The 2004 Air Venture Cup Race

Chapter 2 – Take-off Power Rules…

 

Arriving at the briefing, we discover that the weather is not conducive to a 9 am departure.  Of course, that was clear to anyone able to look out of the bus window.  Soon, the Dayton Operations Czar, Bob Whitehouse, careens up to the staging hangar with hundreds of assorted Krispy-Kreme doughnuts and gallons of strong coffee.  This delays the race even further since it seems he had driven to Atlanta to pick them up while the freshly cooked “red light” was on.  Lo carb diets forgotten, everybody loads up on these FAA approved pilot drugs – caffeine, sugar and other secret K-K ingredients.

 

Briefed and with a sugar high we prepare the racers for flight – slowest first in order to shorten the finish line arrival time.  The Kitfox is sent off early even though everyone will probably pass it enroute.  I will lead the RG group with Arnie off next followed by Larry and Mark (or Mark and Larry, whatever..), etc.  Jack, his E-Racer in the Unlimited Class, will leave last as everybody expects him to go by in a blur.

 

In the beginning:

 

The racers were flagged off 30 or 40 seconds apart and I took-off staying low to build speed before the timing mark at the end of the runway.  Turning to the west I said to myself, “Self, where is the alleged 1000 foot ceiling?”  Dodging low-hanging fuzz for 25 NM, I see light on the horizon and the ceiling begins to rise as do I.

 

Leg1 - MGY -> SQI – 280 NM:

 

Still at take-off power (2710 RPM, 29+” MAP, 14.2 GPH), Arnie and I are talking on an off-race frequency and at 40 NM out, Arnie catches sight of me.

 

My strategy was to stay in smooth air as long as I didn’t have to be too high because the laminar flow stays attached without turbulent air disruptions.  This must be balanced with engine power losses as altitude increases.  Winds aloft forecasts were correct with virtually no effect at the surface and 6000 but with a significant tailwind component thru OH and IN at 3000.  Although we encountered occasional light rain, 3300 feet (about 100 feet above light turbulence) worked for quite awhile providing ground speeds of 216-218 Kts from time to time.  Arnie had come up to that altitude and we remained in sight of one another for quite some distance – long enough to watch “Tweety Bird”, Rob Logan’s yellow Legacy, streak by us at tree top level surely collecting green stains on his prop tips. 

 

In the same time frame, I was approaching a pair of canard airplanes from below - my passing call, answered by Frank Pullano (Race 20), came thru with the sound of a whirring camera in the background.  Very Hollywood.

 

Weather improved in Indiana and as I crossed the IN/IL border (I could see the dashed line on the ground), 2200 feet worked better.  By now, Arnie and I had passed many airplanes, amazed that GPS kept us all closely spaced on the same racetrack.  I lost the visual of Arnie’s tail about 40 NM out of Sterling Rock Falls (KSQI).

 

Planes are starting to bunch up now and, screaming down to 50 feet above runway 36 (OK, maybe 100’), the first turn is marked as a goodly number of spectators get a fleeting glimpse.  This is the most fun you can have with a leaden load of donuts in your belly and too much coffee working to raise your personal fluid pressure level.

 

Leg2 – SQI -> RFD – 38 NM:

 

Pulling up slightly to avoid the tree tops, I switch the RFD approach frequency and hear clusters of call-ins.  I try it myself but with no response since I am too far away yet (>20 NM).  Permission was obtained from Homeland Security for us to fly near the nuclear power plant as long as we don’t loiter – so… as I zip by to the north, I notice a yellow streak near the base of the west cooling tower – Hmmmm…. Tweety Bird must have been by. 

 

Incredibly, approach was assigning transponder codes and that works for the first few airplanes with approach finally giving up. I finally got mine about 10 miles away and switched to the tower.  The tower gave up too – instructing the ever growing group to just squawk VFR 5 miles out.  The high speed pass down runway 7 was marked by the race crew positioned at the far end.  RFD departure was happy to see the daisy chain of racers just quickly leave the area.  We were probably below radar coverage anyway.

 

Leg3 – RFD -> ? Finish – 89 NM:

 

OK, this is where the rubber meets the road.  I can’t complain since there is little turbulence, little headwind, few cheese head bugs, sunshine (but not too warm yet) and enough fuel.  Arnie announces on the race frequency that there is an enormous tower about 10 miles from the finish line – he notices that one of the guy wires is still vibrating from Tweety Bird’s passing earlier.  It is a bit tall, about 1700 MSL and just where some of us are descending.

 

Oops, setting my OBS to the finish line track (330 degrees) allows me to drift a mile south of this visual pimple and, as I turn northwesterly, I see Mark (Race 77) make his close in turn to the “runway” ahead of me.  Darn, I must have lost 20 or 30 seconds by my mistake at the end.  Don’t worry though, the complaint champion will be announced at a later time.

 

Ahhh… The satisfaction of the low pass over the finish line (some of the cones must have been blown away by wake turbulence) is memorable. Now I climb to a position west of Fond Du Lac (KFLD) and, after an uneventful let down to landing there, I am finally parked with the group at the south end of the ramp.

 

What a beautiful day!

 

Chapter 3 – On to OSH!

 

See the next chapter tomorrow.