Help needed.... information sought

[JimD]

Fatal syntax error in the neuromuscular downlink...aka, dumb thumbs!

[stevekremer]

Did you realize that when your plane is inverted, up is down? Didn't seem to affect the ailerons!

[Swiss1]

I listened to Jeremy's advice

I misunderstood Jeremy's sound advice

Jeremy and Ben
SCCAAA TT TN

[Swiss1]

You must be thinking of someone else, I wasn't even at that event

Jeremy and Ben
SCCAAA TT TN

[Xroadie]

I have two funny stories, both are about Axel pilots falling out of aircraft. Some of you have heard these stories as we retell them at campfires every now and then. Both instances occurred in Nevada outside Las Vegas, the year of the last Tournament of Champions (TOC) in 2002. I was invited to be part of a team, along with Peter Goldsmith and John Diniz that would do aerotow demos during the lunch hour break, at the event....kind of a halftime show.

The week before the event we spent several days aerotowing off of Primm Dry Lake. A vast expanse of hard packed, white powder that was perfect for flying models. There were TOC pilots scattered about, here and there, practicing their TOC routines for the event. Pete would practice his routine, then we'd do some aerotowing and so on.

On one flight, after thermaling way up with my Duo Discus, I decided to burn off some altitude with a series of loops, a couple stall turns, then a few rolls. About the time I hit my second or third roll, JD says..."Pete...I think your canopy's open...!"

I had forgotten to latch the damn canopy and it was flopping open and closed on the hinges!

Oooops....out pops Axel!!

John spots him dropping immediately and keeps an eye on him to give me a bearing. I think John said he saw a little white puff of dust on the horizon, as Axel slammed into the desert. After l landed the now pilotless Duo, John pointed me in the right direction and off I went "walkabout" looking for Axel....I brought along a bottle of water, a compass and a small body bag.....just in case!

I was just about to give up....fearing I had gotten off course and passed him by someplace back in dust, when I spotted a little lump wearing a red cardigan about 100 feet out further in front of me....it was Axel! He was laying on his side with his sunglasses laying on the lakebed next to his head. He was all there except for missing his right index finger, which had been clutching the joystick and his hat! I had vision of the poor little guy hanging on to the joystick for dear life as I rolled the Duo Discus over and over again till his finger broke off causing him to lose his grip. I scanned around for the hat a little and gave up. I figured that it a lofted off with the winds and was now who knows where. I trekked back to where we were flying, put Axel back in the cockpit of the Duo and plopped down on my chair under the sunshade. As I was filling in JD and Pete about how I found him, I looked out in the direction of where he had landed and saw the wind blowing what looked like a little white piece of paper towards us....suddenly I realized it was his hat ! It practically blew right into the sunshade

Then......a week or so later, at the TOC itself, John was flying a big Airwold Swift Acro model during one of the aerotow demos. At about a thousand feet, during an outside loop, we watched, as the canopy flew off, going up and away from the looping glider as it neared the top of the loop....then in what looked like slow motion, we watched as the pilot flew out into space, starting to free fall with the canopy and the now diving glider. The Axel pilot looked like an astronaut on a spacewalk....but the funny thing was the crowd reaction!

The TOC was well attended event a with a few thousand spectators, who let out a simultaneous gasp when Axel ejected.....the whole time he fell, the crowd made sounds as if they were at an airshow watching a parachutist who was obviously in trouble, falling to an untimely death. It all culminated with a loud moan when the pilot hit the ground. We all cracked up when that happened and still do every time we retell the story

Pete

[Steve P]

Replace all divots

[Snatch]

"I thought UP was UP"

[Xroadie]

I was flying on instruments!

[ARUP]

C'mon, Al C.... put yours on here!

[Asher Carmichael]

"Yes, I know I landed inverted and the operative word is landed because you'll have to admit the damage was minimal considering both stabs blew off at altitude!"

[Tom]

"Yes, I know I landed inverted and the operative word is landed because you'll have to admit the damage was minimal considering both stabs blew off at altitude!"

I remember that........

[Asher Carmichael]

Can I get a witness.......good times, Tom.

[Tom]

Yes you can! Was quick thinking on your part......roll it on its back and use the flaps as defacto elevators.......and your not kidding with the few scratches......other then the missing stabs the plane looked just fine!

[Xroadie]

"He can fly both Mode 1 and Mode 2....He's amphibious!"

[Celuft]

Just trying to land on the ceiling

[BobM]

Threading the Needle.........a memory from Delaware a few years or so back

(I think I had Len and Tom a bit nervous on that landing as I remember correctly)

[Tom]

Threading the Needle.........a memory from Delaware a few years or so back

(I think I had Len and Tom a bit nervous on that landing as I remember correctly)

We had confidence in you! Right up the middle! Somewhere there are pictures......