WV FUNFLYERS
January 2006
by Gretchen Watson
New Year’s Day Flights - 2006
It is a well known fact that if you want to beat Darian Fields into the air on any given day that you would have to be already sitting on the end of the runway as the sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon. Well, that is just what Steve Doll and Doran Mitchell had apparently planned. Steve arrived at the field around 5:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day, 2006. Doran also arrived early. As sunrise was approaching, Steve was pretty sure that he would be able to beat Doran’s parachute into the air but then decided that he had better not get into too big of a rush as he wanted to look over his plane one more time in order to avoid bad preflight errors.
As Doran and Steve were speaking, they could see the outline of lights on a trailer getting ready to pull into the airport. They knew it had to be Darian Fields and Doran decided to go ahead and taxi onto the end of the runway where he would lay out his parachute in preparation for takeoff. However, by the time he had laid out and prepared his chute and climbed into his plane, Darian had already managed to catch up with him. That is, Darian had unpacked his trailer of various items including a backpack parachute, unhitched his powered parachute, rolled it out, warmed it up, taxied it onto the field beside of Doran and prepared it for takeoff. How is that possible? No one will ever know but the sun was peaking over the hills.
Steve, whose hangar is located near midfield, pulled out onto the runway feeling confident that he could just blast off from where he was but decided to concede the “First into the air” race in favor of one of the parachutes that was already on the field. What sportsmanship, what camaraderie! As the two parachute pilots started their engines, Darian Fields signaled to Doran that he could take off first. Again, what sportsmanship, what camaraderie! Doran goes full throttle and the chute goes right then goes hard left.
As Steve was back taxiing down the field, close to the hangars of course, he saw Doran’s parachute begin its takeoff roll then much to his surprise and more quickly then he could have ever imagined, it completely disappeared into the trees which lined the river bank. Even further to Steve’s surprise, Darian immediately powered up and blasted off into the morning sun. Steve then thought “What sportsmanship? What camaraderie?” From Steve’s point of view, Doran was no where to be seen and could very well have been in the river sinking like a stone. Steve wanted to rush to find out where Doran was in order to see if he was ok but in all of the excitement, he had forgotten to steer his own plane and managed to slam it into the nearest hangar where it took him a little while to back it up and resume his progress to locate the missing pilot. By that time, Darian had actually flown a full 360 and was landing at the point of takeoff. Steve met Darian at the river bank about the same time.
Doran had not completely gone over the bank - his rear wheels were still near the top of the bank with the whole carriage wedged between large saplings. The chute was in the trees and brush. He was completely ok. Within 15 minutes he was back onto the runway examining every inch of his aircraft for any damage and there was none.
As Gretchen and Mickey were arriving in Leon around 7:30 a.m., they spotted both parachutes and Steve’s trike passing by Curtis’ house. Steve then came back to the airport to help plan for the morning trip to Jackson County Airport. The parachutes continued on toward the areas of Winfield/Poca/Nitro. Tim, Patrick and Curtis all arrived shortly thereafter. Tim and Patrick were next into the air flying one of the trikes. Mickey took a short flight in his trike while Gretchen accessorized the Tbird with communications equipment/cameras and purses.
At around 10:00 a.m. the three trikes, Mickey, Curtis and Steve, and Gretchen in the Tbird began back taxiing down the runway, each one passing Chuck who was standing in front of his plane, each one signaling for him to join them. He just waved as we wondered why he didn’t want to come along on the trip. When we arrived in Jackson County, Steve informed us as to the reason. Chuck had been warming up his plane and was seen nosing it over thereby shattering the prop. Pieces were later spotted on the ground near his hangar. However, it wasn’t long before he had secured another prop and was out flying.
The trip to Jackson County was very smooth and thankfully uneventful. We weren’t sure if there was food but were none the less hopeful. Sure enough, breakfast was cooking and many people were already there. The folks there are very nice and have invited us to join them on any of their next meeting days for dinner - first Saturday of each month at 6:30 p.m. When daylight savings time comes around, this would make for a good reason to fly over there.
After returning, the three trikes flew on past the airport and landed in Curtis’ back yard. The Tbird flew around awhile and then landed at the airport. Kathy had prepared her annual “Cabbage Roll Lunch” and many of the WVFF made their way to the Pack’s to eat. Several people brought covered dishes, including Chuck with his delicious meatballs. Laura arrived and informed us that Kevin had competed in a radio controlled competition at Winfield earlier in the afternoon and took 3rd place.
After returning to the airport, it would have been easier to count who was missing from the WVFF then who had shown up. There were more people there then had attended some of the summer meetings. However, the day was beautiful, not too cold and not too windy. Members flew until dark. Glen flew his 701. Russell was out in his Cessna 150. Linzy flew the Pterodactyl. Ken was out in his J3 Kitten. Captain and Doni were there. John Bolton flew the Titan. John Townsend was there in his Quick Silver. Raine and Chuck flew their Mini Max’s. Josh flew around in one of the trikes. Bret flew his trike. We just couldn’t have asked for a more exciting, safe, and beautiful New Year’s Day of fun and flying.
Leon Stuff
January 15th, 2006
A very calm and relatively warm day for this time in January. Raine, Mickey and Gretchen started out around 1:30 flying around the Leon area. Bobby Queen, who bought Raine’s Rotec Rally, came to the airfield to move it to its new location in hangar 6. He also took a flight in the trike with Mickey. However, it was a short flight due to the cold. John Bolton flew many times during the afternoon in his Titan. John Townsend waited until later in the afternoon to take off in his QuickSilver. Gretchen flew various times during the afternoon in the Tbird. Steve arrived toward evening and took off in his RedBack Trike. Captain and Doni were also at the airfield that day.
January 8th, 2006
The weather was warm but the winds were brisk. Raine was seen flying his Mini Max around Leon during the afternoon but was being noticeably rocked. Later, Steve in his trike took a few flights including landing at the Pack field where Mickey was able to borrow it for a few minutes of flying time.
Raine sold the Rally. It will soon be moved to a new hangar at Leon. Congratulations to the owners and welcome to the field.
Editor’s Note
I would like to thank Ken for the wonderful job he has done writing the newsletter over the last couple of years. I just hope that I can do nearly so well.
I need all the help that I can get from the WVFF to put together articles for each month. I can’t write what I don’t know, so please help keep me informed of the happenings at the airfield or otherwise. Thank you.....Gretchen Watson
Next Meeting
The next WVFF meeting will be on February 4th at Uno's in Teays Valley at 6:00 p.m. Turn into the Shoney's drive then turn left. Uno's will be on the right. It is roughly behind Go Mart and KFC.