We had a great time at Brodaks this year. The only problem is it went by way too fast. I brought my good friend, mentor and coach Jim Lynch and his wife JoAnn. Jo as we call her kept us in line and made sure we were where on time and on the flight line. (She really ran our show)
I got to bring Ryan back this year. I did not think he was going to make it because he had tickets for Bonnaroo music and art festival (modern day woodstock) and we picked him up in Nashville the day after the event. He slept in the van most of the way to Union Town PA. And it was a extra long trip this time. We hit construction traffic just north of Nashville and sat on a parking lot for over an hour. This took a normal 12 hour drive and turned it in to over 15 hours. We were all kind of grumpy by about hour 14 in the van except Ryan who was sleeping. I figured as long as my head hits a pillow by 11:30pm I should be ready for Allen's pilot meeting at 8am the next morning. I was a little sleepy but got over it when it was time to fly. I had wanted to fly Classic and OTS this year but did not have room in the van to bring more planes. Next year we talked about getting a trailer to haul more planes. Wednesday was Classic and Jim took 3rd. Everyone put in good scores for Expert Classic. I think the top four scores were within 3.5 points!
Thursday was a fun day, we broke out the Bi-Slob and Ryan and I crashed it a few times. A little CA and we were looking for another empty circle. We even got Jim to fly it. He did get it to hover a few times and never crashed it. Thursday was also the day we built our JYW plane. Our team was the Dixie Wiz Kids and consisted of Jim Lynch, Ryan and myself. Ken ran a very entertaining event with the help of Allen Buck. (wish I would have gotten a picture of Allen's sandals) Ken informed the group that there was some special building material buried in the bottom of the pile of wood. But I saw some very good lumber sitting right on top and as soon as Ken said go, I ran up and grabbed a stack of the good stuff. We brought it to our table and started to break it up. A few minutes later Ryan went back to the pile of wood and dug down and found some foam board. He brought it over and said hey lets build a larger platter plane.
I started Ryan off on a 1/2a Osborn Platter when he and I first started flying CL. And they would do loops!
We also had Jack Sheeks in our corner. He was on my team in 2010 and I made him a honorary member of our team this year. The Dixie Wiz Kids! We got the plane done in 35 minutes and that allowed us 75 bonus points for getting done early!
We named our plane the Memphis Mafia (It's a Elvis thing - google it)
Just to finish the rest of the JYW story.... fast forward to Friday afternoon. Buzz and all her helpers,(wife's and girlfriends of pilots) feed us some great food! And the after dinner entertainment is always JYW's. Ken read the flight rules. This year you could not just fly and if your plane flopped and did a loop by mistake you got points, this year you had to call your maneuver as you did it. So as Ryan and I sat in the grass waiting to fly. Ryan asked me to go find a chair. He was going to sit in the chair as he attempted to loop the plane. I looked around and every white folding chair that was close by had a butt in it. I told him that we did not have time to go hunt down a chair. We were next up. So of course he never listens to me. He jumps up and runs around to the other side of the circle and finds a chair. Comes back and said, "bring this chair out after I do my mandatory 10 laps!" I agreed.
We are up.
Jim holds the plane as I started the Fox 35. Away it goes and it looked solid in the air. Ryan did his ten laps and goes high. I run out with the chair and unfold it and set it up for down wind. Ryan sat down and I became the caller. I called out a loop and the plane did it without a problem. Ryan jumped up and did a lap, then called out a vertical 8. I told him it may not do it and to save the plane because we got extra points if we do not crash. He then called inverted, and the little plane went inverted and looked even better inverted. Ryan then called another maneuver and said he was going to stand up in the chair while doing it. I repeated it. And he pulled it off. Ryan then called for a clover while sitting in the chair. I told him that we could lose the plane and do something else. Remember Ryan never listens to me, so he sat down in the chair and started to pull up the first loop of the clover. I had to call it. He pulled it off and the crowed went wild. Ryan then layed down on his back and did some overhead eights. He did a few more stunts and landed the plane. It was a big hit. I know someone had to get it on video, I just hope I can get a copy of it.
Late that afternoon I needed to get in a practice flight on my Vector. Earlier that day during round 1 as I finished my clover and got ready to land and my plane kept on going for some time. I thought for sure I had a over run. I did not, my time was 6:59. I did not do my inside or outside squares. I think it was just jitters. I did get a few practice flights in on Thursday afternoon and was still making adjustments and trying to get comfortable flying the plane. Well as I got in my practice flight on Friday I finished up the clover and said to myself that I was going to let the plane float down and land where is may as I would in the contest to get a good landing. The engine quit and the plane floated in nicely and touched down half way on the launch pad. I thought nice.... but then the plane rolled at a fast pace to the end of the pad. At the end of the pad has a very sharp drop off and about a 3 in gap to the raised grass. My wheels dropped into the gap and pulled the gear block out of the bottom of my plane. The pointed ends of the wheel pants punch two holes in each wing sheeting, then rolled out and put a small dent in the bottom of the fuse. One of the wheel pants cracked like a egg shell, and the cowl was broken almost in half. My coach walked up and before he could say it I repeated what he has been teaching me. "It's just balsa wood and paper, it can be fixed". I was lucky because at that time I was sure that Brodaks hobby shop was closed. But earlier that week we had run down to get a bottle of CA so Ryan could fix the Bi-Slob that was crashed three times on Thursday
It was not how I wanted to spend my Friday night, but I was up to almost mid-night with CA and book tape fixing the damage. It flew very well on Saturday.
I sure had a great week and was great seeing people that I only get to see at Brodaks. I was a little sad to hear that John may only do this for 4 more years. Depends on how things go. But that would make it a even 20 years that John and Buzz have opened there home to all that come each year. This make my 3rd Fly In. I just hope I can make the last 4.
Last note... I am sure I have some more pictures. Between 3 camera, smart phones, and a video camera it is going to take me a little time to gather all the data. When I have it all formatted, I will post here and on youtube.
Here are a few that go with this post.
Stay tuned....
Paul
Topic: Brodaks 2012 in the bag (Read 777 times)