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