05/27/2022 –
Canard builders from time to time get a bit discouraged by their projects. Anyone who’s read through my build log knows there were more than a few times when I had to be restrained from taking a chainsaw to 4TF. This doesn’t end with first flight, or even the phase 1 testing. Operating a homebuilt aircraft safely requires constant vigilance and it can be daunting on occasion. The canard building community is full of great people though, and they always lend words of encouragement and advice to those who need it. One of our friends, Russ, had recently been struggling with poor vendor support on a product very central to the safe operation of his engine. Ultimately he opted to remove the product in favor of a different system. It wasn’t an easy task, exacerbated by the fact that he shouldn’t have had to do it in the first place. Although the task was done and his plane was once again operating to his satisfaction, Bob, Jake, and I decided we would make a trip down to Huntsville to visit Russ, provide reinforcing encouragement and celebrate his return to flight. What better time to do this than to time it in conjunction with the release of the movie every pilot over 30 years old has waited for? So we planned a trip down to visit Russ and all go watch Top Gun: Maverick together over the Memorial Day weekend.
Jake departed a bit earlier than Bob and I, and arrived in Huntsville first. Bob and I met up at Boscobel, Wisconsin for some cheap fuel and a lunch stop before continuing on to Huntsville. Christine elected to ride with Bob on this leg so Ella could ride up front with me. It was a touch over 3 hours from Boscobel to Huntsville and we were mostly over the top of a broken layer the whole way. Cloud layers always look much prettier from above than they do from the ground, or inside them. After securing the planes, Russ brought us all back to his house for amazing BBQ and great beer.
The next day there was a canard fly in at (relatively) nearby Perry County, Georgia. We loaded up our 3 Cozys and 1 Long-Ez for a 4 ship flight to Perry County. It was a beautiful day, and an uneventful flight….until we got there. Russ was leading the way, and as he was making his base to final turn, saw that a twin engine plane that had just landed had veered off the side of the runway due to a gear collapse. Russ immediately executed a go-around, and we all departed the area to hold about 5 miles out as those on the ground determined how long the runway would be closed. The determination was that it would take a number of hours, so we decided to head a bit further east to Cochran, Georgia for fuel and lunch while they extricated the twin from the weeds at Perry County.
There wasn’t much within walking distance at the Cochran airport, but there was a courtesy car, so we decided to head into town where about the only thing open was a Wendy’s. Not exactly what we had hoped for, but none of us were picking landing gear parts out of the weeds, so we couldn’t really complain about our day. We went back to the airport to eat and then spent some time posing the airplanes (and ourselves) for pictures of our own private little canard fly-in. Eventually we would learn that cleanup in isle 6 at Perry County was going to take a lot longer than expected, so we packed up the planes and went back to Huntsville for an evening out that started at my favorite brewery, Straight To Ale. It was great food along with my favorite beer (Monkeynaught), and great friends.
Sunday started with an adrenalin kick watching the new Top Gun movie, which was well worth the wait, followed by a perfect afternoon relaxing at a poolside cookout at friends of Russ and Kristy. A game of water volleyball seemed particularly fitting having just watched a Top Gun film.
Monday we all went out for breakfast and even stopped by the Space and Rocket Center before it was time to head home. Russ took us all back to the airport, we topped off the tanks, made sure everyone had one last stop by the restroom and took off for the 4 hour flight home. Luckily the peak flying season was just getting going and we’d see all our friends again soon. The flight home was uneventful for us, but we’d later find out from Jake that he now knew his maximum crosswind limit in the LongEZ. It’s 27….27 blown over port-a-potties is the maximum cross wind the plane is capable of. 🙂
