Great weekend at Shady Bend Rotary Round up. Had
4 rotary powered RVs - well, 5 if you count the remnants of Finn's RV-3
hanging in the tree. Fin was there and gave his take on what happened,
his mind set and why he was so determined to land. Still awesome
to see the crash site and see Finn standing there taking about
it. Laura conducted a guided tour of the site and added the ground
perspective of the incident.
Monty demonstrated his muffler experiment on Tracy's
test stand engine - I think he is on to something - but will take some more
experimenting to sort it all out.
Richard Shon showed casting patterns and castings for
his one lunger motor very impressive his design for the side housing.
Kelly presented the result of his interaction with
Creavy? and the TES "O" rings.
Tracy gave a great presentation on the Ec2 setup -
I even learned something {:>)
Bill Eslick MCed a panel discussion - question/answer
session.
Some of the old regulars and some new folks there,
including a couple of current Air Force flying types - flying F4's,
but can't wait to get their Rvs flying.
Richard Nagle? flew Rusty's RV-3 there - Great looking
aircraft Rusty, can't imagine you letting it go.
Bill Eslick and his lovely wife Linda flew in from
Texas and won longest Rotary flight to SB.
Bill Schertz came from Illinois and had photos of his
meticulous workmanship of his KIS project.
The gang from OK, AR, MS drove in, great to see Kelly,
Monty, Ken and Charlie -
Buly and his wife Doris was there, Buly reported on
the devastation that Wilma did at his airport - but, fortunately Buly's
project was undamaged. Bernie Kerr did not make it - we believe
because power had not yet been restored to his area.
Many others were there and all helped make it a great
event.
And of course the Crooks were great hosts as always,
food, drink, lodging, transportation, you name it and they provided
it. Laura was organizational director (always a good
thing).
assisted by Tracy's Daughter Sandy (who flew her
Cessna 150 in - must make a Dad Proud!). A sign was posted on the cowl
of the Cessna 150 " all I want for Christmas is a Rotary engine ".
Tracy's mother handled registration and Laura's father cooked Hamburgers and
dogs - a real family affair.
Many other things, but will let others fill in the
blanks.
Had a headwind, going and coming so fly was
uneventful, brakes worked fine and arrived back here in NC around 1215
today. Absolutely a beautiful week end for flying.
Best Regards