AMPS at LAFA 2004 Fly-In

By Wally Crichton

Here we see some of the Ultralights lined up in front of the spectator area.

Every year the Light Aircraft Flyers Association’s (LAFA) members supports our AeroFest by landing their aircraft at our field, letting spectators view their planes up close and doing our candy drop. This year they asked if we would support their annual fly-In, which is held at Homestead General Airport. In past years they’ve held it on 4th of July weekends and that’s when we celebrate our flying field’s Birthday. As a result, we haven't been available to help them. This year they moved their event to November 6th and 7th, which gave us a chance to participate.

In their pre-event planning the LAFA guys forgot to notify us until the last minute. When they did, we had to scurry to find AMP’S members who were willing to participate. Fortunately the response was better than anticipated.

In addition to a static model display, we were asked to put on a 30 minute flying demonstration each day. Usually, we have guys clamoring for a chance to show off their flying skills, but this time I had a hard time getting volunteers. As a result, I had to press myself into service and that’s scrapping the bottom of the barrel!

On Friday, before the event, we had a cold front come through, which was nice because it cooled things down. However, when this happens, the wind always blows hard from the north and sure enough, we fought strong crosswinds all weekend. The grass runway had been neatly mowed (to about 4 inches tall), but was oriented for easterly winds.  Crosswind take-offs and landings didn’t bother the ultralights, but it sure raised cane with our models.

This is two of Nick Capone’s big warbirds. Front is his 1/5th Scale AM-1 Skyraider and in the background is his JU-87B Stuka Dive-Bomber.

When I arrived at the field Saturday morning, several members were already there with a nice assortment of planes. A short time later, Nick Capone arrived with his big tent, which we quickly set up. In no time we had the area under the tent filled with planes and they covered the area around the tent as well. Nick brought three of his big war birds, which were a real hit with the spectators. Butch Wenrich brought several planes, one of which was a semi-scale model of the Space Shuttle. Butch has it powered with a pusher engine, but has not flown it yet. It should be interesting to see this one fly. Vicar Hernandez brought his Pilatus Porter, which he calls “COQUI” after the little Puerto Rican frog. Tom Caldwell and I had our quarter scale Cubs and there was an array of other planes. We had a really nice static display, which drew many question and complements from the spectators.

Shortly before noon, the LAFA ground controller informed us our flight demonstration would take place right after the Precision Parachute Team landed and cleared the runway. We had decided, Tom Caldwell would start the show with his Cub, and then Nick Capone would fly his big P-47 Thunderbolt. It would end with me flying my Cub.

We already had our planes prepped, so when the last skydiver left the field we carried our planes to the runway. Tom fired up his Cub and with minimal difficulty took off from the soft spongy grass. He put on a nice demonstration with lots of slow flight, low level passes, loops and rolls… all those things the big ‘ole gentle Cub does best. In the background we could hear Earl Smith giving running commentary about AMPS and our demonstration over the PA system. Normally that would be my job, but I was flying, so Earl volunteered.

From left to right is, Vicar Hernandez, Charlie Driggers, Tom Caldwell and Butch Wenrich. Many good stories were told here in the shade of Nick Capone’s big tent.

 Next up was Nick with his P-47. Even with 6-inch wheels the plane had difficulty taxiing. Nick had his assistant hold the plane while he applied full power and then signaled for the release. The Thunderbolt lumbered down the field slowly gaining speed...  fighting to become airborne. Nearing the end of the runway, Nick hauled her off and for a moment it looked like a stall was immanent, but the big gas engine, bellowing loudly, drug the plane into the air. What a show Nick put on… strafing runs with victory rolls, loops, even a high-speed inverted low pass. We all enjoyed the flight very much, but we knew the landing was going to separate the men from the boys. The crosswind was strong, the runway seemed much too short and the grass acted like glue, clutching at everything under the airplane. Finally, Nick called for the landing and we all watched as he made a long slow approach. The Thunderbolt crabbed awkwardly as Nick tried to keep it from drifting off the runway. At the last moment, rudder brought the nose around and the plane touched down in the long grass. As feared, there was almost no rollout and the big plane flipped over onto its back. Fortunately, there was only minimal damage to one landing gear. What a relief!!!

Next, it was my turn, but when I hooked up my starting battery the amp meter didn’t come off zero. Somehow the glow plug burned out and, with a cowled engine, there was no time to change it. I had to gather my things and walk back to the tent without having done my part.

Most of the members who came out Saturday were not able to attend Sunday. Fortunately, Other members were. Bill Bishop brought his big yellow Extra 300 and Mike Laughlin had his smaller, but beautifully detailed Extra. Sergio Schinoff was present with his U-Can-Do 60. Other members with their planes were Charlie Driggers, Bob Cox, Louis Alvarinas and Butch Wenrich. Charlie and Butch had also been there Saturday.

Here are some of the members who attended on Sunday. From left to right is, Butch Wenrich, Bob Cox and Charlie Driggers

Again, our demonstration was scheduled right after the sky diving event. We had decided that Sergio Schinoff would fly first, Bill Bishop, second and I would again fly last. Mike Laughlin volunteered to man the PA system and give “colorful” commentary while we flew.

When the runway was clear we carried our planes out and, upon receiving clearance from the Airport Manager, Sergio launched his plane. The U-Can-Do 60 is an aircraft capable of doing all the 3D maneuvers and Sergio is a pilot capable of executing them. His show was impressive, even in the strong crosswinds. He did standard aerobatics as well as 3D maneuvers including avalanches and hovering. His landing was cross-runway and he was flying so slowly, at touch down, that the plane didn’t flip over.

Next it was Bill’s turn and he put his big Extra through many of the standard IMAC maneuvers. At one point he did one of the best lomcevaks I’ve ever seen done by a model. The Extra actually ended the maneuver sliding horizontally backwards. I’ve seen the full size aircraft do this, but never (until now) a model. Before the flight Bill had voiced his concern about landing in the soft grass, so he set up his approach to land cross-runway. This would give him the slowest ground speed, but it put him landing toward the spectators. To compensate he set his approach low and well downwind, but got too slow and the plane landed in the taller grass. As a result, the main landing gear was torn off causing major damage to the fuselage and some minor damage to the underside of the wing. One wheel pant was badly torn also.

This is the static display area on Sunday. Bill Bishop brought the pop-up tent and most of us sat in there while the airplanes endured the sun.

Now it was my turn! I had installed a new glow plug the night before and had checked; rechecked and then checked again to make sure it was still good. I hooked up the glow power and noted, with relief, that the meter was showing 3.5 amps. A little bump of the starter motor and the 1.20 four stroke came to life. Bob Cox, my pitman, asked if I wanted him to hold the plane for a full power take-off or did I want to try to taxi out. I decided to try the later, so I signaled for a release. With a little coaxing from the throttle and liberal amounts of up elevator I was able to taxi out, make a hard left turn, accelerate and then watch as the Cub smoothly lifted off. I was so nervous I don’t remember many details about the flight. I know I did some slow and fast passes, wing wags, lazy eights, wingovers and hammerheads. I could hear Mike talking on the PA, so I just kind of tailored my flight to what he was saying. Like everyone else I was concerned about landing, but I was also determined to keep the plane on its wheels. I heard Mike say, “He should be landing soon”, so I set up to do just that. My plan was to execute a carrier approach, thereby allowing me to cross the end of the runway at an angle to compensate for drift. I figured I could just land catty-cornered and not have to use any rudder. All was working pretty much as planned until I ran out of elevator about 18 inches over the runway. The big Cub mushed in and promptly flipped over onto its back. So much for being determined.

We had planned only three flights, but Sergio brought a sleek delta winged fighter jet and wanted to fly it. It was powered by a conventional front mounted two-stroke engine and had tricycle landing gear with only 2-inch wheels. Everyone except Sergio was convinced the plane could not be flown out of that grass! To our surprise, it powered out without much trouble. By the time I carried my stuff back to the static display area, Sergio had already landed. He later told me the plane had not performed well in the heavy winds.

Here’s Vicar Hernandez’s Pilatus Porter with the graphics portraying the Puerto Rican frog, “COQUI”.

The Airport Manager was on the field both days when we were flying and seemed to enjoy watching the models very much. He later came by our display area and asked if we would be willing to fly at an air show he was planning for next year. We said we would, but preferred to fly from a hard surface. He said he would make sure we had a taxiway or runway to fly from. We assured him we would be there with “bells on”.

By reading this, one could get the impression that AMPS was the whole show. That’s certainly not true. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the ultralights doing their thing. To us, they were just like oversized model airplanes that you could fly from inside rather than standing on the ground. Mostly the guys did high-speed fly-bys, but did have some formal contests. One was to fly a closed course, landing at a remote field and taking a picture to prove they were there, and then completing the course in the shortest time. Another was to drop sand bags on a toy boat located in the middle of the runway. They were given three passes, dropping one sandbag per pass, and were scored on how close they came. I think some of the pilots were complaining they couldn’t see the boat, so one of the judges finally walked out and stood over it. No one even got close to him.

All in all we had a good time. It was nice not having any duties, so we could just set back, shoot the breeze and watch the show. If you missed the event, I can highly recommend it. It’s a lot like watching our model planes because all the action takes place right in front of you. Why don’t you plan to attend next year?