September 29, 2019
While it doesn’t look like I’ve been flying much, I have been up and around but nothing worth writing a blog entry for… until now!
Since my 4th of July flight, my logbook shows 4 flights for a total of about 5.5 hours of air time. Two of those were pretty long flights — one, another flight to New Waverly and back through the Corridor, the other a flight to check out the Battleship Texas — but the others were just practicing stop-n-go’s and local flights.
I’ve known about the Under-The-Wire Fly-In for many years, but never managed to find that magical combination of good weather, opportunity to fly and the fly-in date, until today. Amy and I were kind of excited since it’d been a while since our last fly-in, Critters Lodge back on April 27th. The weather was looking pretty good as long as we left early. It would still be hot… September in SE Texas is rarely different from August… but we knew that once above 1500 feet, we’d be nice and cool.
We got up at dark-thirty, filled up my transfer tank and found our way to the airport when it was still early. Not so early that Gregory Bury wasn’t already there and flying around the area. We also chatted a bit with Stacey Maness, who was flying his Gyrobee. We fueled the Cavalon and then set out, wheels up at 8:54am.
The air was hazy and the clouds were low, yet still quite a nice morning to be flying!
The Under-The-Wire Fly-In is at the Flying V Ranch Airport, near Louise, TX. From downtown Houston, Louise is 77 miles (as the crow flies) SW, just past El Campo. From my airport it’s 113 miles but because I have to make a little detour around the Houston Class B airspace, it ended up being 126 sm.
We started off following the coast of Trinity Bay and encountered very familiar landmarks (which , if you follow all my stories, you’ll have seen before too!).
The quickest route would have been straight across the Bay, but I was exercising just a little bit of caution and, in the first 10 miles or so, staying close to land. Just before we got to Smith Point, we headed more directly toward Louise, and cut across the expansive waters of Trinity and Galveston Bay.
As an interesting side note, the web-based app called CloudAhoy is fairly well known among many pilots. It records and then provides a track of your flight (assuming you have it running on your Android phone or iPad in the plane). They offer a 3-D view of your track, too, but that usually costs extra. I forgo that and only use their 2-D version. However, they have unlocked the app for a short time (to let everyone use a new feature), so today I can view the 3-D version. It’s always kind of cool to see. Not only does it show you your path, but it gives you a very good sense of your altitude along your path.
For example, below is a snippet from my track (looking north), from take-off until I get across the bay. (I’ve annotated it to make it easier to follow.) I took off at Anahuac, followed the coast as I mentioned above, then branched across the water. You can tell from the 3-D projection that I increased my altitude as I crossed the water. This altitude gain gives me a few more seconds and a little more room in case I get into trouble. I would have gone higher but the cloud base — at that time — was pretty low. You can then see me descending a bit as I get back over land (in the bottom left corner).
Once clear of the bay, we settled into the usual tasks associated with flying: keeping our eyes peeled for other aircraft, maintaining our track and enjoying all the interesting things we often see from the air.
By the time we were passing El Campo, I had changed the frequency to 122.8, the one being used for the Fly-In. Flying V Ranch is very small with a turf runway so of course there’s no tower, but most fly-in’s assign an “Air Boss” who helps guide planes once they land, at the very least, and sometimes help keep things flowing well in the pattern.
As we listened, it was apparent there were quite a number of planes trying to land. Getting closer, I looked at my navigation screen, and was amazed at what it showed… a large cluster of other aircraft!
You can see my altitude — 1,350 ft — and the icons representing other aircraft (arrowhead shapes in cyan and yellow) showed they were all below me… i.e., they were at pattern altitude and all converging on the airport. If you looked only at the screen, it would likely worry you since there seemed to be so many, in such a small space. But if you’re a good pilot, you’ve got your eyes outside the cockpit and are spotting these other aircraft visually. When you do that, you see that in real life the planes are separated by quite a bit of space.
It’s not enough space to become complacent but enough to figure out where everyone is headed. There is a pattern, after all, and the aircraft near the airport should be in it or approaching it. I called out my position and my intention — to enter the downwind on the 45. I spotted two Vultee Valiant’s just ahead of me, and no one to my left, so I just followed them. Granted, to keep up, I had to increase my airspeed — something that is the opposite of what I usually do in the pattern — but having been to busy, non-controlled airports many time before, I knew it was just something I had to do to keep things flowing.
Now, the general instructions provided by the FAA for gyroplanes is that I’m supposed to fly a “close-in” pattern. This usually is interpreted to mean within a mile (often, much less) and at 500 feet AGL. Fixed-wing aircraft typically fly at 1000 ft AGL. Close-in is the pattern I fly at Anahuac and other non-busy airports. But I’ve learned from other experiences that other aircraft simply aren’t familiar with gyroplanes and even if you announce that you’re “close-in”, they have a harder time finding you. More important, they have a hard time understanding why you’re “cutting in front” of them for the base and final legs.
Since the main philosophy behind pattern flying and announcing your position and intentions is so that other pilots can know where to look for you, and have an idea about what maneuver you’re about to do. That philosophy breaks down if you’re in a different pattern. Heck, the FAA even says that flying an opposite pattern is okay for gyroplanes! I doubt 1 in 100 fixed-wing pilots know that. And if they heard me say it while in my own close-in pattern, I’m sure they’d think I was nuts. In fact, once I was even accused of doing it wrong, and I had to educate them. They still weren’t happy.
Given all of that, you can likely see why I choose to just merge with the regular pattern at a busy airport. Everyone expects you to do it. So I do. I like the predictability of it. It simply feels safer to do it.
So there I was earnestly trying to keep up with the two Vultee’s, flying downwind, then base and then I turned for final. Right then, a Stearman comes and cuts me off. He was apparently behind me and turned base before I did. I first saw him as I was on final and as he was just about to turn final. I was a little miffed but I knew it wasn’t anything to worry about. My landing configuration envelope is extremely wide compared to most fixed wing aircraft. That means, I can slow down quickly and land short, or I can speed up and land long. So I wasn’t worried.
However, the AirBoss saw what happened and gets on the radio:
AirBoss: Gyro, what are you doing?
Me: (Matter-of-factly) I’m on final!
AirBoss: With that Stearman in front of you, maybe you should go around.
Me: (Confidently) Not a factor.
By saying that, I’m telling him that even though the Stearman is “close”, he’s not a factor that I’m worried about. And, as I said, I knew that because I know my plane and the AirBoss may not. It’s likely, in fact, that he’s never seen a gyro flying before! I knew the Stearman would land at least 500 feet down the runway (if not a LOT more), and that I could land in 30 feet, i.e., “land short.” That is exactly what happened. From the AirBoss’ perspective, I likely landed WAY short, haha. When he told me to pull off to the outside of the white tires, his voice still had a noticeable hint of surprise in it. As I taxied to the spot he gave me, another aircraft zoomed past me. So it was a good thing they had a make-shift taxiway (i.e., outside the white tires).
I was told to park next to the helicopter. Up ahead I saw the R22 but it was up on a berm. It was clear that, once again, they didn’t understand that even though I have a rotor, I don’t have the same flight characteristics of a helicopter. I can’t land vertically on the berm and — like fixed-wing aircraft — I also can’t “drive up” the berm. So, I got as close as I could, then shut it down. After I got out, I picked up the front of the Cavalon and turned it so it faced the runway, just like all the other aircraft in the area. I was sticking out further than I liked, but there wasn’t much else I could do.
After I shut down, Amy and I un-entangled ourselves from the headsets, seatbelts, etc. and headed across the runway where most of the aircraft were.
There were also a large number of aircraft further down the runway, on the same side that we were on. We proceeded to wander around and admire the other aircraft.
We had just made the rounds around the first group of aircraft and were trying to decide what to do next, when I heard someone call out my name. I turned and was surprised and very pleased to see my long-time friend, Jimmy Young! He and I had spent some time together in the past, when he was first getting into flying. He had purchased a Kolb Firestar II and asked me to show him how to set-up the wings. I also did a test flight so I could report to him the characteristics and envelope. He’s mentioned in at least one of my old Texas-Flyer stories, “A Short Flight with Jimmy Young,” from January 2008.
Seven years ago, he told me, he gave up his Kolb Firestar and built a Zenith 750. Interestingly I ran across his old Kolb at the Bailes hangar in 2018. We took a walk with him and went to see his homebuilt aircraft, parked in the other large group of planes. I was impressed! Not being a builder — I simply prefer to fly — I’m always impressed by homebuilt aircraft (also known as E/AB, or Experimental/Amateur Built). [Technically, my Cavalon is Experimental, but it was built by a factory-based German aircraft engineer (who actually designed the Cavalon) so it was Experimental only because of the way the FAA forces people to register their gyro’s in the US. (Earlier this year, they — AutoGyro — are one of the first companies to get their gyro’s officially certified.)]
It was a nice but short reunion, as he had to get home. We paused long enough to get a shot of him and Amy standing next to his plane, then one with me and Amy.
The other thing that has always impressed me with the Zenith aircraft is the STOL capability — short-takeoff-or-landing. He can take off in about 250 feet, whereas it takes me about 700 feet, minimum. Of course I can still land shorter than him, but only by the barest of differences. The Zenith 701 is an aircraft that I had considered early in my flying career — my friend John Crosley had one — but by the time I was ready to make a decision, I had already been spoiled by all the pusher aircraft. In other words, I loved the view you got with pusher aircraft. The Zenith and most other tractor aircraft made it hard to see out the front. And even if you could, you were looking at (and taking pictures through) the turning prop. Not ideal for someone who flies in order to take pictures!
We watched as he taxied and took off…
It’s a pretty airplane, don’t you think?
Since we were now among the other large group of aircraft, we wandered around that area for a while. Soon enough we decided we might want to eat before we left and headed over to the food truck. Going around a corner we saw there was a very long line to order. Rather than spend 30 minutes standing in the hot sun, we decided to jump in the plane and head for KLBX and the Runway Cafe. It was a 40 minutes flight, so the timing sounded about the same except that we’d be at a cool 1500 feet for most of that time. So off we went!
Some planes were doing fly-by’s but we finally got a break and announced to the AirBoss that we wanted to taxi-back, which he approved. After waiting for a couple other aircraft who were landing, we then took off. Amy was busy with the camera while I was doing the take-off:
We curled around the pattern into the downwind. The AirBoss got on the radio and thanked us for showing up. This was a nice fly-in! Amy got another picture or two, then we peeled off to the east. Below is our take-off.
Our route to KLBX was due east with no deviations.
A few pictures along our track to KLBX:
Forty minutes after we left Flying V Ranch, we were in the pattern for Gulf Coast Regional and landing. Here is the CloudAhoy 3D track of our pattern and landing.
It is a cool technology… you can even see where we taxied and parked in front of the Runway Cafe! I just wish the 3D feature didn’t cost so much! :-/
After eating in the comfortably air-conditioned restaurant, we saddled up for the last leg of this very nice day-trip. From here it was about 50 minutes and a straight-shot to Anahuac. For the trip back we were still taking pictures of anything that caught our eye. Rather than avoid Trinity Bay we flew direct and very much enjoyed seeing the many sailboats on the water.
After landing we saw that Gregory and Stacey were still there! We grabbed a picture of Gregory taking off, and one of Stacey doing some touch-up on his tail feathers.
We cleaned and polished the Cavalon before tucking it back into the hangar. We were exhausted but very happy with the long day, a new fly-in, and meeting an old friend!
T00 – T26 Flying V Ranch for Under The Wire
wheels up @ 8:54am, wheels down @ 10:38am
air time: 1.74 hrs (1:44:24)
distance: 109.22 nm
T26 – KLBX Gulf Coast Regional
wheels up @ 11:57am, wheels down @ 12:53pm
air time: 0.95 hrs (00:57:00)
distance: 52.98 nm
KLBX – T00 Anahuac
wheels up @ 1:48pm, wheels down @ 2:47pm
air time: 0.99 hrs (00:59:24)
distance: 63.25 nm
Totals:
air time: 3.68 hrs (3:40)
distance: 225.45 nm
Fuel use: Approx 5.1 gal/hr
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