May Fly-In

The May Fly-In/ Camp-In was well attended, despite some light, off and on rain Saturday. Several campers spent the weekend, and we had many visitors Saturday. We had planned a Saturday morning flight to Lawrence County, Ohio, with a flight of eight ultra lights, however, Saturday morning weather changed our plans. We decided to fly to Ravenswood, Jackson County (I18) for breakfast. Shortly after we departed Leon, Curtis Pack, flying his trike in the lead, made a radio call to the group, saying the weather wasn’t looking good, and that we should probably return to Leon. Within 15 minutes after landing, it was pouring rain. Good call, Doc. The rain was short lived, and we enjoyed some local flying throughout the day, and of course, a good lunch and meeting. V.P. Mickey Watson presided, filling in for the recovering Pres. Dave Groff. Mickey gave a safety seminar, stressing takeoff and landing safety, relating to rotation and climb out airspeed, and also stressing awareness of taxiing aircraft, especially with the limited width of area available for both taxiing and an active runway.

June Meeting

The June meeting will be Saturday, June 4^th, as usual, lunch at 1:00, with meeting to follow. The club will furnish hamburgers and hot dogs, please bring a side dish or dessert and soft drinks.

Dues are Due

Don’t forget to pay your dues, if you haven’t already. Still the low, low price of only $15.00, with new memberships at $20.00, with new members receiving a handsome WVFF Tee shirt. See Laura Jensen at the field or send to:

Laura Jensen

630 Grenada Way

Charleston, WV 25304

Roger Boothe has recently returned to the field a beautifully rebuilt, refurbished, reincarnated FlightStar, that he had previously bought from John Koch. It has been totally re-covered with new sails and a new pod and instrument panel, including the nifty EIS electronic engine instrument gauge system. Roger also added an electric starter and had the exhaust coated with the Jet Hot coating. (of course, look for it soon, in a sky near you)

L.W. “Squire” Haynes, creator of the Rainelle Airport, with it’s fly-in restaurant, died, Saturday, April 30, following a long illness.

Upcoming Events

June 4 Hales Landing Picnic, Elizabeth, WV (2WV3) 39-07, 81-23.5

June 18 Wings and Wheels, Ashland, KY (DWU) Fly-In and Car Show

July 16-17 Dayton Air Show

July 16 Athens, OH (UNI) Fly-In Open House

July 25-31 Oshkosh (Airventure)

Aug 19, 20,21 Total Eclipse Fly-In, Carrollton, OH (TSO) 40-33, 81-04

Sept 17 Hales Landing Fall Picnic, 1pm (2WV3) party evening of the 16th

Ken Skeen, P.O. Box 128, Evans, WV 25241 304-372-5252 kskeen2@citynet.net

Sunday, October 17, 2005, Captain Rogers and I were involved in a horrible accident. God was watching over us because we both should be dead. I feel really bad for an old friend who lost a good airplane and was injured in the process and for another friend who got his plane damaged because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Thank God, he wasn’t injured.

Due to my head injury, it took a few days for me to remember the events of the crash. To this day, there are only a few pictures remaining in my head. However, my thoughts of that day have slowly come back to memory.

That evening, Captain wanted to fly around a few times in the Skyranger and wanted me to go with him. The reason was that the wind was blowing from the North and his takeoff and landing experience in that direction was limited. Since Captain likes to fly from the right seat, I sat in the left. We taxied to the end of the runway, ran the engine up, checked everything and turned to take off. At that time, I noticed Roger taxiing up on the right of us and hoped that Captain would wait for him to come on up before starting our roll. I should have said something.

We only rolled a short distance when Captain pulled the stick back, launching us into the air at a slow speed and extreme nose-up attitude. I should have grabbed the controls right then, but because of the experience of the pilot, thought he would make the proper adjustments. This hesitation was crucial because no adjustment was made in attitude of the airplane which, due to engine torque, turned right as it climbed to approx. 20 feet. So, here we were, so close to stall speed that any attempt to turn would have resulted in one wing stalling and the airplane dropping the 20 feet or so to sure damage and heading straight toward the hangers and Roger’s plane, which I couldn’t see due to the nose-up attitude. We were between the proverbial rock and hard place. My only hope was that we could get over the hangers, lower the nose for the speed which we needed to maneuver the aircraft. With this thought, I reached for the controls and positioned my feet on the peddles. No sooner than I got my hand on the stick, the airplane stalled, left wing first, rolled inverted and nosed in. I don’t know exactly what caused the airplane to stall at that particular time. A wind shift, turbulence off the hangers, a little left rudder, or a change in power setting are all possibilities. When an airplane is flying very close to stall speed, it just doesn’t take much.

When the airplane hit the ground, I remember thinking that I was about to meet “J.C. and friends.” I was knocked out for 30 seconds to 1 minute and when I opened my eyes, I saw Doc and Mickey. I wasn’t disappointed. I’m sure Jesus understands.

Since I have had a lot of time on my hands, I thought I should write. It is not my intent to blame anyone for what happened. I only thought that there should be a few lessons here for all you instructors, instructor wanabes, and student pilots. Could this accident have been avoided? Who knows? Better preparation may have helped. So, here is my “Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda, Wish I Hadda” list.

1. I should have taken the plane around a few times myself. It had been a little while since I had flown the Skyranger. A few flights would have made me feel a bit more comfortable about having to take over in an emergency situation. Also, Captain would have seen a few technically correct takeoffs and landings to emulate.

2. I should have asked a few questions like, “What is going to be your technique on this takeoff?” An instructor cannot totally dismiss a student’s experience but should try to get into his head. If you hear something to the affect: “As soon as this plane starts rolling, I’m gonna jerk this here stick all the way back and hold it there until we get to 2K feet”, you know that you have a problem. This fellow needs to be educated. You should ask, “What is your rotation speed? What is your climb out speed and how soon are you going to attain it? What is your stall speed? What is your Vne? What is your Vae? (I just made this one up. It is velocity always exceeded just to remind you to stay far enough above stall speed. For example my Vae in the Titan and Skyranger is 60 MPH. Why take a chance on stalling? Believe me. It is no fun.)

3. We should have had our intercom working. It is a little difficult to communicate without it. I could have said things like: “Wait, you are too slow. Rotate now. Left Rudder. Push the nose down. My airplane.” Lesson: Never use less safety devices than available.

Now is as good a time as any to talk a little about safety. I know that this is “old hat” to some of you experienced flyers, but if there is one person that this helps, it is worth it.

Guys, please make sure that the runway is clear before you take off. This means that all planes should be back between the hangers or at the end of the runway with you. If somebody is taxiing up, wait for them before you take off.

Also, when taking off, keep that speed up. Please, don’t hang your plane on the prop. The only planes that won’t stall are those that have more thrust than the airplane weighs. There is nothing like this at Leon except Kevin’s RC planes. If you elect to climb out close to stall speed, you are simply going to crash if your engine quits or coughs. Also, an unexpected gust from behind could put you on the ground.

Please understand why stalls are so dangerous that you should fly with one eye attached to your airspeed indicator. If you were to stall a Skyranger from 50 ft. (I think we survived 30 ft.) to 350 ft., you are going into the dirt. (Permanently) Think about it. If the airplane stalls and inverts as the Skyranger did, all control is lost. You will not be able to roll the airplane on over. Instead, a half-loop will be the result as the airplane falls nose down. How much altitude would you like to have when this happens? I wouldn’t want stall a true ultra light at 50 ft. however a lot of them would recover at 100 ft. This is because most ultra lights have enough dihedral to keep them from rolling over. Also, it doesn’t take a lot of forward speed to resume flight. The two-place Quicksilver will start shuddering when stall speed is approached. Some aircraft will warn you when stall speed is being approached. Some will not. It is not a bad idea to learn what your plane will do. Just be sure that you are high enough when you practice stalls and get the advice of an instructor first. So, here is my challenge to all of you flyers. When I ask you what your Vae is, don’t just give me a dumb look. Have fun but fly safely.

P.S. Thank you folks for the phone calls and cards that I have received. I have little to do these days and really appreciate the attention. My recovery is coming along nicely and I may be able to walk, a little, within a few weeks after you read this. I look forward to seeing everyone again.

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