Front Royal Airport Airshow Saturday 9/11

[XCanytime]

There is an airshow at the Front Royal Airport this Saturday. Dan Tuckwiller and I will be doing a static display at the airshow, at the request of the airport manager Reggie Cassignol. See www.virginiaairshow.com. Bacil

[DanTuck]

It was a beautiful day yesterday at the airshow. Sunshine, a light breeze, temps in the low 80's. The Flying Circus was there which was quite entertaining. There was also an aerobatics show which was pretty sweet. Bacil and I handed out flyers and while I doubt we got any new students, we probably sold a few tandems for Highland. lol. But it was a fun day anyway, right up until a dust devil came out of nowhere and turtled my glider. And since we were on the tarmac, there was no dust and no warning. I was actually sitting on my bastube when it came and started to lift the keel off the ground. I felt the forces building so I jumped up and grabbed the nose wires hoping to fly it like a kite while the freak gust passed. But it was swirling and the left wing got lifted off the ground really fast. I tried to hold on to the wires but when I started to get lifted off the ground, I let go. It flipped over and started to get dragged back towards the airplanes behind us. Meanwhile Bacil's glider started getting rotated but luckily he had someone standing there to grab one wing while he had the other. They danced around with it a full 180 degrees before they got it back under control. As soon as my feet hit the ground after being lifted, I wrapped my arm around the right flying wire because I really didn't want it to slam into one the planes. That would've been expensive! I managed to hold it from getting dragged any further but I have a nice little wire burn on my arm for my efforts. The devil was gone as soon as it came, this all happened in just a couple seconds. And of course, it was all on the asphalt so I also got a scuffed leading edge and a hole in my nose cone from being dragged. But I think that is all of the damage, it could have been worse. Needless to say, we packed it up after that. So, all in all a fun day, albeit a bit of an expensive one.

[DanTuck]

The Flying Circus

[mcelrah]

Thanks, guys, for representin'. Bummer about the road rash on your leading edge and nose cone! I was out there as the duty officer for the sailplane club, seated a few feet away, and didn't even know it had happened until we spoke while you were packing up. Lot of responding to orders to re-park airplanes, only to have them countermanded and move them again, but all-in-all a nice day. - Hugh