Hi Gang,
Just made it back from the great Paducha, KY
flyin today.
Yes, delayed returning several days by the inclement
weather covering the east coast. I mean we went 3 months without rain
and the weekend I go flying the bottom drops out of the sky. However,
being "Stuck" in Paducha was not an undue hardship as Sam Hodges and his
delightful spouse, Rose, took me to their seculded and beautiful log house in
"wilderness". So thanks, Sam and Rose,
greatly appreciated and enjoyed the time spend with you.
Also needless to say, thanks to Ed and his wife Dora and
family for putting on the show. The Paducha River Walk BBQ festive on
Friday night was certainly fun and interesting - not to mention
fattening. Got to see a lot of the products that Ed produces for a
varity of customers - has a novel and useful motor mount jig for welding up a
motor mount for just about any aircraft type.
It's already been said, but its worth repeating, Steve
and Doug presented some very interesting information that clearly reflected a
great amount of data gathering and analysis. Steve present his
alternative theory for SAG which I must say he supported with gobs of data and
facts - He presented an alternative theory to my theory of Spark Plug Fouling
being the cause of SAG and I am eagerly looking forward to Steve trying out
colder plugs. Doug's presentation on the factors affecting BFSC, power
and tuning for the rotary were clearly interesting, just didn't have
enough time to discuss it with him. Great Job Steve and Doug, keep the
data and analysis flowing.
Richard fired up his superbly designed and crafted
single rotor design - clearly needs to be stuck on the front end of something
with wings - I don't care how much he throttles it up, its just never going to
get that pickup airborne {:>). Amazing what he has done as one
individual. Will probably use it to power my LSA when I can no longer
pass my class III.
The Cozy Girrrls, Chrisi and Randy had some of their
products - focused on but not exclusively for the Canard crowd. They had
a beautiful mock up of their turbo and motor mount product. I'm still
awed by their "Red Flyer" 18 wheeler "Motor Home".
Well, after landing (skipping) downwind at Paducah
with 4.4 gallons remaining in the tanks (30 minutes min reserve required by
the FAA) due to very unfavorable head winds on the way over, I was very
pleased to land back home with 13 Gallons in the tank. Did have help
from a bit of a tail wind and made if from Paducah, Ky to Charlotte NC in 3
hours on the nose with a cruise burn rate of 8 gph
It was terrific to see the expression on Sam Hodge's
face when he poured the coals to his beautiful Rv-7A with my prop
attached and watched his tires slip from the greater thrust. His
spouse, Rose, was doing a bit of a jig of joy herself. However, next
time I fly to a rotary flyin, I think I will bring a cable to lock down my
prop {:>).
For the record, Sam discussed the prop problem with Cato
and everything is going to be resolved to Sam's expectations (like as in
quickly!). So we should be getting flight reports from
Sam within a Month or sooner.
Ed