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PUFA NEWSLETTER
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November 17, 1999
Daryl Hegyi, President
Tobias Kreisz, Vice-President
Mario LeBel, Treasurer
Debbie Major, Secretary
Mail to: Pacific Ultralight Flying Association
102-16071 82 Avenue
Surrey, B.C. V3S 2L6
PUFA Newsletter published by Glenn Ursel
From The President
by Daryl Hegyi
Elections are going to be held this month and I hope that you all show up to vote for your Y2000 executive. There are only two positions available to fill - Vice President and Secretary, so get your nominations in early.
I just received a brochure from Nav Canada in the latest COPA newsletter. It describes the new Flight Information Centres which will centralize the current FSS and other flight planning and weather reporting systems. They invite comments so we should have a discussion and send them our views (if any consensus can be reached).
It looks like our web page has to move. The company hosting it is not going to provide the service anymore and will be shutting us down. We need to find another place which will be as cost effective (read free). That also means that the email address is going to change as well.
The wet weather we have been suffering through lately will soon pass and well have those famous winter flying days where the air is cold but the lift is tremendous.
Editorial Note
by Glenn Ursel
As I was away in Baja, Mexico, Patrick Stanley, agreed to put the November newsletter out. My thanks to Patrick for performing this service.
This months newsletter is devoted to a very interesting article by Patrick Stanley of his trip to Oshkosh, Wisconsin this summer as well as a comprehensive committee report by Jeff Rochon on the ultralight participation at the Abbotsford Airshow this year.
All local members are requested to make every effort to attend this months meeting for nomination of PUFA Executive for the next year.
December, 1999 Flying Events
Sunday, December 5, 1999, 9:00 am to 11:15 am
Delta Airpark, RAA Chapter 85 monthly pancake breakfast
$3, 9:00 am to 11:15 am
Listen to the pre-recorded arrival procedures for Delta Heritage Airpark
phone 878-9050
Abbotstord Airshow 99 Postscript
Im a little late in my committee report on last summers Abbotsford Airshow but I have a long list of excuses at the ready, should anyone ask. PUFA members and others had expressed an interest in attending the Big Show in 99. As you may remember, there was no Abbotsford Airshow in 1998 and we had not been asked to attend the previous year (1997). At a PUFA meeting, I was asked to find out if we (ultralights) would be welcome this year. I contacted John Spronk, who luckily had been put in charge of the nonmilitary flying events. John, a member of the Abbotsford Flying Club, had always been supportive and enthusiastic concerning ultralights. He told me that he had been asked to coordinate the fly-in traffic as one of his many duties and that we would be welcome to participate. John asked me how many would be flying in and I made a guess, based on the previous years, of eight to fourteen. I was out a tad. Only two ultralights flew in each of the first two days. Three made it on the last day. I attended every day, mostly because my Scorpion Helicopter was on display and I had to be there to field any enquires concerning its sale.
There were changes this year in our arrival time. Previously we had landed as a group at 11 am. This time we were to land individually and as a normal announced flight before 8 am. Then we were to leave the same way at shows end (5 pm). As well, those that wished could perform in a fly-by at 10 am each day. This early arrival time and the dicey weather on two of these days certainly contributed to the poor showing. I was told that the Airflow Aviation crowd, and others, were unable to attend due to this early window. The dubious weather was of no help either.
Only Julius Szalontai joined me on the first day with weather conditions almost Special VFR. We were marshalled to parking directly among the large military aircraft, a pleasant departure from previous years when ultralights were often times banished to the far reaches of the grounds. We had breakfast and then attended the pilots briefing, along with all the performers and jet jockeys. We found the briefing very interesting and comprehensive. These experts leave nothing to chance. Of particular interest was the manner in which they adapted to the flying events to compensate for the inclement weather. Our window for the fly-by was 10 am sharp. It consisted of two flights down the showline...nothing fancy...and only 10 minutes long. A small problem arose when the remote control planes were allocated the same window. We had to take evasive manoeuvres to avoid conflict. The weather the second day was much the same in the early morning, with barely a 1,500 foot ceiling. This time my wingman was Ken Hicks in his Rans S-10. The morning briefing had straightened out the previous days problem, so our demonstration flight went smoothly. After some badgering on my part, John Sprong presented us with performer tags that we proudly displayed...status symbol you know. The badges gave us access to some of the chalets and a free lunch in the performers compound, not to mention the strut factor.
Day three found Julius and his renegade flying the showline with me for the second time. James Sheremeta had arrived that morning in his float equipped Zenair 701, but declined the fly-by. He really enjoyed the briefing though. It was kind of fun answering the role call alongside F-18 and F-16 crews and hobnobbing with the daring acrobatic pilots. The weather that day was almost perfect and a large crowd enjoyed the show. Rumour has it that the Abbotsford International Airshow is alive and well and will continue. I how we are invited in subsequent years.
Jeff Rochon
AirVenture 99
We attended the big EAA fly-in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin this year; it was our first visit. All hotels are booked a year in advance so we stayed at a B & B home with four other couples. Although it was within walking distance to a shuttle to the airfield, we rented a car and drove. The other people were from Illinois, California, Florida and Germany. The EAA site is so big we spent the first day just getting an idea where everything was and what was going on. I had my scanner with me and listened as all the planes were coming in and was amazed at how they did the landings. There was no communication from the pilot to the control tower, only from the tower to the planes, and it was non-stop. It would go something like this: blue & white Cessna six miles west over the power lines at 1,200 feet, rock your wings - very good - you are #4 behind the red Piper for 26 left; silver Baron four miles north over the lake at 1,300 feet, rock your wings - very good - you are #5 behind the red....... and so it went on and on and on. I cant remember is they used call letters or not; I dont think they did. At any rate they landed over 3,000 planes the first day. On a 24 clock, thats two planes a minute.
The theme for the fly-in was a salute to the air show legends and there were lots of them there. Gene Soucy, Mike Goulian, Matt Chapmen, Patty Wagstaff, Rocky Hill, Sean D. Tucker, Jim Franklin, The French Connection, Northern
Sean Tucker teaching me a new handshake
Lights and many more. I got to meet all of them. Also met Father Goose Bill Lishman and had the honour of meeting Chuck Yeager. The air shows were fantastic and I think their planes do things I didnt think planes could do. Jim Franklin strapped a Leer jet to the bottom of his Waco biplane. He would fly in under piston power but, when he wanted to climb, he would kick in the jet and shoot up like a rocket. He had so much power that he lost it a couple of times when the jet kicked in. Got a lot of laughs from the crowd!
There were seminars on just about everything you can think of: fabrics, plastics, woodworking, gluing, welding, metallurgy, mountain flying, FAA and Transport Canada regulations, radio procedures, spark plugs, fuel, etc. Some were for advanced builders/pilots and some were for beginners. They even had seminars for passengers. We attended three or four every day and really enjoyed them. There were four large buildings for vendors selling just about anything you can think or to do with aviation - a huge fly market with all kinds of new and used stuff. It would be easy to drop some big time bucks in those two places. If you havent been to Oshkosh, and plan on going, make a list of things you need because everything to do with aviation is there.
The FAA had a spatial disorientation demonstrator there and I took a few simulated flights in it. Its a big black box that you climb into and then they close the door. In front of you is a wheel (not a stick), lots of gauges and a screen. A recording tells you to take off, fly to and maintain a certain altitude. While taking off, you can see the runway and in the air you can see the horizon for a bit, but then... no reference points. It didnt take long until the box (oh yeah, I forgot to say the simulator moves in all directions) started moving around kind of violently and then, all of a sudden, the hard place is on the screen, zooming up at me. I crashed. After I crashed a second time, the guy opened the door and told me to take it easy on the equipment. Sheesh! I crashed a couple more times than then my time ran (they kicked me) out. I think its what JFK Jr. experienced. Amazing how fast disorientation takes place.
On the day we set aside to visit the ultralight area, it was unbearably hot. How hot was it? Glad you asked. It was a least 90oF with the humidity at 80%. That made it 114 oF in the town of Oshkosh, but out on the tarmac...who knows? It was so hot that instead of calling it a fly-in, they called it a fry-in. We lasted all of ten minutes looking at American ultralights. I say American because all of the larger ultralights were at the opposite end of the EAA site in the experimental aircraft area.
We talked with Father Goose Bill Lishman and his group for quite a bit and saw the famous plane. That really is an incredible story and they are going to do the same thing again in, I think, Texas this time. I was surprised to find out that he didnt make a dime off that movie.
The warbird section was huge and it would have been easy to spend a day or two in this area by itself. It was particularly interesting for me because there was a C-199 (flying boxcar) there. That was the first plane I ever jumped out of as a
C-199 Flying Boxcar
paratrooper in the Army and going inside of it brought back a lot of memories. Somehow it was smaller inside than I thought it was.
Anyhoo, I could go on about Oshkosh but most of you have probably been there, done that. We had a great time.
Patrick Stanley