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PUFA NEWSLETTER
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April 17, 2002
Fred Glasbergen, President
Walter Klatt, Vice-President
Sandra Clark, Treasurer
Daryl Hegyi, 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 Fred Glasbergen
The day of our PUFA meeting I will be getting together in Ottawa with six other ultralight enthusiasts from across the country, eight Transport Canada and COPA officials. The meeting is to establish a new ultralight exam which will take into account the passenger carrying endorsement.
The reprinted newspaper article from the Langley Times, “Top flyer handles wind”, is now 15 years old but there is no reason we can't do the same type of thing. Some of the strips are no longer in existence but other strips have taken their place. Like always, volunteers would be needed to plan such an event. If you have any ideas for the club let me know.
Editorial Note
by Glenn Ursel
I was wondering what I was going to put into the PUFA Newsletter for the April meeting when I thought of checking into the past stories that Fred Baron has sent me.
Fortunately, I found that he had sent me his story entitled “Humble Pie” last August which, for some reason, I never published in the PUFA Newsletter last fall.
So, here it is - a tale of several mishaps on the local ultralight scene from the past that blends fact with, I suspect, some fiction that Fred is so skilful at.
I hope you like the story as I did.
Boy, time sure passes. The news clipping that Fred sent me really illustrates the point. Dave O’Hara looks younger, as I’m sure we all did, and Fred says that Mayor Elford Nundal is no longer with us.
Humble Pie
This is an anecdote of a bad day. Being the organizer that I am, I gather flying friends to go on exotic journeys. At 50 to 60 miles an hour, you can’t go too far but we have fun and make a lot of noise while having fun. If you can’t have any fun, what’s the use? Being a man who enjoys company and having a good time, I try to surround myself with easy going, pleasant, tranquil flying friends. This flying business can be a very humbling experience as we all know and have seen by observing our flying friends. Whether you are an airline captain or an ultralight pilot, the damnedest things happen to bring you back down to earth, mentally and gently, aeroplane wise. I maintain my planes to the best of my ability with a lot of help from my friends and some paid help but there are some people who are perfectionists. We all know who they are and, being as inept as I am, I hold them in very high esteem for their kit building abilities or modifications that they make to their aircraft.
The darnedest things happen, though. Some of these aircraft are definitely a work of art, like the Renegade that would have made Michelangelo envious but had a mishap in Golden, BC where it landed in a sewage pond. There was no injury in the accident but it was an embarrassing moment for the aviator. I’m happy to say our tattered but fragrant pilot rebuilt the plane to be even more beautiful than in its previous glory. There another aviator who was an airline captain and is the owner of a local Surrey, BC flying school who incorrectly inserted a bolt in the wing strut of his plane with near fatal consequences. You never know...
Myself, I had a Lazair built in the heyday of ultralighting that was the jewel of the fleet. It was built by the “experts”. It had two 25 hp engines on the wings and, when painted all up with the Red Baron logos and a willing pilot champing at the bit to get in this bird, it was a real hot rod! After soloing on two 6 hp engines, two 25 hp engines sounded good to me but I flew it five times and had five engine failures, the last one almost fatal. My experts that built the plane forgot to add two extra fuel pumps to the engines to draw the gas. So sad, too bad! The plane was demolished and I broke my ankle but I’m still breathing although I question the experts a little better now.
There is even an aeronautical engineer in Delta who had a few mishaps in his Spitfire. Those darn Chevy car engines don’t cut it and their 150 lb weight on the nose don’t help as well. Even the pilot of the other Spitfire, another work of art, didn’t make sure the gear was locked down for landing which resulted in a belly landing on grass which, luckily, helped make it flyable again.
Now you see I didn’t put any names to these incidents but the local aviation enthusiasts know who they are so we never want to get too high on our horse, looking down our noses at other people. It’s all a humbling experience but relating other people’s experiences may also lead to safer flying for us.
One of my flying companions a few years back modified his Beaver ultralight 550. Originally equipped with a 50 hp engine that was light to move around on the ground and to fly, it is now a 1000 lb slug that needs two men and a boy to manoeuvre it around. In the case of my Nanaimo bad day incident where I flew my fair young damsel to the Nanaimo sea plane dock on tropical, exotic Vancouver Island, the plane got away from me at the dock. I had to swim after it, much to the laughter of the local pilots who had their planes tied up there.
Well, after licking my wounds, I attempted to go back there with a couple of other float planes to have lunch. So with my fellow ducks, we headed across the Strait of Georgia. Bryan Evans in his amphib 550 Beaver with fibreglass Puddle Jumper floats and 65 hp Rotax engine. Bryan is a now retired Air Canada 767 Captain and this is his choice for recreational flying so I felt I was in good company. Along with us was our soon to be humbled duckling. He had his heavily modified 550 Beaver with a Subaru car engine for power and a mono hull float. It sounds like a jet doing a low and over.
Well, we left White Rock, BC and headed to Vancouver Island. It was a sunny day with a strong breeze but I was a humbled pilot on my way back to the site of my recent Olympic swimming experience. I was on my way with some moral support to show those real pilots that we can do every thing they can do. When we were nearing Nanaimo Harbour with the great sea plane base in view, as usual, the restaurant balconies were filled with their real plane clientele. We did a fly by just to impress the locals. We sounded like a 747 going by with a roar that surely deafened the real Beaver pilots. That Subaru is so noisy I’m sure they were impressed but soon they were really going to be impressed! Bryan and I had landed into the wind and got our ducks turned around, headed for the dock when I looked around for the mono hull. It had landed into the wind but, when it went cross wind, the wing started to lift higher and higher until the plane turned turtle in the cold, chilly Nanaimo Harbour. My first concern was for the pilot but, after what seemed an eternity, our now newly christened humble turtle popped up to the surface and climbed onto his now inverted mono hull. In a sitting position with his hands on his chin and his elbows on his knees, he was not a happy camper. The Nanaimo sea plane dock inhabitants were impressed I’m sure. A boat picked up our newly dunked pilot from his overturned aircraft. It was towed to a local dock where a crane picked it up and put it on the dock in an upright position. When Bryan and I tied up our planes to the sea plane dock, I’m sure I heard some guy in the crowd say “oh, it’s him again!” I slithered away to help our newly humbled pilot. You never know what happens! Our mono hulled pilot repaired his Beaver, adding a few more pounds to it with bigger sponsons on the wings and bigger wheels but flies it very little. You can’t beat the original factory concept! You can do a little but sometimes people get a little carried away with their modifications.
I have not showed my face or plane around Nanaimo Harbour again. I think I will give them a break from my friends and our antics but those Twin Otters and Beavers and Cessnas sure look great at the dock there. When I grow up, I want to have a Twin Otter on amphib floats. Flying sometimes is a humbling experience but, when I see the owners of these planes put them back together again with a lot of effort and expense and fly them again, I have the utmost admiration and respect for them. To see a plane all tattered and torn from an incident and then see it back in flying form again is a joy.
Fred Baron
Top Flyer Handles Wind
Beverly Lawrence braved wind and turbulence in her flight to victory at the annual Ultralight Rally on Sunday. Riding a Lazair aircraft, the Glen Valley pilot was docked just 5.5 demerit points to top the pack of 29 craft flying the 125 mile course.
Despite the good turnout, only 15 craft managed to finish the tough three hour course. “It was windy and pretty rough up there,” said rally organizer Fred Glasbergen, president of Airflow liltralight Aviation of Surrey.
The tiny aircraft took off from a field near King George Highway in Surrey and arrived at their first stop, Langley Airport. There, the pilots enjoyed coffee and a light breakfast with members of the public.
Then It was on to stops in Pitt Meadows and Yarrow before flying over Lynden, Washington en route to the finish at the King George field.
John Heilmann of Richmond had eight demerit points for second while Pitt Meadows’ Gord Denham ended up third with 14 points.
One point per minute is deducted for reaching a check point early and two points per minute for arriving late. And the pilots can’t cheat as the wearing of watches is not permitted.
“It takes a lot of skill to estimate your flight time.” said Glasbergen, also a Glen Valley resident.
Glasbergen is hoping for a bigger and better rally next year, and would like to see as many as the 40 ultralights, which entered during Expo last year.
Reprinted from the Langley Times, Wednesday, May 20, 1987