I've put my trusty Extra to bed for a month, and will be leaving for Brussels on July 28. That 6:00 AM departure seemed reasonable when I booked it, but now that the time is upon us, I'm not so sure! I wish that I could be joining my teammates for a week of practice, but I have to go where the plane is. I'll be practicing in St. Hubert, Belgium (SE of Brussels, near Luxemburg) with the Luxemburgian, Belgian, and Japanese teams, each of which consists of one pilot. We'll be coached by Catherine Manoury, ex French Team pilot, for four days. I have heard nothing but good things about Catherine; I look forward to meeting her.
On Aug. 4, the plane, a very nice Extra 300L, will fly to Radom, while Patty and I head for Warsaw by airline. I may get just one practice flight in the actual box on Aug. 5. At least I'll know the plane well by then. Patty will be recording for U.S. judge Tom Adams.
I've flown this year's Known a thousand times, I'm sure, and still don't like it much. My Free flies fast and is great fun, though it's hard physical work. I hope the judges like it as much as I do. I've been using a video camera in the cockpit for some self-critique. It's very useful, and I've put a video of my Free on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36kbyTfy4dI Watching the hands tells the story. There are no hard pushes in this Free. Most of the pulls are 7 to 8 g's. The music, by the way, is "Under Pressure."
Next post from Belgium!
Doug Sowder
Monday, July 26, 2010
Team Fund Raiser a HUGE Success
I want to thank everyone for making the USA Team fund raiser a HUGE success. Many of you followed the link on facebook " Send Spanky to Poland " and your contributions were very generous. The team will use the funds for Van rental , tools and supplies , Hotel rooms, and aircraft fuel while in Poland (just to name a few )....I can tell you from experience , the cost of this event is more today than when I went back in 2006. Most of you also know that every US team member is required to pay their own way ...your donations help defray this cost , and it is very much appreciated. thank you
The pressure is on to bring the gold back to USA !
The following were key contributors to the cause :
Lauire Ross - GES
Curt Richmond - Correctional Food Service
Paul Richmond , Maggie Richmond
Philip Blais - Blais Aviation Services
JT air shows
Randy Henderson
Mike Plyler
Patrick Clark
Mark and keighly Jacobson - Global Marc Aire, Inc
Craig Dobesh
Wingspread
Gulf Coast Pilot services
Heavy Ventures
Bradley Benski
Rick and Monica Nutt - FMI
Ben Morphew
BJ and Barbara Boyle - Boyle Aviation
FourWinds Aviation
Aerocountry EAST
Larry Gallaway
Mario Sinacola and sons
MOMO's Italian
EAA and AOPA
Mike Shell , Shannon Rodgers
Storrie Parachute Works
Friday, July 23, 2010
New Phase
Today ends ”W-2” week for me. During this period I flew Diana Towne’s Extra 300L- nice flying airplane! We had a camp with Ben. Gray and Tim also participated. Alan Geringer, as usual, provided expert coaching and wise advice. I had some mechanical problems, but thanks to help from my mechanic friends and luck it got solved quickly.
Less acro than what I would have chosen, what it was invaluable - and fun!
We got to visit famous Lycon in Visalia. As Gray put it we expected something like a sterile high-tech-shiny-rocketpowered-spaceship operation at Lycon,
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but then we found out no, no shiny floors or glass encased testing beds, just very competent, smart and dedicated people working with engines that did in fact look like pieces of modern art. It was very interesting.
Tomorrow off to Europe! Thank you Diana! Thank you Alan! Thank you Paul! Thank you to all the friends who have e-mailed and called from so many and far places.
Reinaldo
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Point of No Return
A plan always has a point of no return, after which one needs to be fully committed. For our AWAC participation Bob Freeman and I reached that point on Sunday June 13. That day both our airplanes needed to be in Centennial to be disassembled and shipped to Europe for AWAC. US-Aero at Centennial Airport near Denver was very generous and coordinated shipping, let us use their facilities, provided expertise for the Extra disassembly and the manpower to do the work. Bob Freeman and I left on Sunday. The container for both airplanes was going to leave on Tuesday, with or without our airplanes.
The Saturday weather briefing showed a low over the Rockies. Very early on Sunday morning Centennial was in fact low IFR, but forecasted to be VFR in the afternoon. Bob, having the benefit of a shorter trip from Longmont, had some time to wait for improving conditions. I left Central California at 6AM after rudely waking Tom Myers up to open the hangar. My wife kissed me good-bye and handed me a small bag of trail-mix and Gatorade for the trip, since there was no time for breakfast. The only other activity was Doug Sowder, my team-mate, leaving for Washington. I was trusting of the VFR forecast for later, although crossing the Rockies and the front-range looked iffy.
The route would take me through some of the most spectacularly scenic terrain one could ever see. And indeed it was a beautiful flight. I crossed the fertile California Central valley (photo 1), flew over the Southern Sierra Nevada over the Kern Valley (photo 2)
and Lake Isabella, continuing east over the Mojave desert to Boulder City near Las Vegas.
I refueled and left Boulder City flying south of the Hoover Dam (photo 3).
From there I diverted south of my planned route for weather, flying just north of the Grand Canyon to Page in Arizona. There were big black thunderstorms south of Bryce Canyon, which was my original route. Another look at the weather at the FBO in Page convinced me to keep going on the more southern route.
I flew south of Lake Powell (photo 4) to Monument Valley 
(photo 5) and then over those impressive formations around
Cortez and Mesa Verde (photo 6) to Durango (photo 7),
then to Alamosa. I had to turn back and land in San Luis Valley because the mountain passes were IFR. I was tired, frustrated and it was getting late. I called my wife to let her know of my delay. After refueling (yes, again, I like to have plenty of fuel if there are problems with weather) I checked the internet for radar images. A break showed up in the yellows and dark greens. There were still convective sigmets around, but cells were dissipating. I took off and in fact weather was now good VFR. Centennial reported about 2000 and vis 10.
I crossed the continental divide around 12,000 ft (photo 8- see altimeter).
I ducked under the overcast near Pueblo. Turning north I reached Centennial just before the rain started.
Bob was already there hard at work with his complete family helping him."Family that puts airplanes together stays together" I thought. We started taking my Extra apart soon after landing. I was dragging, hungry and tired from the flight and the days prior to it. A lot of work still lay ahead, but that’s another story! (see last photo)
The Saturday weather briefing showed a low over the Rockies. Very early on Sunday morning Centennial was in fact low IFR, but forecasted to be VFR in the afternoon. Bob, having the benefit of a shorter trip from Longmont, had some time to wait for improving conditions. I left Central California at 6AM after rudely waking Tom Myers up to open the hangar. My wife kissed me good-bye and handed me a small bag of trail-mix and Gatorade for the trip, since there was no time for breakfast. The only other activity was Doug Sowder, my team-mate, leaving for Washington. I was trusting of the VFR forecast for later, although crossing the Rockies and the front-range looked iffy.The route would take me through some of the most spectacularly scenic terrain one could ever see. And indeed it was a beautiful flight. I crossed the fertile California Central valley (photo 1), flew over the Southern Sierra Nevada over the Kern Valley (photo 2)
and Lake Isabella, continuing east over the Mojave desert to Boulder City near Las Vegas.
I refueled and left Boulder City flying south of the Hoover Dam (photo 3).
From there I diverted south of my planned route for weather, flying just north of the Grand Canyon to Page in Arizona. There were big black thunderstorms south of Bryce Canyon, which was my original route. Another look at the weather at the FBO in Page convinced me to keep going on the more southern route.
I flew south of Lake Powell (photo 4) to Monument Valley 
(photo 5) and then over those impressive formations around
Cortez and Mesa Verde (photo 6) to Durango (photo 7),
then to Alamosa. I had to turn back and land in San Luis Valley because the mountain passes were IFR. I was tired, frustrated and it was getting late. I called my wife to let her know of my delay. After refueling (yes, again, I like to have plenty of fuel if there are problems with weather) I checked the internet for radar images. A break showed up in the yellows and dark greens. There were still convective sigmets around, but cells were dissipating. I took off and in fact weather was now good VFR. Centennial reported about 2000 and vis 10.I crossed the continental divide around 12,000 ft (photo 8- see altimeter).
I ducked under the overcast near Pueblo. Turning north I reached Centennial just before the rain started.
Bob was already there hard at work with his complete family helping him."Family that puts airplanes together stays together" I thought. We started taking my Extra apart soon after landing. I was dragging, hungry and tired from the flight and the days prior to it. A lot of work still lay ahead, but that’s another story! (see last photo)
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Apple Valley Gold Cup Contest 2010: “Duel in The Desert”
If aviation had holy sites the Mojave high desert of California would surely be one. This is the site of many great aviation achievements, not uncommonly done in a manner that to the superficial observer would appear understated and almost casual. The names of legendary pilots, engineers and airplanes like Wiley Post, X-1, X-15, Chuck Yeager, Rutan, SR-71, Voyager, SpaceShipOne, Global Flyer, Robert Harris, Proteus and Scott Crossfield to cite a few are intrinsically tied to this place. There is no pilot with love of his or her craft that doesn’t feel the appeal of the brilliant blue Mojave sky and its nature-given dry lake runways. The Apple Valley Gold Cup annual aerobatic contest a.k.a. this year as “Duel in the Desert” benefited from this magnificent setting in early May. Recent spring storms had left snow-capped mountains around and cool blustery conditions. On arrival we saw the “Duel in the Desert” trophies written in gold-type over black shiny surfaces. Oh, it was powerful! It was inevitable to think of old-west gunslingers squinting against the sun but this time not acquiring their target, but checking their competitor’s precision. They were not trying a fast draw and aim, but to keep their airplanes in position in the aerobatic box despite the 35 knot wind that was squarely across it. Not easy! The California aerobatic community has suffered irreparable losses and the effect of that weighs on all of us. The location, setting and organization theme helped a great deal in bringing that fighting spirit back to competition. It was a stroke of genius from the organizers!
The winds calmed down some for the next day. Beautiful sunshine and cooler temperatures helped to mitigate the high density altitude somewhat. Still, with the runway above 3000 ft MSL the air is not the same as at sea level, and we could feel it and see it. Chelsea commented rightfully “aerobatics with little air”.
As we had expected this was not a contest with a large number of competitors. However, there were still several primary entries and the smallest category –unlimited- had 4 competitors. We saw some rewarding flight in Great Lakes and Decathlon. It was nice to see beautifully flown figures in competitors that had coaching by USAAAT members. I think that USAAAT coaching had something to do with the improved quality of that flying. Unfortunately, disorientation in the box prevented one of these pilots to transform the quality of those figures into a top final standing. So Cyrus showed his right stuff in Sportsman and went home very happy.
There were several very good flights in Intermediate. It appears this group as a whole is progressing rapidly and becoming very competitive, particularly the ladies. Jim Ward’s experience showed. It was hard for the judges to pick a winner; the counting of points was necessary. Steve’s blue and yellow little Pitts showed us how a Pitts can position itself to really show what it can do. He clearly had the attention of the judges during his flight: we saw all of his good flying, but also showed all of the points to deduct!
Unlimited was fun to watch. You could see pilots trying their best. Jim in his superb, immaculate CAP flew just beautiful snaps to our eyes. Tim in his blue and yellow Extra did not fly a regular free: he made an airshow out of it in the best sense. All heads in the airport turned to him during his flight. If he captivated the audience no doubt he had the even closer sitting judges entranced.
The contest ended with the 4-min-freestyles. Airplanes with smoke trails, moving in synch to music, bright blue skies with a horizon lined by snow-tipped mountains. Oh yeah! It was fun. Thanks to Patrick and Tim.
And what about us in the USAAATeam? Well, sufficient to say the Team pilots present wore their uniforms with new caps and flight-jackets. We did get a suggestion to offer our images to GQ and several “look at you guys” comments. Oh yeah, we flew too, that’s what we were there to do. We took home ALL the legally available trophies in the category: 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place by our Team Mechanic Tommy, and the No-Zero No-Outs trophy highest percent. None too shabby!
Thanks to the organizers. Casey and Jacky deserve special thanks for a classy, respectful, and thoughtful preparation and direction. The whole crew of 49 did a wonderful job.
Ben & Reinaldo
The winds calmed down some for the next day. Beautiful sunshine and cooler temperatures helped to mitigate the high density altitude somewhat. Still, with the runway above 3000 ft MSL the air is not the same as at sea level, and we could feel it and see it. Chelsea commented rightfully “aerobatics with little air”.
As we had expected this was not a contest with a large number of competitors. However, there were still several primary entries and the smallest category –unlimited- had 4 competitors. We saw some rewarding flight in Great Lakes and Decathlon. It was nice to see beautifully flown figures in competitors that had coaching by USAAAT members. I think that USAAAT coaching had something to do with the improved quality of that flying. Unfortunately, disorientation in the box prevented one of these pilots to transform the quality of those figures into a top final standing. So Cyrus showed his right stuff in Sportsman and went home very happy.
There were several very good flights in Intermediate. It appears this group as a whole is progressing rapidly and becoming very competitive, particularly the ladies. Jim Ward’s experience showed. It was hard for the judges to pick a winner; the counting of points was necessary. Steve’s blue and yellow little Pitts showed us how a Pitts can position itself to really show what it can do. He clearly had the attention of the judges during his flight: we saw all of his good flying, but also showed all of the points to deduct!
Unlimited was fun to watch. You could see pilots trying their best. Jim in his superb, immaculate CAP flew just beautiful snaps to our eyes. Tim in his blue and yellow Extra did not fly a regular free: he made an airshow out of it in the best sense. All heads in the airport turned to him during his flight. If he captivated the audience no doubt he had the even closer sitting judges entranced.
The contest ended with the 4-min-freestyles. Airplanes with smoke trails, moving in synch to music, bright blue skies with a horizon lined by snow-tipped mountains. Oh yeah! It was fun. Thanks to Patrick and Tim.
And what about us in the USAAATeam? Well, sufficient to say the Team pilots present wore their uniforms with new caps and flight-jackets. We did get a suggestion to offer our images to GQ and several “look at you guys” comments. Oh yeah, we flew too, that’s what we were there to do. We took home ALL the legally available trophies in the category: 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place by our Team Mechanic Tommy, and the No-Zero No-Outs trophy highest percent. None too shabby!
Thanks to the organizers. Casey and Jacky deserve special thanks for a classy, respectful, and thoughtful preparation and direction. The whole crew of 49 did a wonderful job.
Ben & Reinaldo
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Borrego--Getting There.
I've always wanted to go to a contest at Borrego Springs, and when I learned that we'd have a USAAAT camp for three days before this spring's 5-category contest, I just had to go. Reinaldo has already written a great summary of the camp and contest; for me, the story I'll add is getting there (and getting home).
Home, for me, is about 1030 nm almost due north of Borrego in Spokane, WA. That's pretty much the North Coast of the USA. I have flown to the Paso Robles, CA contest just about every June for the past 10 years or so, and I've flown the 1300 nm annually to the U.S. Nationals, plus annual camps in Ashland, KS, so long trips are nothing new to me. What's always interesting is the weather. This trip was verrrrry interesting.
Out of Spokane on Sunday morning, April 4, I had a nice flight to Sun River, OR where I stopped for fuel. After warming up with coffee and a Snickers bar, I blasted off for Oroville, CA, where I knew fuel to be (relatively) inexpensive. Passing Klamath Falls, I probed the west side of Mt. Shasta (aka Interstate 5).
No go. Snow, fog, ice pellets, and moderate+ turbulence. I retreated and tried the east side of the big snow cone. Same, except severe turbulence. Glad to be flying a 10g airplane! Couldn't go over, couldn't go under, and in my best "don't do anything stupid" mode, I flew back to Klamath, checked into the MicroTel, watched the Calexico earthquake on TV in the lobby for a few minutes, then walked across the street to the Aftershock (no bleep!) bar and grill at the bowling alley.
Monday AM, gassed to the gills again, I left K-Falls in light snow and 26 degrees F, went VFR on top around the west side of Shasta (see photo; pretty hard to get lost...) and had a nice flight to Oroville, where as promised, the gas was relatively inexpensive. More coffee. Another Snickers bar. Past Bakersfield, I headed for Tehachapi Pass. Clouds nearly to the ground. Tops well above 14,000 feet and my electric jacket was on High, plus there's a reason they put all those wind turbines there, so I tried farther south toward Grapevine and the Gorman VOR. Very black underneath, too high to top, so back to Bakersfield. Approach suggested I might want Bakersfield Muni as there's a restaurant. He read my mind.
As I nursed a succulent cheesburger, the clouds were rising slowly over Tehachapi Pass, so at 3 PM I took off, flew through Tehachapi (photo), across whatever all those deserts are, took a serious beating at Banning (must be all those windmills)
and finally arrived at a sunny, warm, dead calm, and very empty Borrego Springs airport. The resort van came out to get me, and they have Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap. Not a bad day after all.
Insert Reinaldo's summary here....
The trip home was totally different. Took off, flew across the Salton Sea toward Las Vegas, north past Tonopah, landed at Battle Mountain, NV for gas, coffee, and Snickers bar, off again GPS direct for Felts Field, 5 hours total in the air, and I was home by 2:00 PM.
Can't resist a few words about the camp and contest. The mini-camp was great, Reinaldo, Malcolm, and I flew well and Mike Steveson is a great coach and critiquer. There were some sad times at the contest, but Gray Brandt, the Chapter 36 crew,
and a host of volunteers pulled it together and put on a great contest. As far as I could tell, they did absolutely everything right and with respect. I made some new friends, saw many old friends, and look forward to going back to Borrego again.
Doug
Home, for me, is about 1030 nm almost due north of Borrego in Spokane, WA. That's pretty much the North Coast of the USA. I have flown to the Paso Robles, CA contest just about every June for the past 10 years or so, and I've flown the 1300 nm annually to the U.S. Nationals, plus annual camps in Ashland, KS, so long trips are nothing new to me. What's always interesting is the weather. This trip was verrrrry interesting.
Out of Spokane on Sunday morning, April 4, I had a nice flight to Sun River, OR where I stopped for fuel. After warming up with coffee and a Snickers bar, I blasted off for Oroville, CA, where I knew fuel to be (relatively) inexpensive. Passing Klamath Falls, I probed the west side of Mt. Shasta (aka Interstate 5).
No go. Snow, fog, ice pellets, and moderate+ turbulence. I retreated and tried the east side of the big snow cone. Same, except severe turbulence. Glad to be flying a 10g airplane! Couldn't go over, couldn't go under, and in my best "don't do anything stupid" mode, I flew back to Klamath, checked into the MicroTel, watched the Calexico earthquake on TV in the lobby for a few minutes, then walked across the street to the Aftershock (no bleep!) bar and grill at the bowling alley.Monday AM, gassed to the gills again, I left K-Falls in light snow and 26 degrees F, went VFR on top around the west side of Shasta (see photo; pretty hard to get lost...) and had a nice flight to Oroville, where as promised, the gas was relatively inexpensive. More coffee. Another Snickers bar. Past Bakersfield, I headed for Tehachapi Pass. Clouds nearly to the ground. Tops well above 14,000 feet and my electric jacket was on High, plus there's a reason they put all those wind turbines there, so I tried farther south toward Grapevine and the Gorman VOR. Very black underneath, too high to top, so back to Bakersfield. Approach suggested I might want Bakersfield Muni as there's a restaurant. He read my mind.
As I nursed a succulent cheesburger, the clouds were rising slowly over Tehachapi Pass, so at 3 PM I took off, flew through Tehachapi (photo), across whatever all those deserts are, took a serious beating at Banning (must be all those windmills)
and finally arrived at a sunny, warm, dead calm, and very empty Borrego Springs airport. The resort van came out to get me, and they have Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap. Not a bad day after all.Insert Reinaldo's summary here....
The trip home was totally different. Took off, flew across the Salton Sea toward Las Vegas, north past Tonopah, landed at Battle Mountain, NV for gas, coffee, and Snickers bar, off again GPS direct for Felts Field, 5 hours total in the air, and I was home by 2:00 PM.
Can't resist a few words about the camp and contest. The mini-camp was great, Reinaldo, Malcolm, and I flew well and Mike Steveson is a great coach and critiquer. There were some sad times at the contest, but Gray Brandt, the Chapter 36 crew,
and a host of volunteers pulled it together and put on a great contest. As far as I could tell, they did absolutely everything right and with respect. I made some new friends, saw many old friends, and look forward to going back to Borrego again.Doug
Spanky vs the Monoplane
I finally went to the dark side and bought a monoplane . Although I have been flying my Pitts for years , I finally came to the realization that the ole' bi-plane just can't cut it in world competition anymore . So , I looked around and found a solid Extra 300/S . This plane is a blast to fly , very nimble and extremely fast. ( at least compared to my Pitts ) I literally have to pull the power just to keep from going out "high" in the box . I have only 10 hours in this plane to date, so I am sure I will learn more as I continue to fly it .
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