2015 Sky High Aero Tow Muncy Pa June 4-7, 2015

[lenb]

Hi guys.

Sorry on my part for the lack of response and photos, I've been so busy with towing and flying that I have not taken a picture yet. The Hangar 9 Decathlon was maidened here on Wednesday afternoon and we have since put over 14 HOURS of total time on the plane.
This decathlon is a wonderful flying plane and certain has proven to be a winner in the towing arena.

So many flights today. We maidened a Hemple KA6 that was 4lb tail heavy.
Another ASW 20 was flown for the first time today, with outstanding results.
We coached another tow pilot during his first tow.
Did a dual, side by side aerotow with two identical 2-33's ( that was a sight to see )

Sooo much more, and the weekend is just getting started!!!


LEN

[Swiss1]

Hi guys.

Sorry on my part for the lack of response and photos, I've been so busy with towing and flying that I have not taken a picture yet. The Hangar 9 Decathlon was maidened here on Wednesday afternoon and we have since put over 14 HOURS of total time on the plane.
This decathlon is a wonderful flying plane and certain has proven to be a winner in the towing arena.

So many flights today. We maidened a Hemple KA6 that was 4lb tail heavy.
Another ASW 20 was flown for the first time today, with outstanding results.
We coached another tow pilot during his first tow.
Did a dual, side by side aerotow with two identical 2-33's ( that was a sight to see )

Sooo much more, and the weekend is just getting started!!!


LEN

"A picture paints a thousand words"

Jeremy and Ben
SCC AAA TT

[BTursack]

I would like to thank the club and all of the folks who put this event together. My flying buddy, Cris Finck, and I have attended many events and this was, by far, the most laid-back, fun event we've been to. We are new to aero-towing, and we learned much during our time here this weekend. So many nice people willing to share information. Special thanks to Len for coaching me through the landing on the Hempel KA6 "Beast." That was a real thrill. He told me to "circle again" before I landed. I thought I barely had enough air to make it. I followed his lead and to my amazement, the glider stayed aloft. Like I said, we are new to this and it is so exciting to learn another part of our hobby-sport. We fly mostly giant scale piston powered stuff - and some jets - but man, are we ever hooked on aero-towing! Here is a photo of the two 2-33's. I had them built for the purpose of flying in formation - and we even had a chance to do that for the first time, too!

[BTursack]

Here is a video by Ed Santiago of our first attempt to fly the 2-33's together. We are pretty enthused and excited to practice this more and see how good we can get with it.

[Csessa]

The last 24 hours have been great fun, combining many of my favorite things. Of course there is the food, last night and tonight were fabulous. Last night we stopped for ice cream at a local place. The ice cream was wonderful yet sooooo expensive at $4.25 a QUART. The BABY cone was a single scoop the size of a softball @ $1.25. You can also see how well they treat FLYERS.

Today started with Mr Sticky sticky buns. Some folks special ordered with walnuts on top. Who knew?

After the food, came the camaraderie of an aerotow when there is just too much wind to fly. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of that action.

Then my other favorite activity, hiking, not normally associated with aerotowing. Several of use hiked over a couple ridges then back then over again in search of a missing Porter. Finally with the support of another Porter flying over the down plane it was found atop a very tall tree. I did not see the rescue but the plane can and likely will be repaired.

Finally after another BBQ feast we got in a couple flights.

Quite a day.

[BTursack]

And…..here's Cris on the maiden landing of my new ASW-20

[lenb]

Crazy day.

Started off with a great breakfast treat from Mr Sticky, ( insert pun here ) and ended with another FANTASTIC BBQ by the local club and spouses. This was a perfect meal....

So what happened in between?

The wind "Was a blowin" so everything got off to a slow start. The Decathlon didn't really like that much wind, so Mr Porter was put into service and did its usual excellent job. At some point in the afternoon, Steve and I were on a tow when the Antares Steve was flying suddenly went upon its side and over the top. When this happened the tow line violently pulled against the fin and broke it off.
Needless to say, the following 45 seconds were exciting. I've been told having a rudder is pretty important, today we found out just how important. The plane was uncontrollable. After an honest fight to keep he plane in the air, it was heading for the trees nose down. Gunny yelled out to drop the flap, and I figured I had nothing to lose. The flaps were deployed and the plane went into a perfect flat spin.
The crash site was on another ridge a good distance out from the field. After searching for a couple hours in the dense woods, Jeff found the plane with his high powered telescopic lens on his camera from standing at the edge of the field. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.
Then to locate the plane, Steve Kramer flew his Porter in a straight line over the area.
Without those two guys doing what they did, the plane would have never been found. We were WAY off from the site.
Now sitting in a 70ft tree, the Porter was in pretty good condition. It took an hour and a half for a professional tree climber to show up and another hour and a half for him to secure a rope to it, cut the branch and lower it to the ground. Money well spent.

Thank you to everyone who helped in the effort. My sincere appreciation.

LEN

[Swiss1]

So how much work is the Porter going to need to be back in Service, and did Steve bring down the Antares OK!

Jeremy and Ben
SCC AAA TT

[Steve P]

The Antares was either damaged thereby causing the Porter incident, or as a result? It flew fine until that moment. With everyone now on the field, I flew around for several minutes while an approximate line to the Porter crash site was established. I then came in and landed when things were clear. Plane seemed perfectly fine. We went into the woods for a couple hours on the search Len detailed and found the Porter. After dinner, Steve K and I stayed behind when the tree climber and crew went out. After hooking planes for Jim who was towing the after dinner group and helping Steve on his maiden of the ASH26, I decided to take a flight with the Antares. Having flown with no ill effects after the Porter incident, I went with the group opinion that it was the huge gust of wind and not the plane. Flat behind the tug was no issue, when we turned out, the Antares just rolled over, I released the line and there was no response to any control. The plane flew circles for a while finally ended up across the road from Sky High. Total loss. Russ has all the pieces to see if he can resurrect it and keep it as his own as he has done in the past. Likely the SmartFly board was damaged on an earlier landing and the plane had intermittent power? Or something like that?? We will never know.

[Soarntz]

Just arrived back in millersville, pa. Awesome 3 days a couple hours north! Even though a bit windy, still had a great time. GREAT food last nite as well as the previous two nights out and about williamsport! There was lift to be had yesterday, even with the wind..... as many have said before. ... don't look at forecast, just show up. You can have a good time if you want!

I would like to thank the local vlub,especially tony, for his hard work to make it happen!

[Kris]

Len,

Sorry to hear about your Pilatus Porter. This is why I added flying wires over a year ago. We have a few unskilled pilots who loosened my vertical stab a couple of times.

Very glad to hear it will fly again.

Dropping the flaps is something I would not have thought to do. Thanks to Gunny I will remember this action.

See ya in a couple weeks in Monticello.

[Steve P]

Thanks to Tony, the hard-working club members who volunteered and Tony's much better half, Marcia, for a nice weekend in a beautiful setting! The long flights on the Nimbus 4 this morning was a perfect way to end the weekend.

This spot is becoming a favorite of mine. The great event, then the surrounding area, beautiful views, restaurants, things to do, and now we've discovered Mr Sticky! For us, it was a Friday-Sunday event this year as I had to work Thursday.

Wendy and I enjoyed First Friday events in downtown Williamsport, had dinner at Bullfrog Brewery, and then bought a necklace for our niece's graduation. Saturday dinner at the field was another winner! On the way home today we stopped in Newburgh, NY at Newburgh Brewing Company for a great early dinner, a brew and enjoyed a fundraiser that was going on for Honor Flight, a charity that raises money to fly WWII vets to see the memorial in DC. A fun few days.

The weekend had many, many high points and one low point. That's this crazy, wonderful hobby!

Thanks again to the Sky High crew!

[Swiss1]

Sorry to hear the news Steve, hope Scott can put Humpty Dumpty back together again! Next step is Ian Noble who works at a composite shop and has my Discus and Antares after a little mishap in Indiana He will probably be at the Horizon Aerotow, let me know if I can help.

Jeremy and Ben
SCC AAA TT

[stevekremer]

Intersesting weekend. Excellent as far as our hosts, great field, great food, and support. great camping. great flying, great camping. Porter issue, Anteres issue, hike in the woods, but great Blanik flying, great ventus flying, ASH maiden, great camping. Thanks Tony Steve K

[Steve P]

You forgot one word... Flutter!

[Csessa]

I agree with all that has already been said. We cannot thank Tony and all the local enough for use of this great field and all the hospitality. This is a great event, can I have more sir?

[JimD]