight, totally different from anything else I've done. It's a little strange when you hit turbulence, but other than that it was great. He even shut off the engine and we glided for awhile - a very peaceful feeling. What a day.....

Enough?

I'm coming to a decision... I've always flown planes with at least two seats. To me it's always more fun to take someone along with you. I've enjoyed my time flying the Airbike, but I'm really considering letting it go. I would probably consider getting a partner in something like a Kitfox or a Rans S-12, but don't really know if I could afford it.

Anyway, it's time for me to make a tough decision. I'm not officially putting the plane up for sale, but if you like it, now might be a good time to make an offer. It has been such a great flying plane, can't say anything bad about it - it just needs another seat.

Airbike on Barnstormers

This Airbike is listed on Barnstormers for $8500. I love the yellow, but don't need another plane.

Photos Chris Took on Sunday

All Day Flying

Finally got a chance to fly again. I was planning on a short flight, but as my wife will tell you, that rarely happens. As I was getting the plane ready, I could hear Jimmy sanding away on some wings he's been working on. He's one of those guys who really enjoys his work - rebuilding wings for older planes. It was cold, but I had my motorcycle gloves and winter overalls.

I went up for about 30 minutes and when my toes and fingers were frozen I headed back. I buzzed Wayne's house and his son Ben came out and drove to my field. He and Jimmy had told me about a guy, Chris, that had a powered parachute. Shortly after, he and his wife showed up. Chris set up his plane, which entails running up the engine and then attaching and laying out the parachute.

After they took off, I took off and flew around them for awhile. Got some good air-to-air shots. It's always nice to fly with someone else.

I'll write more later, but to make it short I flew four times today - twice with Chris. I ended up flying circles around him as I stall around 30mph and that's his cruise! It was still fun though. Enjoy the photos:

Before flying.


After all of the rain, there's a lot of water.


I scared these cows. I try not to, but did it twice today!


After the first flight.


Ben watching as Chris prepares to fly.


Taking Off


Smoke System


More Smoke

Winter Blues

If it isn't windy, it's raining. If it isn't raining, it's icy. We don't have a very rough winter in Central Texas, but it's just not good ultralight flying weather. I went to the field last weekend and cleaned the plane. It was a cool, calm day and I'd hoped to fly. With all of the rain we've had though there was a small pond in the middle of the runway. I walked out to check it and quickly found that my new shoes are designed to let a lot of air flow through them. Where air will flow, so will water, so I made the walk back to my plane with squishy socks.

It was probably solid enough, but after cleaning the plane, I didn't really want to run it through a large puddle and the wind was picking up anyway.

Today, I'm stuck at work, but it's predicted to be a nice day tomorrow. If I fly, I will have to take a lot of pictures to remind myself of how much fun flying is! Seems like it's been forever.

Since I don't have any new photos of my own, I thought I'd show some pic of other Airbikes:

Haven't had a chance to fly much lately. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I took a couple of my uncles out to see the plane. I demo'd it for them. It was fairly windy though, so I just took off, circled and returned. I took off with the same dog on the runway and had to fly past him before landing. Gotta love it! Luckily this plane lands in a very short distance.

Keep checking back, I hope to do some flying soon.