I'm glad Steve is okay. He's not the first to lose a KR with crosswinds at high altitude runways. There was a fellow from Texas coming back from Oshkosh who wrecked one at St. Johns, AZ (5600 ft.) coming home. His was on takeoff and I've learned taking off can be more dangerous than landing at higher altitudes. Heavy with a fresh load of fuel, taking off at Trinidad one very windy afternoon, strong gusty wind directly cross, I got picked up and literally blown off the runway. I was barely able to stay afloat using ground effect and gradually, very gradually, was able to build some speed and climb out of it. Had there been a tree or building along the runway Ken Cottle's nice plane would have been toast. So I really make an effort to hold the plane down until it's ready to fly when confronted with that circumstance. I took that lesson to heart as I've seldom felt more helpless or vulnerable in an airplane as I did that windy afternoon at Trinidad.
Landing . . . winds can get anyone. Sparky lost his original KR landing here at KSEE when a dust devil caught him. He hit the rudder pedal, the pedal bar broke (it was the original flimsy tubing called for in the plans), and he and his KR went for a ride that didn't end well. Sparky didn't get hurt. It's amazing how many times a KR winds up a pile of wood and fiberglass and the pilot walks off. I'm leaving KSEE this morning (Wednesday) at 3 AM. I'll get fuel at St. Johns and a couple other stops and be at Mt. Vernon tonight. My oxygen bottle is full and winds are on the tail all the way (or so the charts say . . . they're often wrong) so although I'm more interested in coffee than root beer I plan to bring Ken's KR-1.5 to the Gathering. There's rumor that Ken himself might make this one. Mike KSEE ____________________________________________________________ Fast, Secure, NetZero 4G Mobile Broadband. Try it. http://www.netzero.net/?refcd=NZINTISP0512T4GOUT2
