videos of places I fly

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Hyder Desert Airpark 1st Anual Fly in 3/24 & 25 2012

4 great flights. 

Saturday's first flight about 7:44 to 9:50am a nice 80 mile flight - visited the solar plant to the West of the airpark, a cruise around Agua Caliente,  over the shrimp farms East of town, then over to the mountain to the East to check out the WW2 radar installation.

Second Saturday flight - only 13 miles 10:44 to 11:10 Had some coffee and took another nice flight which ended due to the increase in thermal activity which was bouncing me around quite a bit.  It was up to about 80 degrees at this point.

Third Saturday flight of 25 miles from 6:25 to 7:00 for a great evening flight - fantastic sunset with the greatest unobstructed view.  Flew to the East so the last of the flight was directly back to the airport heading West so I could watch the sun go down over the mountains.

Sunday am. short 26 mile flight - 7:25 am to 8:15 am it was a bit breezy with 7 mph from the SE with predicted increase in wind speed so I played around the airport. Found a pack of Coyotes so I flew around them - got some video and pictures and found they do not like having an airplane follow them around.  Finally gave up with fighting the increasing wind as it was time to pack it up to come home.

There were officially after the count was tallied 2.5 airplanes in attendance, and at the high point a total of 9 people enjoying the fun and excitement and talking airplane stuff. (all truth no lying - that was later around the fire)

50 nice pictures of the weekend flying Pictures here

Videos:

Chasing Coyote -

Bill Landing the Cessn

Fly over and into the sunse

 

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November 27 & 28 Flying at Hyder Desert Airpark

Good time Great place to fly

Hyder Desert Airpark Pictures here

Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3xC0qaNQbg

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October 17 A great day to fly 100 miles.

Whoo Hoo a vacation day from work - Time to go FLY!

Joey and I went to PRA after a stop to fill the plane up with gas, and ourselves up with a breakfast burrito. Got to PRA and setup the plane. OAT at 70 degrees and I was in the air at 8:56 am. 5 mph wind from the SE. Landed at 11:22 for total of 2 hours and 26 min. -

Total flight miles a little over 100 miles traveled.

In the pictures you can see where there are 3 flight logs - for some reason my GPS lost connection with the satellites. the Desert Triangle?? Still they add up to 99.9 and there are some missing spots - I say it is over 100 miles flown. The last picture shows how much fuel was left in the tank - this point on the gauge equals 1/2 gallon in the tank.

Pictures Here

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Columbus Day 10/10/2011 - In search of new landing places!

Beautiful day to fly - 50 degrees when I got to the airport at 7:30 am to start setting up.

Took off at 8:50 am and flew for 1 hour and 56 min - Burned 3.3. gallons of fuel for a 72 mile flight. The Arizona desert still warms up quickly and by 10:30 I was ready to call it quits as the thermal activity was creating a bumpy ride.

My adventures were successful. Before taking off Norm told me of a new place he had flown over which let me to fly out where I had not flown before to the junction of highway 8 and highway 84 where there exists Pete's Truck Stop. Looks like we can land there and maybe have some breakfast sometime.

Pictures here

GPS

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9.18.2011

FINALLY the hot weather is going away and hopefully the wind with it. ...Two weeks ago it was 116 with an overnight low of 98 degrees. 

Today it was 68 degrees out when I got to the airport at 7:00 am and the high was only 97 degrees.  Beautiful day to fly!

Burned 4 gallons of fuel for an 80 mile flight that lasted 2 hours. It was supposed to be only 2 to 3 mph wind predicted but it was 6 to 10 mph but steady so it was nice to fly in. By 10 am when I was returning from Francisco Grande Hotel there was plenty of thermal activity.

Pictures Here

GPS file here for Google Earth

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A lot of time has passed since the Flying Circus and my engine out.

I have had a couple of other brief flights but nothing very long or enjoyable mostly due to bad winds

With the existence of many days of high winds and with the 3 day holiday here it looked like my hopes of a good day to fly were not going to happen 25 mph wind on Saturday May 28th 37 mph wind on Sunday May 29th. The prediction for Monday May 30 Memorial day was for 4 - 5 mph winds all day. Seems that lots of people were waiting for a low wind day to fly. A few emails later and we had a fly-in going on. Total of 5 trikes and my Weedhopper. The PPG is Mo Sheldon giving a whole family dual intro rides.

Beautiful weather 66 degrees at takeoff at 7 am I flew 75 miles and had 2 hours of airtime. And I never went more than a couple miles from the airport. lots of low level flying and playing. The last 43 min flight from 9 to 9:42 am was at just above stall speed playing in the thermals as the ground was heating up not hugh lift but it was enough to gain 1,000 ft a altitude.

Pictures Here

Video of the flying adventure today. No music just the engine and the wind.

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Started off 2011 with a great group of friends at MoTown for the Flying Circus Fly-in.

I am now an honorary member of the MoTown Maniacs.......

Went out Friday afternoon and setup and had a great flight followed by a great fire.

Saturday morning was another great day 40 degrees 4 mph breeze a sunshine which after 56 min and 37 miles ended with a very exciting engine out and a out landing about 3/4 miles from the airport. Everything was fine but not the way I want to end a flight.

1.28 & 29.2011 Flying Circus Flights

Follow up on the engine out - it was a failure in the fuel pump the pump arm broke which let the rod raise up and the brass gear disconnect (grind the teeth off) and spew volumes of brass filings into my motor. No other damage but it did require a disassembly and flush of the whole engine.

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12.26.2010 - The day after Christmas is always a good day to go play.

I went to Phoenix Regional supposed to be 4 mph winds all day....... Note: The weather people are always wrong.... Left about 9 am setup and ready to fly by 11 am. with a 4 mph wind from the NE. OAT at 55 and high clouds. Flew out to Mo Town to see if anyone was there. About 5 miles from Mo's as I was going over the mountain the wind started to pick up since no one was at Mo's I headed back. Made really good time with a 17 mph tail wind. 2.2 gal of fuel 1.5 hours of flight time and 57 miles traveled.

After I got back to PRA and did a few touch and go's I decided that playing in this much wind was not fun any more so I went to watch them tow Hang Gliders up.

Pictures here

The setup & 4 Videos of HG pulls: vid1 vid2 vid3 vid4

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Copperstate Fly-in Great Day for flying and watching airplanes

Jackye was out to visit and we all had a great time

Pics here

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In honor of Columbus Day I went in search of new lands.....

Ok I flew over a friends place - went out and visited Mo Town and had a really nice 2 hour 15 minutes of flying. Beautiful 62 degrees with a 4 mph wind perfect for an 84 mile flight.

Pictures

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Labor Day 9.6.2010

I labored to get my plane out to A39 - PRA and go FLY!

Took off at 78 degrees OAT for a 77 mile flight. Flew out along the mountains West of Maricopa 2.5 hours of flight time - some airport work at the end with touch and go's just for fun

Pics of the flight

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Memorial Day Weekend - We got a great day of flying in 5.29.2010

Showed up at PRA and was setup by 6:30 am Norm was there and Terrel and his wife flew over from Casa Grande KCGZ and we were off to go play by 6:45 67 degrees out - 2.5 hours of great flying ended with a bunch of touch and goes and playing around the airport.

Pictures of our adventure here

In honor of Memorial day weekend we did fly over the Japanese internment camp and I am thankful for all that has been done by those who serve in the military to allow us this freedom in the good ol USA to freely fly and enjoy our lives.

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Finally after a month of windy weekends where the wind was blowing 20 to 35 mph we finally got a great day to fly - Saturday 5.15.2010. I think every person who owned a flying machine was out this morning.

I was off the ground at 7:15 am it was 65 degrees out with a 3 mph wind from the South. I wanted to go someplace new so I headed East to visit Scott Casler of Hummel Engines who built my 1/2 VW engine. Nice 80 mile round trip flight. My plans were to go South from Scotts and fly around Picacho Peak but it was warming up and the thermal activity was quite active by 9 am so I just headed back to PRA. Finally found some clean air to escape the thermal bumpies at about 3000 ft AGL.

Pictures here

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They gave me Friday 4.2.2010 off from work - And a Good Friday it was!

I listened when my wife Joey told me what to do! Go play with your toys.

Off to PRA after a hardy breakfast burrito with Joey for some flying fun!.

Flying in the middle of the day from 11 am until about 3:30 pm make for an interesting flight as there are lots and lots of VERY active thermals over the farm fields and open spaces in the desert. The strongest points are the transition areas from green to brown. Quite a bumpy ride when you get into the activity but it was interesting to see bumps of 50 to 300 ft altitude gained in just a few seconds without touching anything on the plane.(other than some quick rudder action to get level again)

Total of 3 hours flight time and 110 miles traveled on the GPS.

Pictures here.

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After multiple weekends of rain and wind everything has turned green. Ok it is mostly grasses and weeds but it does not look like brown desert.

Flew 2 hours in beautiful 50 to 65 degrees OAT with a 4 to 6 mph wind. Took off at 9 am.

Pictures here

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Mr. Mo Sheldons Birthday and Arizona Flying Circus Fly-in.

A GREAT day on Saturday 2.6.10 good flying, lots of people and fun! Lots of rain at about 4 am so my airplane got a good bath to start out the year.

Saturday I flew a total of 78 miles. 54 miles from 11:30 1:00 PM on a nice cross country loop then a 26 mile 30 min flight later in the day at 5:00 PM.

Too windy to fly on Sunday about 9 AM the wind kicked up to 15+ mph. Everyone landed and hung out or packed up and headed for home around noon.

Pictures here

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12.30.09 - Last flight of 2009 A nice 1.5 hour flight

Bill Stewart and I went to Rittenhouse Airport for a bit of sightseeing.

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Day after Christmas 12.26.2009 Flying at Phoenix Regional with Bill Stewart. Some good pictures of Bill's trike.

Lots of rock-n-rollin flying through his prop wash to get some of the pictures!

Beautiful day about 45 degrees at 10:30 am. Total flown 60 miles in nice clean air.

Mo Sheldon volunteered his video skills to get some touch and go's and flyby's of the Green Lady showing off her wings.

Low and Slow Air Dancing with the Green Lady

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Friday after Thanksgiving flying sure beats going to the mall shopping

Flew a total of 101 miles 2 hours 49 min total air time! 75º and sunny! some pictures here

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11-14-09 Cold front moved in 55 degrees OAT to fly in and I got 1.5 hours of nice flying and also spent some time with good friends as this was the opening of Mo Sheldons AirParamo shop at Phoenix Regional Airport. Ended the flight with a really good rainstorm! pictures here.

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Copperstate Fly-in Oct 24, 2009

A group of us flew from Phoenix Regional to Casa Grande for the big event.

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I flew for 1.5 hours on 9/27/09 at PRA and at 11:00 AM. it was 100+ degrees I thought summer was never going to end! - no pictures just memories!

The hot streak finally broke! A friend who is also a Weedhopper and Trike pilot, Jackye Renolds came out to visit from North Carolina and she brought the cool weather with her.

We (Terrel & Jackye (2 up) Norm, and myself) flew 10/6/09 and it was 63 degrees when we took off at 8:00 and only 75 degrees when we landed at 9:30 AM. Beautiful day with no wind and clear skies. I logged 57 miles with an avg speed of 42 mph. Picture album here.

Large pictures here. some are 4.5 meg - total of all 109 meg.

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5-17-09 Finally got to fly again. 3 weeks of work in Virginia sure cuts into your flying time

short video of the takeoff. Windy and HOT summer is here! 94 degrees at 8:10 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C1etoNMl7A&feature=channel_page

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Ok it is not flying but it was still Fun - Motown Work Day!

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3/28/09 - Rittenhouse - just playing and having Fun.

Took off at about 10:30 am with an OAT of 65 degrees

Take off - long low run down the runway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dj3pARse2M

Practicing my crop dusting skills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEcVvPtO3pw

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Pictures from the Antique Aricraft Airshow 3-7-09 in Casa Grande AZ.

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February 15, Lake Pleasant AZ.

There really is a nice lake in the middle of the desert NW of Phoenix.

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Mo Sheldons Birthday Fly, eat, and party party!

January - 17 & 18 at MoTown 75 degrees and beautiful

Yup got some good videos of some of the fun!

Floating down the runway - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brd0AVkDqVU

 

 

Start up - Hand Propping the 1/2 VW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpGODmiB2y8

 

 

Take off

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJIdkKe9zh4