 Illinois
Fly-In
by Jeff Goin
Sept 25, 2001
This second gathering of IL area pilots was hosted by Nick and
Stacey Scholtes at their small farm Southwest of Chicago. By all measure it was
an enormous success. Most of the pictures are thumb-nails and clicking on them
brings up the full-size version. Most are about under.
Friday
   Friday
provided beautiful warm weather with a very light breeze. About 10 pilots
(pictured left) showed up for this preview day and enjoyed some wonderful flying
and interesting tasks.
Several
pilots came late including Paul Reynolds (pictured left) who brought the heavy
gear...a Paramotor brand, the oldest (and heaviest) unit there, and a full size
powered parachute (Which Paul is standing next to).
For
amusement Jeff Goin (myself) and Nick Scholtes show the heaviest and lightest
motors (pictured right). The Paramotor that Jeff is hoisting (on the left)
weighs about 85 pounds empty and the Fly 70 being held with one arm by Nick
Scholtes weighs under 40 pounds empty.
  Challenging
Site
While the Scholtes International Paradrome is a well-equipped
and friendly environment it also presents some challenges for flying. First
there is the ever-present risk of llamas (left), dogs, goats and chickens on the
field. Thankfully these hazards are generally self-removing.
The
North-South field is surrounded on all sides with a 4-foot wood fence. On the
west side of the field are 40 foot trees, a barn and on the Southwest corner a
75 foot silo. All of these things naturally attract paraglider wings and motors.
The picture to the right is looking South and the silo can be seen in the upper
right corner. 40 foot Power lines run along the road just West of the house and
high tension wires run parallel and a half-mile east of the field.
When the wind is out of the West it can present difficulty due
to rotor. With a light west wind the pilot may need to launch to the west and
turn right or left to run out the takeoff in the long direction. In a stronger
wind the rotor is too strong and the takeoff must be done at the extreme North
or South end across the field.
 Pictured
left is a minor hazard...chickens, just above the Silex. These little guys keep
their distance pretty well and present no problems. The llamas too generally
stay clear but do occasionally occupy the best part of the runway.
In spite of these challenges everyone displayed great skill
and no object or critter skimming incidents occurred.
Activities
 Mikey
brought GI Joe toy parachuters for amusement. We took them up with us to about
400 feet and let them go. They descended slower than our rate so a couple of us
picked them out of mid air, climbed back up and let them go again. This is
something that the "Dukes of Windsoar" have perfected and maybe with
practice can be done regularly.
 Mikey
also outlined a target near the center of the field for Bomb drops. Paul
Reynolds did the best, getting in the middle ring at least twice.
Nick Scholtes perfected the in-flight reload. Pictured left,
Nick does a fly-by while Rob Seemuth performs the hand-off. This procedure
worked flawlessly several times. Don't try this at home though...hands this
close to props is risky at best!
During mid-day while motors were being rebuilt (Cy) and fixed
(Alex Varv helped many), much shooting of the breeze and little shotgun shooting
also took place. But the wings didn't rest! Several of us took to our kiting
harnesses and went to battle.
 Kiting
battle rules are simple, start from abeam each other and the last one kiting
wins. It turns out most of the effort is taken getting upwind of the rival(s)
and blocking their wind. Bruce Brown,
Pictured above and right is Bruce Brown with the Blue wing,
Jeff Goin under the red one and Fred Edmiston in the upwind pole position with
the green wing.
All in all it was an absolute blast while providing a good
workout and further improving our wing-handling skills.
Equipment
 We
seemed to have it all. From the lightest (the Fly 70) to the heaviest
(Paramotor), we had it on wheels; Mikey brought his Adventure Trike which he is
now launching and flying quite well (pictured left on bottom), and Paul brought
his Powered Parachute with Chiron wing. The Powered Parachute left a big wake
but with the radios it was easy to keep track of...also Paul was very
considerate with his operation. He made it look easy.
There were 4 sky cruisers, 3 Adventures, 3 DK's and a few
other miscellaneous machines. Wings were varied with the majority being Silex's
and Symphonys.
Most everyone brought radios as requested which made for a
much safer operation. Being able to hear what is going on helps dramatically in
safety...especially with many in the air at once.
The Flying
 Epic
weather brought everyone out for Saturday's flying. Pictured left is the group.
Morning provided a light Southwest breeze which meant launching across the field
in a Southwest direction which is fairly challenging.
Pictured left to right above is Wally, Alex, Paul, Don, Fred,
Jeff, Nick, Stacey (holding Mo), Keith, Mikey, Wyatt, Bruce, Bob, Cy, Ed, Wally
S. and Rob.
Some die-hards even flew on Sunday between rain showers
although later on it was pretty bumpy. All of the pictures below are from
Saturday. Only Wally Shilts (from Ohio) flew mid-day and reported lousy soaring
conditions with level 4 bumps.
   
Above L to R: Alex Varv trying out a Trekking
Parawing (which he liked), the balloon passed by just a few miles south, Bruce
Brown approaching the NE corner of the field, and a cheaters view of a corn
maze.
  
(Above L to R) Wally Shilts and Nick Scholtes
in Silex formation, Don Jordon over just North of the highway and Ed Mondek
flying beside and behind me.
   
(Above L to R) The first two pictures are Paul
Reynolds landing the powered parachute (PPC), next is overlooking a prairie
preserve with Dresden Nuclear power plant in the distance, and lastly is Wyatt
with his Adventure.
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