Journal of Jeffrey R. Brant, MD

On a sad note, one of my cousins, Allan Maisel, passed away suddenly in Miami last week, apparently the result of a massive heart attack. I believe he was only 54 years old. I'm glad I got to spend a lot of time talking with him at a family function in Miami a few months ago. He is survived by his wife, Lois, and his sister, Debbie Safra. He will was a wonderful person and will be greatly missed.

J

I received a call from the ER a little after 11:00pm Friday night. This is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen a patient do.

This 21-y.o. dude was cleaning a ceiling fan two weeks ago and got the broom too close to the light bulbs. One of the bulbs broke and he got a piece of glass in his left eye. He went to the ER then where he was diagnosed with a corneal abrasion and sent home on Erythromycin ointment. He was given instructions to call us for a follow-up appointment the next day, which he never did. Since then, he began losing vision in the eye and it became very painful.

He went back home Friday night to visit his mother. She got all excited about how bad his eye looked and yanked him to the ER. At that point, the ER doctor noted puss inside his eye and that the patient couldn't see out of it.

I got there around 11:30pm and examined him. He had hand motion vision. Exam showed an almost complete hypopyon and what appeared to be at least a partial-thickness small corneal laceration, or perhaps a self-sealed full-thickness laceration. CT scan showed no intra-orbital or intra-ocular foreign body.

Anyhow, it was evident that he had a case of rip-roaring endophthalmitis! Now why would someone walk around like this for two weeks? He said he wasn't even going to come to the ER Friday night, except that his mother forced him. (She is a patient of ours.) He must be pretty stupid and pretty stoic!

The retina doc at Emory that I called couldn't believe the story either, and had a difficult time trying to figure out the best way to handle this kind of case in the middle of the night. (These are absolutely horrible cases. The inside of the eye is infected. The only treatment is to wash out the pus, do a vitrectomy and inject intra-vitreal antibiotics. Most cases end up in total permanent blindness because of severe retina damage.) He arranged for the Emory Clinic emergency room to accept the patient in transfer and he was going to have his retina fellow look at the patient. So about 1:30am Saturday morning, his parents drove him to Emory.

And of course I had to wake up at 6:00am Saturday to go to a Rotary Foundation and Membership Seminar at Gwinnett Tech College (65 miles from here, in Lawrenceville). So I was really tired. And on top of that, I'm trying to get over a minor head cold.

Hope you all had a better weekend!

Later,
Jeff

Just couldn't resist scanning this recent photo of Gracie and me and posting it on my journal:


I got a hold of some old Super-8 home movies dating back from 1950-1973 that my Uncle Henry from Miami made. He had them converted to video tape. It is really wild seeing my relatives back then. I am going to convert the footage to DVD format so it will be easy to copy and share these vintage flicks with anyone who wants them. Plus, DVD will preserve the images better and longer than video tape.

Have a nice weekend, what's left of it. Getting ready to take Amanda to college in a few days.

Jeff

It was foggy early Sunday morning, so Chuck didn't get to take off from Calhoun till 1:00pm. By then, it was pretty windy and he had to fly to Alabama. But he called before he left the airport in Calhoun and said he would fly over our pasture and wave to me in about 15 minutes.

About 25 minutes later, he came right over our house, turned around and did a touch-and-go landing in our pasture! It was so cool. He called me again about 5 minutes later after he landed at the Etowah Bend air strip (2 miles from here) and talked with me for a while.

Then he called me around 6:00pm and said he was back at the Etowah Bend airstrip after his trip to Alabama, getting ready to head back to Calhoun. He wanted to "drop by" and wave again.

So about 5 minutes later, he did two low passes right in front of me (about 30 feet from where I was standing and about 5 feet off the ground). He also had a friend with him in a fixed-wing ultralight who flew low over the pasture a couple of times and waved. Pretty cool!

After watching both the trike and the ultralight fly by, I think the trike is the safer of the two and more my style. The trike wing was so stable, looks like a giant boomerang. The ultralight was wobbling back and forth and just looked plain tinny. The trike was really smooth.

So I'm going to drive to Calhoun and go up with Chuck for my first flight and lesson as soon as I get a chance. He said we can fly to and land at the Etowah Bend grass strip and then fly back to Calhoun for my first flight.

I know if I like the flight, I'll be wanting to buy a trike! I believe it can be a SAFE and fun activity, as long as it is done by the book.

Here is a little about Chuck Goodrum (instructor), from his Web site:

"I have flown a variety of fixed, rotor and flex-wing aircraft since receiving initial flight training in the US Army in 1968. I hold a FAA commercial, single/multi-engine, land pilot certificate in airplanes and rotorcraft - with an instrument rating. I also hold an Ultralight Flight Instructor's registration (UFI) in trikes (pws) with EAA. As a military aviator I flew the 0-1 Bird Dog in the 21st and 220th Reconnaissance Airplane Companies during two tours in Vietnam. As a civil certified pilot, I enjoyed flying the Cessna 182RG and the Robinson 22. In the late 80's I began hang gliding and discovered the trike on a 'pilgrimage' to Sun 'n Fun. The physical, emotional and economical effects of this flying machine, has brought me endless joy. The view it affords is fantastic! The altered consciousness it provides is meditative. And, it's economic advantages far surpass any aircraft I have flown. From 1995 through 2001, I published "Trikes R Us", a magazine and website, dedicated to trike enthusiasts. Today, I instruct in trikes, write about triking, and fly as often as weather, time, and money allow."

And here is a little insight about trike flying, again from Chuck:

"Trike, in this context, refers to the aircraft. Historically referred to as a powered hang glider or flex-wing, the trike, as it is affectionately called today, for its size and weight, is easily the most compact, transportable, durable, versatile, light, and less complicated motorized-recreational sport flying machine. In Europe where it was popularized, the trike remains the most widely flown recreational and sport aircraft. It became so competitive at national and world competitions that the trike was awarded a separate class. Its popularity is also well established in Australia and South Africa. The trike is so much a part of aviation in these regions that they are the principle source of manufacturing and are sold and flown as certified microlight aircraft. The two examples above (Cosmos-C at left, and Silent Racer at right) demonstrate the advancement of modern trikes. The trike's popularity in the USA was less dramatic, until 1990 when it gained greater recognition in ultralight and experimental flying. Sometimes mistaken as an in-the-pattern craft, it is among the most dependable cross-country, open cockpit flying machines ever created. On two separate occasions, with two different makes, the trike was piloted around the world. When taken from its usual storage place (a small trailer or home garage) the trike is easily transported anywhere within a moment's impulse to fly.

The trike evolved from the 70's revolution in recreational and sport hang gliding when a glider pilot attached a small motor and prop to his glider's flex-wing. Today, this ultra/micro light aircraft is keeping up with technology as innovative trike chassis and wings are fabricated from composite materials and powered by four-cycle engines.

This compact, light weight, and highly maneuverable flying machine has reached 31,889 feet and traveled 100 miles per hour. The trike, seen here with the geese, served as a perfect platform for Operation Migration's Canadian Bill Lishman, whose involvement with geese and flying gave us the movie "Fly Away Home." In 1998, a UK triker Brian Milton circumnavigated the earth in 71 flying days having spent a total of 121 days from take off to landing. Trikes are comfortably built in one or two seat configurations, arranged in tandem or side by side. It manages on 1.5 to 4.0 US gallons per hour of automobile gasoline. World new prices range from $7000 to $38,000. Used trikes range from $2000 to $20,000. An average new, USA made price is $8000. They come in assembled, kit, and custom configurations.

Most countries regulate trike flight under the microlight or ultralight category. In the USA trikes mostly fit under the Federal Aviation Regulation
(FAR) 103 with supplemental directives from AC 103-7. It can also be operated as an amateur built aircraft (aka experimental) by a certified pilot. Most recently, the Federal Aviation Agency accepted a proposed to broaden the trikes operation as a Light Sport Aircraft. Under this rule change, the agency officially creates a new category of aircraft known as "Weight Shift Control." This is a monumental development in the history of trike flight in the USA as the government endorsed the trike as an "aircraft".

The trike is a skycycle unlike any aircraft or toy ever experienced. One might fashion the trike as a flying motorcycle. Its ownership garners friendships among similarly spirited pilots from around the world, like the friendship of South African Mike Blyth and Swiss Olivier Aubert who together on one flight flew their two individual trikes across six continents. Take a air ride. You might just like it! You will of course have to have your own to experience the natural high and open air sensation of triking!"

Makes you want to go flying, right? Have a great day!

Jeff

Hi, and hope everyone is doing well. I haven't had any time lately to post anything to my journal. We are doing fine. Getting ready to take Amanda down to start college at the University of Miami in a couple of weeks. I'm going to miss her sooo much while she's at school! She has been a big help to me at the office a couple of days this summer, printing hundreds of clinical retina photos for us.

I've been watching people fly ultralight and microlight aircraft over our house for the past four years since we've been out here in the country. I always thought it would be fun to do that. So I started doing some research and decided that microlight flying may be for me. I've been talking with an instructor who has a 2-seater microlight flexwing (trike, for short). He was trained in the military and is a licensed pilot and instructor for regular planes, helicopters, ultralights and trikes. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, this is a trike:
Anyhow, I have been reading all the pros and cons of trike flying, including all the dangers and crashes that have occurred with trikes. Chuck (the instructor, pictured in the above picture) assured me that nearly all mishaps are due to stupidity on the part of the pilot: flying in bad weather, flying beyond your capabilities, trying to do aerobatics with a trike, not maintaining the equipment properly, etc. He says they are safer than driving a car, but feel like flying a motorcycle through the air. He and others say that trikes are the best-kept secret in the aviation world. They are becoming very popular in this country and have been widely flown in Australia and England for years.

Chuck wants to give me my first trike lesson soon. In fact, if the weather is good, he's going to fly down here and land in my pasture and pick me up for my first ride and lesson this Sunday! How exciting!

The nice thing is that there is a grass air field about 2 miles from our house where I could hangar a trike if I buy one. That would be really convenient for me.

Trikes are fairly simple, as there is no tail, rudder, ailerons, flaps, etc. They are known as weight-shift aircraft because you control it by moving a control bar that shifts your weight to one side or the other, or to the front or back of the wing. Much like how a bird flies! I guess it is about as close to feeling like you are really flying as you can get!

As I began to get too scared about the possible risks in flying a trike, I started thinking about flying a powered paraglider. I've seen a couple of these things flown and landed on beaches. It is basically a specially-designed parachute. You wear a motor on your back. Once you get the chute in the air, you run a few steps and become airborne. It only travels 20 MPH and if the motor quits, you're already on a parachute. In fact, it drops 6-10 times slower than a real parachute, making for very safe emergency landings! The other nice thing is that they are extremely portable; you could put the whole thing in a car and take it anywhere. You need only a few feet to land or take off, too. Plus, I wouldn't have to pay for a hangar for it, and can take off and land in our front yard! This is a powered paraglider (or paramotor):

These aren't as popular around here as trikes and ultralight planes are. I would have to find an instructor for it. Takes about 2-3 days of instruction. Trike flying takes about 8-10 hours of instruction before soloing.

Well, not exactly sure what I'm going to do in terms of aviation at this point, but want to try flying in a trike, an ultralight plane, and talk to some people who own paramotors before I decide.

Went to hear a lecture about the Kingston Saltpeter Cave tonight. Pretty interesting stuff. We live very close to it.

We are going to see "Thoroughly Modern Millie" at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta this Saturday afternoon. Amanda saw it in NYC and loved it. She is going to see it again with us. Marlowe is going to see it, too.

Have to go to bed. Take care and keep in touch!

Jeff