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Hi Folks,
Just got back home a few hours ago after a great
week with Tracy and Laura Crook. A lot of things to relate, but will try
to break it into several e mails rather than one long one.
As any of you know who have had the opportunity to
spend any time with Tracy and Laura, its always great fun - not to mention
opportunity to talk rotary until you pass out. Arrived at Shady Bend on
Wednesday to make certain I beat the cold front that was rumbling across the
midwest last week.
The trip down was with 40 mph headwinds, my left
EGT running 125 F higher than normal and my rpm choked at 6000 with a small
amplitude irregular vibration. More on this exhaust related story in a later e
mail.
Tracy and I launched around 1500 on Friday after
waiting for the clouds to provide a few holes and to follow Laura who had left
earlier driving to Lakeland. Clouds below all the way down but with
sufficient holds (and height above ground) to feel comfortable. Tracy was
lead and I was flying formation off his right wing (which meant he was on my
good eye side {:>)). We topped a cloud ridge just be fore the LakeLand
area and found true to the weather report only broken clouds around lakeland -
but worst weather coming from Tampa area.
However, upon calling the tower, Tracy was informed
the airfield had been closed. (we later discovered a fatal accident had
just occurred with a Cessna 337) so we Tracy took us to Plant City airport
9 miles to the east. By that time the light was fading and the
ceiling was coming down below 1100 ft.
Fortunately, Tracy's daughter and friend came over
from Lakeland and picked us up. Next morning we arrived back at Plant City
and waited for several hours for the weather to lift. Finally when it
reached 900 ft, we launched an Tracy asked for a "Special VFR" clearance, which
they indicated they would grant -AFTER the IFR traffic in the chute was
cleared. Well, we orbited between Plant City and the Tampa Class B
airspace for at what seemed like a long period but was probably less than 30
minutes before receiving clearance and landing. A few more RV's came in
later in the day. Only had about 25 aircraft, but Charlie and Ken Powell
as well as a friend of Charlies - "Weasel" who flew in a nice looking
RV-4.
So although the numbers were few, we all had a
great time. Flew back with Tracy Sunday, did not get to fly down and see
Bernie's project as we had planned. Helped Tracy drive a few rivets in his
RV-8 and got back home Tuesday around 1245 with only a 25 mph headwind
coming home
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