 Sky
Cruiser Convention 2001
Dec 2, 2001
by Jeff Goin
A homecoming of Sky Cruisers, this
convention brought back nearly 40 of these motors and their pilots along with a
number of other brands whose owners just wanted to join the fun. All were
welcome.
Jim Jackson of Paralite hosted the event
and the folks at Fantasy of Flight were kind enough to offer their field. The
museum was a great attraction in it's own right and the entry fee for the PPG
event covered both.
Thursday
 In
the picture, Nick Scholtes is on the left, Don Jordan the center and I am on the
right. We flew down in the pictured airplane, a flight that provided some
challenges on it's own. A slow moving and thunderstorm laden frontal mess cut
the country nearly in half on the morning of our departure. Being way too
chicken and ill-equipped to forge through the mess we skirted it through central
Ohio before pointing South.
It worked out well although added much
time from our Chicago departure point. After many hours of boring holes in the
soup, we arrived in Lakeland, FL about 6pm. Nick did much of the flying since
he's working on his instrument rating. What a great way to log actual cloud
flying.
 Amazingly we were able to fit two Sky
Cruisers, two wings, us, all our gear and the "Lil John". That last
item came in mighty handy! Nick has the procedure down for anybody needing
instructions on it's use. Don Jordan, who came in from Mexico for
the event, picked us up and we all shared his minivan for the weekend.
Friday
The first full day and it was great to
freshen previous acquaintances and make new ones. Overall, this group of people
who do PPG, regardless of what motor or wing they fly, are a fun-loving bunch
and very enjoyable to be around.
  
1. Don Jordan,
Nick Scholtes and Jim Jackson
eyeballing the Simonini powered tandem sky cruiser
2. John Goode and Eddie Jones
3. Nick, Bob Armond and Jim Jackson
This day dawned so full of color and
promise. Nick & I took to the sky early on to wring the northern air out of
our wings. Many others joined in.
Nick and I set out on a cross country,
heading upwind toward the Southeast. There is a large lake there
   Pictured
far left is Bud Johnson under an Apco Fiesta and SD 48. The center foot shot is
looking at the field from the west, and on the right is a tandem flight stirring
up some of the pristine early air. And the
air was good...warm and not too bumpy. Visibility: better than normal for
Florida.
This sounds like another big fish story,
but while Bud, Nick and I were cruising high over a largish lake I saw a huge
alligator! It probably sounded a "Dive, Dive" warning before
submerging. While I did get some pictures they were not good enough to
include...I certainly wasn't going to descend for a closer look!
 Terry
Cohen (at left) brought the "Heavy Iron," a Trike he recently added to
his collection. This is one of at least two that uses a DK power unit.
Eric Dufour debuted "parasoccer".
It is mostly a ground handling affair where the idea is to land and kick the
ball while running with your wing overhead. Watching Eric do it was impressive.
I tried it and had limited but improving success.
Dave
Robicaux, a local pilot who enjoyed flying as well as building
and improving things, brought out his new helmet attachment. Among other things,
he wanted to try this newfangled communications tool with the rest of us.
 While he was fiddling with the motor and
helmet he let me take his Reflex up. I had never tried it in a lighter wind and
wanted to refresh my experience with it.
After landing, we talked a bit about the
wing and the recently completed motornuevers clinic. I helped him start his
motor and then he was off for what turned out to be his last flight...after
doing some steep spirals, he hit the water and did not recover. The
picture to the right was snapped just before he strapped the motor on.
We didn't fly any more that day. A
tribute to Dave with pictures has been compiled; you can click the picture to
view it.
Saturday
  It
was difficult and there was a big briefing given by Jim Jackson and Jeff Thompson,
(pictured far left) the next morning. There was an understandable lull
afterwards as we were all still numb about the loss and so, in spite of another perfect
day, nobody rushed to lay out gear. Finally Nick took to the sky and the real
convention began. His 5-year old UP vision, still serving yeoman duty, lifted
him nicely into the inviting blue sky.
Knowing this would be the first flight
since Dave's tragedy he told us he knew it was going to be a blown launch. It
just goes to show how little he knows...it was flawless!
One difficulty for me (and others I'm
sure) was that you could see the area where rescuers ran out into the water. It
made light marks on the bottom that remained clearly visible from several
hundred feet up.
  Many
of us tried each others gear to see what was available plus Jim Jackson of
Paralite and Eric Dufour of Paratour brought out gear as well. In the shots at left,
Brad Weiss tries out my motor under the Mistral. Although I tried two other
motor units, most of the time I stayed on my wing. We tried as best
as we could to enjoy. Brad also bought and flew a Walkerjet tandem machine.
The day proved perfect and a the perfect
salve for the previous days terrible wound. We just so wish Dave could be enjoying
it with us. The wind
never picked up enough for a Kite war but cones were set up for the kite race the next
day (which I, unfortunately, missed).
 John
Magic put his US Flag Silex through it's paces, doing mild weight-shift
wingovers. There are only two of these wings in the country...his and Chris
Bowle's. His Fresh Breeze and the "Spy" motors from Southern Skies are
the standard against which all other weight shift machines will be measured.
His weight shift wingovers weren't steep by wingover standards but
impressive for not using brakes. I have flown the Spy motor but not yet the
Fresh Breeze...it is the same rig that Will Gadd & Co. made their country
crossing trip this year.
This day also provided time for a trip
through the Fantasy of Flight Museum. There is a sobering display with a B-17
that allows visitors to walk through with mannequins at the appropriate
positions. It's difficult to imagine how horrible those conditions were...there
was no armor and it was VERY small quarters. There are many other aircraft on
display well worth the time. It was also fun shooting zeros out of the sky in
the "Fighter Town" simulators.
 After
returning from lunch at the Museum, many of us learned as Terry Alford hustled
through a Reserve clinic complete with dummy reserve toss practice. Of course
with so much going on and the weather so perfect for flying, not everyone got to
make use of this great aid.
Throwing a reserve is not as easy as it
looks! In the picture above, Peter Gavin is perfecting his technique from the
harness. Terry is just to the left of the stand and Brad Wiess is left of him,
helping with "repacking" the reserves.
 So
much of the fun in these events is meeting all the people. The vast majority of
folks in this sport are in it for fun and it shows. We area a colorful and
generally friendly bunch that makes for great gatherings.
Pictured here is Ian Panton with his
tatoo'd prop and para-necklace (sold by Eric Dufour).
Sunday
 We flew all morning...another perfect
day! This was the day I got to try out the other machines. Plus several of us
went on a short cross country cruise to the East. There was a major prison
complex only a few miles to the east which we avoided flying right over. Plus we
stayed high.
As on the previous days, winds were
light and provided for easy launching. I saw very few blown launches the entire
time (admittedly I was flying a LOT).
 Four
pilots paid Tribute to their fallen friend. This picture is taken from overhead
the foursome as the flew by the spot where Dave went in the day before. The
tracks of those who made the rescue effort can be seen below the rightmost wing.
On the left is Bill Hocker on an ADG,
next to him Terry Alford and Jeff Thompson flying Octane wings, then on the
right is John Magic with his Silex. It was a sad but beautiful sight. On another
pass they flew towards the launch and did a missing man formation with Bill
Hocker doing the turn. Everyone (including me) was on the radio to help
coordinate the effort.
Shortly after the previous picture was taken, the same guys worked out a fly-by
in front of those gathered. Here Bill Hocker can be seen making his turn out to
form the "Missing Man".
Having radios made this entire endeavor
much safer since pilots or ground folks could point out traffic, conflicts and
safety concerns.
By noon most of us wrapped it up and
headed for the luncheon with two exceptions: Jeff Thompson and Bill Hocker. They
filled up and headed up...in an attempt to take the max motor record for a sky
cruiser. They made it: 10,000 feet! Wow...and was it cold up there. I had just
thermalled up to 2600 feet or so and was cold there even with my flight suit.
Kudos to the guys who sacrificed first food for high flight. We did save them
some leftovers. The food was great.
Thanks to Paralite for putting this
event together...certainly there is no justification for the expense, all of
which went to the Museum of Flight and the luncheon. It was a huge success and
we can only hope Jim is willing to do it again next year.
Great People, Great Flying, Cool
Goodies
 The new weight shift system for the sky
cruiser is a vast improvement over the "roller shifters" used by
several including me. At present the only bug that needs to be addressed is the
launch which is challenging. At last check a fix was being fashioned.
Pictured right is Nick Scholtes vying to
get his grimy little fingers on the throttle...he obviously succeeded! There was
some last-minute work to do on it but that turned out to be worth the wait. It
was a dream in flight with very good weight shift.
  Paralite
also presented their newest addition, the powerful Simonini Sky Cruiser. In
addition, the noisier but slightly more powerful RDM version made it's debut
although I did not get to fly it (too busy flying the weight shift machine). Jim
Jackson had the "Mini-Cruiser" which I flew...it is lighter and much
smaller but with less thrust.
Pictured far left is Scott Fisher with the
Mini Cruiser just before I launched it.
Steve
Boser of Sensenich props showed up with something many have been longing
for...the puzzle prop! This two-piecer adds dramatically to the portability of
the sky cruiser whose prop is it's longest piece by far.
Furthermore this version is composite
which is lighter than many wood props thus reducing spin-up time. He also
brought a wood model that is lighter which accomplishes the same thing...lower
spin-up time. The composite version is not complete (this was one half) but
should be in the next few weeks. It will be added to the "Whats New"
when it comes out.
 Eric
and Elizabeth DuFour of Paratour were also present and brought several samples
of their goodies including the new RDM powered SD. This light machine has a
clutch with floating J-Bars. He also had the very thrusty "Monster" on
hand for tandems along with other items.
This picture shows Eric Dufour preparing
the RDM SD. As with all the other new goodies, these will be featured in the
"Whats New" section when completed.
It's heartening to see manufacturers
coming up with all these improvements and equally fun to see the shift as
machines become lighter, more powerful and with more features. Many other motors
makers were represented including a couple of Adventures, DK's, a Fresh Breeze,
Walkerjet and some others.
   
1. Brewster of "All Balls Whip Stall"
fame,
2. Nick Scholtes at full tilt,
3. Nick cruising the lake shore,
4. An instructional tandem at the magic moment of ground separation.
   
1. Nick Scholtes flying over the launch area with a
good view of Fantasy Of Flight,
2. Nick & Bud Johnson flying a small Silex just south of the prison complex
3. Shot of the field after thermalling up in the weak lift...this is about 2300'
4. Brewster with everything but the kitchen sink on his Silex's trailing edge
   
1. The Dukes of Windsoar made an appearance with
their very nicely done trailer
2. Dave travels around the country with a full size van and flies and flies,
3. Jeff Thompson's girlfriend who just finished kiting her wing,
4. Nothing but the best for Don, Nick and I. We stayed in a Lakeland Days
Inn
that wasn't exactly perfect. This picture shows the bedside decor.
  
1. The Octanes Rule...these two are flown by Jeff
Thompson and Terry Alford.
Many folks who have flown these gliders rave about their handling and
safety.
It's the same brand expertly flown by Will Gadd and Co. as they crossed the USA
this year.
2. Two Octanes (Jeff and Terry), John Magic's Silex and Bill Hocker's ADG
just before the missing man formation grouped.
3. Jeff, Terry and John after Bill broke off
Don Jordon (on my right in shorts) is a Retired American Airlines Captain who
has spent his entire life in airplanes. Besides flying jets off carriers, he has
had to "punch out" of a few.
Nick Scholtes (on my left) flew down with me in the Bonanza and is
working towards his instrument rating. He got lots of cloud time and did an
awsome job of the flying (don't tell him I said that please). Besides being an
electronics genius has is an excellent ppg pilot who introduced me to the sport
nearly three years ago.
Bubba the airplane is a 1956 Beechcraft Bonanza treated us very well for
the trip. He coughed up a few carburetor ice balls while in clouds but otherwise
never skipped a beat. Thank you Don and Nick for adding immensely to this trip.
Also thanks to Bill Hocker
who kept us fueled, Jim Jackson for putting on the event, Jeff Thompson for
pictures, Eric Dufour for motivation, Brad Weiss for the excellent weather
program and everyone else for making us Northerners feel so at home. |
