Rich, That was a great story, and some great flying. Keep it up... and say Hi to Richard for me.
Lee Van Dyke ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rich Seifert" <rseif...@socal.rr.com> To: "KRnet" <kr...@mylist.net> Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 8:44 PM Subject: KR> Tough Old Bird > Hi Netters, > I just thought you might like to hear a testimonial on the KR-2. > January 1, 2007: I joined Rich Shirley for a flight from our home base at > Corona Airport up to California City Airport. CA. City airport is about > 90 miles North and out in the high desert. We were to meet several other > members of his EAA Chapter for New Years breakfast; an annual tradition. > The weather was cool and clear once the ground fog burned off at Corona. > Our 9:00 AM takeoff was uneventful and both KR's climbed like homesick > angels until we reached our cruising altitude of 7500". As we climbed out > we experienced some buffetting, but nothing serious. We headed out of the > LA basin through the Cajon Pass where it is usually gets a little rough, > but still nothing too serious. Santa Ana winds were forecast and on the > other side of the mountains we started picking them up. They were blowing > up the rising terrain of the mountains and were mildly turbulent. We were > getting about 300 to 500 FPM free elevator ride so we just pointed the > nose down with trim and were cruising along at 165 MPH indicated. > INDICATED! Ground speed was down around 120 mph. By the half way point we > were at 8500" and bumpy but nothing serious. Just too much for formation > flight. As we began to let down West of Edwards AFB things smoothed out > again and we sailed into CA. City airport where everything was calm for a > landing. We had a great breakfast and BS'd for about two hours. As we > broke up and all headed out it was still very calm for take off. We > quickly were back at 7500" for the trip home. It was still bumpy at > altitude and we were still picking up the the 300 -500 fpm rising Santa > Ana wind but this time we were sailing along at over 200 mph ground speed, > Back at the pass with no problems but as we crossed over Pomona we started > picking up some serious stuff. The rate of climb began searching for the > peg in both directions. It finally pegged at 2000"fpm in both directions > at almost the same time. Then we hit something way off the scale. > Everything: 2 hand held radios, my hand held GPS, a small metal tool box, > and a headset bag full of gear, along with one KR pilot hit the top of the > canopy with a thud. The gear up-lock tripped and the gear partially > extended which wasn't a bad thing as It started slowing the KR down > immediately. When I figured out which way was up; I went ahead and locked > the gear in the down position and started letting down near Chino airport. > As we passed over the Chino airspace we started letting down in earnest > from the 6000" to 2000" preparing to enter Corona pattern for runway 7. > Corona is a great airport. It has cheap gas, It is usually the first > to clear and the last to cloud over. It does have tall trees on the North > side of the runway which can cause a severe down-draft when touching down > during a Santa Ana wind but I've landed here in these Santa Ana conditions > many times. So No Fear.. Right?... > As I entered the 45 from the south I had to crab at 45 degrees to the 45 > which means I'm pointed directly at the runway all the way in to down-wind > leg. I turned down-wind and with the wind behind me was at base leg > almost immediately. Confidence starting to wane I started Base at almost > a 45 degree crab and was soon ready for final. I dropped the bellyboard > to my standard mid-position but maintained power trying to get to the > runway. Halfway down final Ithe KR stopped in mid-air as it was hit by a > very strong gust. That was very unsettling so I reduced the bellyboard > setting to first position and we started gaining on the runway again. > Getting close to the runway I noticed that each of the four wind socks was > pointed straight out in a completely different direction and they were > changing directions by the second. As we entered the dreaded downdraft of > runway 7, I heaved back on the stick and the KR settled firmly on the > runway without a bounce ( well.. maybe a small one). We coasted to the > center turnoff witout braking because with those wind socks I was afraid > to take my feet off the rudder pedals. I looked over and saw the > professional Corona CFI & Test Pilot just shake his head and walk away. > Rich landed right behind me and we were soon trying to hold our KRs down > while filling the fuel tanks. The wind got to Rich's KR1 and tried to flip > it over once as we carefully walked them to the hanger, while hanging on > to the tail feathers. It wasn't until we were in the hanger with the > doors closed that we finally quit flying. ATIS said we had 45 degree > crosswinds of 20 mph with gusts of 38 mph. N56SR is 23 years old now, > it's one tough old bird, and it always gets me home. > _______________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp > to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@mylist.net > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html > > >
