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(FAC NATS Geneseo 2004... pg 3)

It was around noontime Saturday, and we still had 5 more hours of flying. After that chase, I don't believe the smile ever left my face. I probably slept that way. My list of events was long, so I couldn't stop now. If I was to keep up the chase with Chris Starleaf and the others, I would have to fly alot, and fly my best.

I made it to the top ten in the WW2 mass event, which showed a total of 56 entrants. Even a Stuka made it into the final. This was the premiere mass event at the Nats, for sure. My Mig-3 looked to be in fine shape, but spun in at launch in the fourth round when I threw slightly left crosswind, getting caught by the torque monster. Rats. My hunch was wrong.

Chris Starleaf outlasted the others both in flight and physical duration, for the five flights were all marked with long downwind thermal chases. Chris could better describe the last two exciting flights.

My Arado dimer flew reasonably well, although she still felt the calling of her winter indoor flight pattern, circling a bit too tight to the right. Yet I was pleased to take second.

The new Cessna C-38, a 20" model based on the old Guillows plan really got her stride this day. The night before she was on rails, needing only a tad more nose weight to make her happy. Today I was flying her in the FAC Scale event, hoping for a max.

Cessna C-38

I have a dethermalizer on this ship, one that I can remove should I care to fly her in other events where they're not allowed. This left me feeling good about cranking her up to max winds during this thermalistic day. But on my walk a few hundred yards upwind for launch, I noticed that the DT was moving much too fast, becoming fully unwound at 50 seconds. This wouldn't do. I needed a full two minutes. What was going on here, since earlier in the day she was unwinding at about 2.5 minutes? The heat of the day had softened the Silly Putty, speeding the action beyond it's usefulness.

So I had to decide, go back with a fully wound motor and readjust the DT, or walk out a bit further and let her go. A storm cloud was nearing, close to covering the sun for a long spell, so I figured this was her chance. Bite the bullet and let her go. Hopefully she won't go out of sight.

Similar to the Cub, she lifted immediately after launch. As I play it back in my mind's eye, it was probably the most beautiful flight of the weekend for me. Sunlight filtering through the yellow and green tissue, set against the brilliant cerulean blue of the sky, framed by massive layered white, yellow, blue and gray clouds. It was heaven.

Only five days earlier she had never seen the sky, and now here she was, lifting closer to the heavens for an impressive view of the field below. I can't tell you how many times I've wished I could put my own eyes in the ships as they soar to this vantage. Must be amazing.

Once again I had to get on my horse and chase. But the drift was slower and directly to the west, so as she crossed the flight line, she lost her lift and fell to the ground about 50 yards beyond, tipping the clock at 2 minutes and 46 seconds. The gamble paid off this time. But I definitely need to take a closer look at that DT.

It was enough to win the Angus MacShadenfrueder Hi-Wing Wienie Award, given to the top scoring hi-wing aircraft in FAC Scale. With a name like that, I'm not sure if I should be smiling proudly or hiding in a closet somewhere...

Final flight of the day was the newly restored DH-2. This peanut flew as a rubber ship in 2000, then with CO2 in 2002. Now she has found a home with a geared Kenway electric motor and a small LiPoly.

Airco DH-2

I'm indebted to the late great Ulises Alvarez who designed the model, and to Stew Meyers who designed a power plan that worked flawlessly. She would never have flown without the experience and generosity of these two flyers.

With Mark Houck as my timer and assistant, we launched the ship well away from the flight line in the taller grass toward the college. The initial trim flight spun in and cracked a few of the cabane struts, so I needed to do a quick field repair, for the clock was ticking. We only had ten minutes left of flying that day before GHQ would blow the whistle.

I tweaked the rudder to the right to compensate for the spiral, hoping it was close enough to open her up, allowing her to fly for the needed 100 seconds.

She left my hand and began a fast, scalloping circle to the left, nearly hitting the ground. This continued for the next 30 seconds, again coming close to the turf on a number of passes.
Eventually she gained momentum and stability, flying with a flatter circle, all the while gaining altitude.

As Mark called out the times, she continued to climb. At 60 seconds she was flattening out at only 20 feet. By 80 seconds she was up to 30 feet and looking more secure. At 90 she was absolutely cruising for a photo shoot, but I was much too excited to think about that. At the 100 second mark she was at 50 feet and looking good....I knew she had flown for the max.

No sooner did both of us let out a roar, the DH-2 did as programmed...motor fading to a soft hum, dropping the ship softly to the right for the final glide and a 105 second flight. The twenty bonus points put her over the max.

We walked quickly over to the bird, high fiving along the way in a wave of excitement.
I had waited 4 long years to see this ship fly as I had hoped, so I couldn't help but let out my joy. I'd like to think that Ulises was watching, and helping...

Once again we had an incredible evening of flying, with even more flyers down at the field for the late day trim fest. We considered ordering out for pizza, since many of us had been there since 8AM. But instead Chris went out for hoagies and beer, bringing it all back for a few of us on the field. We stayed til after 9PM. That's one long day of flying.

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