1) We had a good air show at the “ Wings over Gillespie” earlier this year. We made some coordinated passes with the “ Thunder Delphins” L-29’s led by Doug Gillis. We took off from Brown Field Airport and exactly three minutes later were over “ Show Center “ at Gillespie passing over and to the right of the Delphins taking off. Then we just stayed 180 degrees out of phase with the Delphins. When they were over the field, we were downwind. When we were playing the solo role over the field, they were downwind. It worked out just as briefed even though we never had a chance to practice. The speed difference between the Mig 21 and the L-29’s was not a problem. We just flew a larger pattern in the Mig. Good fun and it worked like clockwork. The next scheduled appearance of the Mig will be at Kingman, Arizona on October 7th and 8th, Oct 13 & 14th at MCAS Miramar and Edwards AFB on October 28 and 29. Nellis AFB is a possibility on Nov 11 and 12. In June we were supposed to fly the Mig in the Ramona show but the FAA decided that the vast waste land to the North of the runway, were the “ Air Show Box “ is, was too densely populated!! (Only by endangered Kangaroo mice, grasses and flies!!) I believe they may have lost some credibility on this one! Anyway, they saved us considerable fuel money and due to the attendance being below expectations we did not miss much in exposure.
2) The Gnat is finally Certified “ Experimental “ and is in the final phases of testing for that all-important inaugural flight and the test flying phase. We take everything in small baby steps so it may be a few weeks before that starts, and should keep us busy this summer.
3) That is also the ideal time for the PT-19 open cockpit flying. However, we did have some brake problems leaving Brown Field for the Ramona air show a few weeks ago and we had to cancel our participation. Hopefully we will have that fixed in a few weeks and we should be able to resume giving rides in that grand old airplane.
4) Long-Eze, even with it’s world famous Finch-tip on the canard, sits and waits for it’s next flight. As soon as time permits we will do a formal series of evaluation test flights. We should see some drag reduction due to the Finch tips.
5) As expected, the PL-2 has turned into a larger project that expected. The wings are off and the landing gear is being worked on. It is an interesting project and I wish we had more help to speed it along its way. All these aircraft require experienced mechanics or volunteers with a technical bent to keep them in the air. Analytical thinking ability is a definite plus and is the prime ingredient in original or inventive thinking. Most people have this ability but frequently, due to the lack of opportunity or by passive lifestyles (too much T.V. watching, for instance), this ability is not exercised enough. Volunteer, and be assured of proper mental push-ups!
