Mike and I got 'ome last night about 7pm. We hit a dust storm in N. Arizona and the wind continued with snow, sleet, rain and dark of night in Utah and into Idaho. Ever drive 80mph at night in a snowstorm? Wanna? I didn't, but some did! Go to Utah!!! It was 1,597 miles to the flying field in Tucson from my house...total was 3,395 miles. Much of the trip through Utah and Idaho was into a wind of about 50 mph, so MPG was not good.
I guess the worst thing that happened to me in Tucson was that Leo knocked over my beer and got it on my Golden State Stunt Champs cap. The beer was a Fosters, and the cap is still wearable. I could have used some of that spilled beer later. The Skylark didn't do too badly, but needs some more trimming and some minor fixin. Seems that Mike's Freedom 45 was rubbing on the Skylark during the drive home. I hope it's not preggers, 'cause it weighs enough already. The cowl was cracked for Flt. 3, tho I don't know when or how. It might have been Leo. And I had to pull the engine out to switch to a smaller venturi (.272"), and one of the blind nuts broke off. Don't use any blind nuts other than Dubro!!! I'll fix it with a brass insert, installed from the top of the nose...might do all four, while I'm at it.
My flying was kinda spotty...some good stuff on some flights, but not what I hoped for. I wasn't happy with my first flight, had a brain fart and lost PP's on 2nd flight, and the sudden blast of high wind lost me PP's on my 3rd flight. That would have been my best flight, I think, but I was busy changing my shorts and forgot to get the score cards. I was really lucky to get the plane down in one piece. To get the plane on the ground safely, I kept it about 2' off the ground until the engine quit, glided about 10' into the wind, and touched down very hot. Wheee! This Skylark glides very slowly, so it could have been fatal to let it slow down.
Looks like I placed somewhere in the mid-50's out of about 80 who flew. Ok, where did I go wrong? Well, I wasted a lot of practise time at TNA trying to get various props to work better on the .46LA than the 11.5 x 4 APC...which didn't pan out. Fuel economy problems at home and in Tucson prevented practising the complete pattern. For Flt.2, I was just nervous...don't really know why. Possibly because of Leo spilling my Fosters the previous evening? Yeah, that could be it!
Oh, well. All in all, it was a great week, and I hope to do it again real soon.
Riding home with all those trophies was just slightly inspiring! Mike Haverly repeated on the Sheeks Award and also got Sheeks Design Hi-Point Award, plus transporting the 10th Place Classic trophy for Don McClave, who left early for the I-5 corridor to try to beat the snow expected in the mountains. I wonder how that worked out...
Got back to work this morning, with a fresh smile and new "glass 3/4 full" attitude...only to have it quelled by the usual BS that awaited.
Steve
Topic: My Experience at VSC (Read 3184 times)