Take a look at each of the 16 high-quality short videos on the following link:
http://www.aerialadventures.net/videos/movies.htm(You have to click on the "next page" arrow at the bottom of each page to get to all the videos.) Now you can see why I'm such a trike enthusiast! These videos were mostly created by mounting a camera on the left wingtip of the trike. Turn up your PC sound, too! And be sure to watch the "broadband versions" if you have fast Internet access. If you really like any of these videos, you can right-click on each link and save them to your computer's hard drive for future local viewing.
One day, I hope to have my own trike. A friend of mine lives on 200 acres of land near us and has a 3500 foot grass runway and empty hangar on his property. He offered to allow me to keep a trike in the hangar at no charge when I get one!
In the mean time, I'm getting into the radio-controlled (RC) airplane hobby. I'm just now shopping for a trainer plane, engine, radio, etc. I have met several people who have lots of experience in this hobby and who offered to help me get started. Plus, there is an excellent RC flying field and club in Cartersville that I can go to for some training and advice. The nice thing is that I should be able to easily fly RC planes from our "front yard" which is really a six-acre relatively flat, well-manicured pasture with a long, straight driveway.
I'm probably going to get a large high-wing training plane with at least a 60-70 inch wingspan (allows for stability and good visibility) and put a decently powerful engine in it. I am open to advice from any of you who are experienced RC airplane hobbyists.
Spent Tuesday evening changing the oil in my tractor. It is very easy to change its oil and filter, but it holds 2.5 gallons of 15W-40 diesel engine oil. I am planning on aerating our pasture once we get some significant rainfall here (it has been really dry for the past few weeks). Then we will have it fertilized, limed and over-seeded.
It is too rough to use as an airstrip. We would have to get a heavy roller in here to compress the ground some if we want to do that. Chuck (the trike instructor) did land here and take off once, but said he won't risk doing it again because his trike might get bent.
I am thinking about getting an aviation radio scanner so I can hear when the ultralights and trikes fly by. Since their pilots know I am a big enthusiast, they tend to make flights over our house whenever they are nearby. When we hear them, we run outside and they put on a free air show for us! Pretty cool! If I have a scanner, they would be able to let us know when they are heading our way. Will have to find something inexpensive on E-Bay.
We took Marlowe to see Les Miserables Saturday afternoon at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Somehow, Nancy managed to get us second-row seats, right in the center, at a decent price. The best seats in the house! Although Nancy and I have seen this musical at least four times in the past, it is our all-time favorite and Marlowe has been asking to see it. Marlowe really liked the play.
Had dinner at Red Lobster tonight for Alec's birthday. It is hard to believe he is already nine years old! We let him use our house and swimming pool yesterday for a birthday party while we went to the Fox. He is going to Disney World with his parents in October, the same time we will be visiting Amanda in Miami for parents' open house at U of M. Heather asked to borrow my conversion van for the trip. I'll have to ask her to lend me her really neat red Mercedes-Benz SLK230 convertible 2-seater for a while! That'll be fun to drive!
After dinner, went to the office for a couple of hours to set up a new piece of diagnostic equipment that just arrived Friday. It is an ultrasonic pachymeter (measures corneal thickness) which we will use to help us manage certain glaucoma-prone patients. Then swung by Dan & Jane's house (Nancy's parents) in Cartersville to get their Replay TV machine working again.
Looking forward to seeing Amanda next month. I miss her very much, although it is nice that she communicates with us often via phone, e-mail, text-messaging, Instant Messenger, etc. A lot different than when I went off to college!
Guess I got carried away with this posting; didn't mean for it to be so loooong! Sorry! Best wishes to all and please keep in touch! Your feedback and e-mails are important to me. (I now have 31 people signed up to receive my occasional journal postings.)
Jeff
Hi, Everyone!
Just got back from my first trike flight and lesson!! What a blast!! (A "trike" is slang for something officially known as a "flexwing microlight aircraft." They call it a trike because it has three wheels, like a tricycle.
I met Chuck Goodrum (my instructor) up at Calhoun this morning around 9:00. We took off around 9:45am and did a touch-and-go landing at the airport again before heading southeast to the Cartersville Airport. I got to fly the trike about 50% of the time! Really cool. The weather was great this morning. Chuck said I did great for my first time piloting a trike. It is like driving a motorcycle through the sky!
Here is a picture of me in the trike at the airport in Calhoun:
Landed at Cartersville around 10:30 and attended the Atlanta Ultralight Club meeting. One of Chuck's friends flew with us in his ultralight. Met some interesting people at the meeting and looked at a bunch of ultralights. We had the only trike there.
Left Cartersville around 1:00pm, right when all the thermals and turbulence was at peak for the day. Really bumpy ride, but tremendous fun. Chuck is great at handling the trike in that kind of wind. Normally, you wouldn't attempt that until you've had a couple of years of experience. He's had over 400 hours flying time in trikes.
This is Chuck and me standing next to the trike:
Got back to Calhoun around 1:30pm and hung around and discussed trikes, gyrocopters, ultralights, etc. with him and a couple of other guys.
So now I've got to decide if I want to take some more lessons. I can take lessons in his trike without owning one. (I doubt Nancy will let me spend $18,000 right now for a brand new, top-notch trike, but maybe one day!)
Here we are in Cartersville, getting ready to take off again and head back to Calhoun. I'm in the back seat and Chuck is in the front. It has controls at both seats:
Now I finally know what it is like to ride in and fly a trike. It is really a stable flying machine. When we let go of the bar, the trike flies itself. It automatically levels itself when you let go. And if you cut the power way back to cause it to stall, it really doesn't ever do a "real" stall; it just "mushes" down.
I think it would be pretty easy to get proficient at flying one of these things, at least on calm days, with the proper instruction. The biggest problem I had was being able to hear Chuck talk to me on the intercom. I think something was wrong with it, and it was only audible in my left ear. If it were louder, that would be great. I had to keep asking him to repeat things because I could barely hear him.
Well, here's to flying high! Jeff
