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October 2007
Next meeting: Saturday, October
6, 2007
At the Clubhouse, Knutsford strip
Time: 10am.
This
site hosted by OCIS, On Call Internet Services.
376-3858
Due
to the limited space available, the archives will
not contain anything older than one year. For
members only: If you need to look at a specific
newsletter from previous years, please let me
know, I will e-mail you the file. villeneuve@shaw.ca
President's Letter
Hello
Everyone:
I
am away on a vacation in Europe as you read this!
This is part of the reason that I did not get any
meanderings in the last newsletter!
Obviously
I don't know what type of weather you are getting
at home right now. I hope it is still allowing
some flying after it warms up in the mornings. At
least we got some very nice September weather.
As
everyone that attends our monthly meetings knows,
we have elections coming up next month. This will
be my second to last Presidents letter as there
will be a new President in November!! I will get
another letter into the November newsletter with
a description of my holiday, and any things
pertaining to flight!!
Our
membership is increasing in the Club. There are
people moving into the Kamloops area that are
joining. All the hangars at the strip are full!
It is a very positive way to end our summer of
07. It is very nice to see some new
membersin the Club.
With
work and too many chores at home I have had no
time for flying this summer. Hopefully things
will be quieter this winter and next year. I
think this may explain why a lot of our busier
flyers are retired!! They can at least schedule
flying hours, weather permitting. Only another 11
years!
Well,
I have to go and finish my packing, as I am
sending this to Camille in the middle of
September. I hope that everyone has a good Autumn
and I will see you in early November.
Dick
Suttie.
Editor's
Soapbox
First,
allow me a rant.... I talked about this
previously, but let me add to it: I am very
sensitive about getting ripped-off. Maybe a bit
paranoid about it too! Very often, when I have to
buy something, I get the feeling that the line
between a fair profit and outright gouging has
been crossed a few miles back.
For
instance last year I bought a pair of steel-toed
working boots for close to $200.00 while under
the impression that with a name like DAKOTA they
were made in North-America. I later found out
they they were made in Vietnam; with the cheap
cost of labor over there, I told myself (and a
few friends) that even selling that item for
25%of that price the retailer most likely would
still have made money.
I
am also persuaded that when an item is sold for
use on an aircraft then the price is jacked up by
500%. That might be my delusion... But when a
friend lately bought a hose to be used between
the oil reservoir and the rotary valve on his
engine, and he was charged $88.32 before taxes
for a one-meter length, I found it impossible to
see a justification for such a high price. If I
am out to lunch on that one, I wish someone would
let me know!
Can
anybody look this up for me? The hose in question
bears the following markings:
CONTI-TCH-OLN-11X3.5 NBRHOR 02/07/11
It
is a nylon-braid-reinforced rubber, used on a low
temprerature environment ( in front of the
firewall ) and under atmospheric pressure.
The
weather lately has not been too good, and when
flying is not fun I stay on the ground! But
September was not totally rotten, and we managed
a few good flights.
Bill Huxley, on the way back
from Larry Dee's airstrip.
Crosswind
landing at Knutsford strip.
Paul
taking off from Knutsford.
Larry
Dee's airstrip.
Maybe
a BD-4? I have not talked to the owner yet.
"The
Castle" on the hilltop South of Knutsford
strip.
Gerald
on final to his airstrip.
 |
Nothing
to do with flying... My sister-in -law
brought me that frog from Yuma last year,
and I turned it into a solar-powered
garden light...
How's that
for sexy?
:-)
|
LAWN
CHAIRS CAN FLY
By Barry Meek
If it weren’t for the Wright brothers, make
no mistake, we would still be flying. These
two fellows just happened to be doing the right
thing at the right time. They got off the
ground in controlled flight before anyone else
did. There were others working on the same
project in different parts of the world, but the
Wrights just did it first. That
doesn’t mean we take any credit away from
them. It was a great tribute to American
ingenuity at the time, and seems a fitting
beginning to one of the greatest inventions in
history. The airplane.
Although hot air and helium filled balloons have
been around a long time, the invention of the
flying lawn chair is relatively recent. And
rare. It made sense to Larry Walters,
enough sense that in 1982, in Los Angeles, he
perfected his craft, and went flying in it.
What a story! Often thought to be an urban
legend, the facts are pretty clear, supported by
all the media coverage and talk shows of the day.
Larry was 33 at the time, and for years had the
dream of drifting in a balloon above the earth
enjoying the view. His craft was pretty
simple, some 42 helium-filled weather balloons,
each about six feet in diameter, tied together in
three clusters stacked on top of each other.
The whole bunch was then tethered to a sturdy
lawn chair, to which Larry fastened himself for
the ride. He wasn’t completely nuts
though, as some forethought to his personal
safety went into the project. He was
equipped with a CB radio, wore a parachute, a
lifejacket, had about 30 gallons of water in jugs
attached for ballast, and to control his
altitude, he had a BB gun with which to shoot out
the balloons one at a time.
He was his own test pilot for the aircraft.
He thought about and planned for the flight for
almost twenty years. He studied weather
trends, upper winds, knew the characteristics of
the jet stream, and had a pretty good
knowledge of the airspace he hoped to transit,
along with the FAA regulations. He knew the
qualities of helium and the principles of
lighter-than-air vehicles. About the only
thing he wasn’t prepared for was the super
performance of his balloons when the tether was
cut. Climbing at over 1000 fpm, it
wasn’t long before he found himself level at
16,000 feet over Los Angeles in the cold, thin
air, crossing the flight paths to the L.A. and
Long Beach airports in the process. The
crew of a TWA airliner was pretty shocked to see
him out their window. And of course the FAA
wasn’t too amused when they needed to start
diverting aircraft.
The wind pushed the
balloons on a generally north-easterly heading,
away from the ocean. Larry shot out some of
the balloons in order to start his descent before
accidentally losing his BB gun overboard.
He finally descended into a neighbourhood in Long
Beach. The balloons tangled up in some
power lines, cutting electricity to the area, but
Larry was uninjured, and survived to pay the
fines and face the music. The FAA charged
him with everything they could, including
entering a control zone without establishing
contact, etc. etc. They couldn’t
revoke his pilots licence because he didn’t
have one.
Anyway, it was a dream come true for Larry
Walters. A dream he said he’d never do
again. No doubt! He became an instant
celebrity, appeared on talk shows, was
interviewed by many dozens of newspapers and
radio stations. For a while, he was the
worlds biggest hero or the dumbest loser,
depending on who you talked to. He made
people laugh, some were shocked, most just shook
their heads. In my opinion, he has to go
down in aviation history on some level. Possibly
alongside Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart, the
Wright Brothers, Neil Armstrong, and all the
rest.
There is a really entertaining website which
contains several pictures and documented stories
of this guy. You’ll be amazed with the
read. If you have time, and want the
details of this interesting tale, go to www.markbarry.com. Mark has done more
research into this than anyone else, and will
soon publish a book about Larry Walters, his life
and his incredible achievement with the flying
lawn chair. Look for “FLIGHT OF THE
INSPIRATION” this fall (2007). Details
will be posted on his web site.
Apparently,
this is not the end of the story. Copy-cat
balloonists are now showing up in the skies.
In early July, 2007, another fellow in a similar
contraption, lifted off from Bend, Oregon bound
for anywhere in Idaho. His flight was
partially successful in that he wasn’t
killed or lost, but he didn’t make it to
Idaho. He landed his lawn chair in a field,
about 250 miles from home. By the time you
read this, it’s anybody’s guess as to
how many “balloonists” will have
re-created Larry’s feat.
bcflyer@propilots.net
New in the Buy&Sell
Lots of new ads! Check
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– WHEELS & BRAKE KIT
Newsletter
published by Camille
We
welcome your feedback. And we could also use some
help with the newsletter. Photo would be great!
And articles of any length will be gladly
accepted! If you would like to contribute with
photos, flying stories, or project updates,
contact:
President:
Dick Suttie, 1-250-374-6136 richard_suttie@telus.net
Vice-President: Dennis Seib 1-250-573-3714 dseib@mail.ocis.net
Newsletter Editor: Camille Villeneuve
1-250-374-4181 villeneuve@shaw.ca
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