Oh Gapa Geezer...

Where are you? Haven't heard much from you this spring but surely you and sidekick Bart are busy getting the PW-2 tuned up and ready to go????

After getting inspired by Gordon and Hugh's big flight to Colorada and then John and Dan's flight from Ohio to New Jersey I decided that the midwest was really being under-represented in the downwind dash department this spring, and today I did my best to do something about it. The first towpilot I talked to suggested that I mow the yard instead and kept talking about 30+ knot winds at 3000 feet and how I was insane. The second towpilot was willing to tow if I really wanted to but asked many times if I really was sure if I wanted to fly, mentioned something about how Towpilot 1 had told him about the winds and did I really want to fly today? He suggested I fly to Nebraska and I decided that was exactly what I was going to do. Leah was revved up for her first chase of the season and off we went. Takeoff roll was probably less than 100 feet for me and the climb rate and angle was pretty breathtaking.

I struggled to climb above release altitude but was soon drifting north of the airport and decided that if I had to land I could do so at a grass strip in that area. I told Leah to head out and switched over to Hutchinson towers frequency. Thanks to sequester delays I still had to contact them since I wasn't above the 4000 foot top of their airspace. I found a good climb and was local to the Hutch airport so kept drifting. I topped out at about 5500 feet over the Hutch airport and was feeling pretty good except that there weren't really any more clouds very close to me. I tried to tack a little west to the next set of clouds but started dropping fast. There is an area of fairly rough ground in that area so I had to be careful to keep landing options in range but there was another grass strip on the way. Naturally I was unable to connect with anything, but had made it past the runway, so I landed in a nice dirt field. Leah was able to find me easily and I made it back home in Wichita by 4:30 PM with a whopping flight of 18 miles. I'm thinking that even the Gapa can do 18 miles on a good day so you are still in the running. Good luck!!

https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2....l?dsId=2901067

Hey Kid,

Sorry I done missed your report the other day. You done good, and I's glad ta see you's still flyin' your Cherokee stead a one a them glass jobs. We's just barely comin' outa' hibernation out here in Cali. Even though it never gets below freezin out here, what with my age an all seems like the season a gets goin later an later. We done did get the GAPA annuualled though, so we's hopin to do us some auto type tows with it right soon now, so's you might be a seein us on one a them downwind dashes right soon!

Signed,
X
GapaGeezer


On Sunday, April 21, 2013 3:09:53 PM UTC-7, Tony wrote:
Where are you? Haven't heard much from you this spring but surely you and sidekick Bart are busy getting the PW-2 tuned up and ready to go????



After getting inspired by Gordon and Hugh's big flight to Colorada and then John and Dan's flight from Ohio to New Jersey I decided that the midwest was really being under-represented in the downwind dash department this spring, and today I did my best to do something about it. The first towpilot I talked to suggested that I mow the yard instead and kept talking about 30+ knot winds at 3000 feet and how I was insane. The second towpilot was willing to tow if I really wanted to but asked many times if I really was sure if I wanted to fly, mentioned something about how Towpilot 1 had told him about the winds and did I really want to fly today? He suggested I fly to Nebraska and I decided that was exactly what I was going to do. Leah was revved up for her first chase of the season and off we went. Takeoff roll was probably less than 100 feet for me and the climb rate and angle was pretty breathtaking.



I struggled to climb above release altitude but was soon drifting north of the airport and decided that if I had to land I could do so at a grass strip in that area. I told Leah to head out and switched over to Hutchinson towers frequency. Thanks to sequester delays I still had to contact them since I wasn't above the 4000 foot top of their airspace. I found a good climb and was local to the Hutch airport so kept drifting. I topped out at about 5500 feet over the Hutch airport and was feeling pretty good except that there weren't really any more clouds very close to me. I tried to tack a little west to the next set of clouds but started dropping fast. There is an area of fairly rough ground in that area so I had to be careful to keep landing options in range but there was another grass strip on the way. Naturally I was unable to connect with anything, but had made it past the runway, so I landed in a nice dirt field. Leah was able to find me easily and I made it back home in Wichita by 4:30 PM with a whopping flight of 18 miles. I'm thinking that even the Gapa can do 18 miles on a good day so you are still in the running. Good luck!!



https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2....l?dsId=2901067

On Apr 21, 3:09*pm, Tony wrote:
Where are you? Haven't heard much from you this spring but surely you and sidekick Bart are busy getting the PW-2 tuned up and ready to go????

Gapa Geezer has been impressed into towing. But shhhhhh... don't tell
him that I told you!

Bart