Just a great weekend for Flying - What are ya'll doin?

[Jim C]

Well now, it was a beautiful morning and the first weekend morning to
be just goregeous in this neck of the woods for a few weeks now. For
us weekend warriors this was a relief and a rush of excitement.
There were some nice weekday weather patterns but the weekend weather
gods had just not been smiling favorably on us in this neck of the
woods until this weekend, and boy did they make up for it.

I was up to the airport very early - @ 7:30 am; however, the plane
had less gas than I thought so had to take a little side trip and
waste a little time to get gas, then discovered one of the mufflers
was loose, so had to tighten it up, and then finally in the air a bit
before 9:00 am. The air was smooth and it was gorgeous out. Made a
call to Redbird, and got no answer, then heard several others up in
the air. Bluebird and Yellow Jacket were heading to Marianna, then
up to the Flying C to the west of Columbus, and Firehawk was on his
way to Donaldsonville, then over to Sydney Gainfy's field to instruct
a new to UL pilot who had just bought a Chinook with a 912. I
decided to meet Firehawk at Donaldsonville, and headed that way.
Then Redbird got in the air and called out to me on the radio and
said he was heading to Moultrie for our local Chapter Club meeting.
I couldn't see sitting in a meeting on a beautiful morning like this,
especially when there hadn't been that many lately, so decided to
meet Firehawk at Donaldsonville. After which we then proceeded over
to Sydney's. It was my first time going into his strip and he has a
very nice grass strip and fairly smooth. His friend had the Chinook
and the two of them met Firehawk and I when we landed. After a
little jawing on the ground, Firehawk and his student took off in the
Chinook. A little while later, I took off and headed back toward
Thomasville. Redbird was back in the air and informed me they were
putting up a hangar at a friend's. I had totally forgotten about
that so veered toward another field I had never been to with the
intention of landing there. It was a bit after lunch and the
thermals and wind had started to come up pretty good. When I got
there Redbird had just landed. I made about 3 passes, but I ended up
chickening out since it had turned a bit rough and gusty and I was
staying a little fast. I was not comfortable with my approaches and
didn't like the idea of landing long on a short strip over power
lines and trees, so I headed back home from there. Of course now
everyone knows what the "C" stands for in C-Gull.

The next morning was just as beautiful. I was in the air by 7:30 am
this time and it was hands off and leaning forward, backward, left
and right to control the plane in smooth air and turns. I decided to
try and wake up a couple of friends about 135 miles away (Bluebird
and Yellow Jacket). About 11 miles from Eufaula, I heard them in the
air with White Lightning - I just love all these handles - don't
you. Guess they weren't missing this beautiful weather either. We
met at Eufaula, and then another 4 flyers came in. All in all there
were about 8 of us. We headed south to Walden field, a private strip
owned by one of the flyers in this motley group. Lost my radio along
the way. A couple of the leads came disconnected. Got those back
together again, and three of us were off again over to Grand Ridge
(in Florida) where we met up with another buddy flying in to meet us -
We all ate a a greasy spoon called Blondie's - they actually have
pretty good food there. From here, we dispersed a little - I headed
back toward home, and the others toward Panama City.

Now we hadn't planned on any of this. We were up in the air, all on
the radio and just talking and kind of just planned to meet and made
deicisions while talking on the radio. We had not heard from our
friend Firehawk, since I had left him yesterday, so I told the gang I
would check out the field where I had left him on the way home. Sure
enough, he was there. He had stayed there overnight and had spent
the last couple days giving instructions to two new UL types. I let
the rest of the gang know he was alright and landed. Spoke a little
more bull for a while and off into the wild blue yonder. It was wild
as the wind and turbulence finally came up (about 2:00 pm now). It
wasn't really too bad, just annoying as I made my way home.

Overall, a good couple of days flying. Nothing really fancy, just
impromptu going wherever with a bunch of friends from all over the
southwest GA, southeast AL and north FL panhandle as we figured out
what was what by radio after we were all in the air all going
different directions. It just worked out and it turned out to be fun.

Got in 6.6 hours of flying, 460 miles of coverage, used 13.7 gal of
fuel (thats 33.6 mpg and 2.1 gph) - sorry Ron couldn't help it. But
best of all, I still don't have that leak on the HKS anymore.

Jim C

[Ron]

Dear Jim C (yes, I know what the 'C' stands for LOL!
Especially when you keep bragging about your mileage.

Well, I have run out of hangar space (have an RV-6A
and a WW-l replica fighter, Nieuport-ll) so have decided
to get myself a Kitfox with folding wings. It only takes a
bout 5-minutes to set it up, and it slips nicely into a
corner of my hangar. Therefore, I have decided to sell
my sweet Thunder Gull-J. If you should have any friends
looking for a very nice plane, please send them my way.
I can send info and pictures to anyone interested, but prefer
to keep the lookers on the west end of this great country.

Here is an ad I have on the web. It pretty much tells the tale.

Thanks for any help you or others may offer,

Ron Carroll
Ron.Carroll@a...
503-838-1195


My ad:

Because I've already bought another plane, the time has come to sell this
plane, and I will make someone a good buy on it.

It is a 1997 Thunder Gull-J (single place) with only 260 hours TT on A&E.
Condition is near perfect inside & out.

Options include a Rotax 503 DCDI with altitude compensating carbs,
Cermachrome exhaust with after muffler, Oil injection, C-gearbox w/3:1
gears, IVO ground adjustable 3-blade prop, 24' all metal wing with dual
strobes, landing light, new tires & tubes, EIS instruments with fuel level,
magnetic compass, ASI, VSI, altimeter, panel mount comm radio w/PTT on
stick, Garmin GPS, deluxe upholstery, 10 gallon fuel tank (outside filler).

This is the finest ultralight type plane made, with a cruise speed of 90 MPH
@ 6000 RPM (easy cruise of 55 MPH @ 4000 RPM, burning slightly over 2 GPH).
Stall is 40 w/power off, and no stall with power on. Climb with 220# pilot
is 1200 FPM.

Great performance and good looks. Asking price reduced to $16,000 /
offer/trade.

Located near Salem, Oregon.

Contact Ron at 503-838-1195
Ron.Carroll@a...



BOO! Hissssssss . . . .


Got in 6.6 hours of flying, 460 miles of coverage, used 13.7 gal of
fuel (thats 33.6 mpg and 2.1 gph) - sorry Ron couldn't help it. But
best of all, I still don't have that leak on the HKS anymore.

Jim C

[Jim C]

Sorry to hear you finally decided to sell the TG-J, but I know what
you mean about the hangar space. Already having an RV-6A and
Nieuport probably make it a little easier. I have a friend with a
Kitfox and he likes it. Don't think he has folding wings though.
Either way, it seems you have enough toys to have a little fun. Take
care.

Jim