Off topic: powered flight - trike ferry flight

[mcelrah]

My trike partner Steve and I left his house at 0600 arriving at Buffalo Ridge Airpark near
Amherst at 0840. By the time I was gassed and preflighted it was 1000. I skimmed the
runway once to make sure I remembered how, then set out for my first waypoint of Afton,
which would get me through the gap where I-64 crosses the Blue Ridge. Did an enroute
climb to 5500 at trim speed (44mph) but the GPS showed ground speed of 75 - woohoo!
It started spitting rain and I thought I was just too close to the 6000 foot ceiling, so I
pulled in for an enroute descent over Wintergreen resort, showing airspeed of 60 mph and
groundspeed of 95. It was a bit chilly even in many layers topped by a motorcycle suit. As
usual, GPS guided me to within a couple of miles of my planned stopover at Eagle's Nest in
Waynesboro (30 miles from Buffalo Ridge) before I could find the airport visually. Landed
and taxied in to a very interested crowd of sailplane drivers. We hangar flew while waiting
for the rain to end and a big patch of blue to arrive. I helped hook up sailplanes to the tug
while waiting for Steve to arrive in the chase vehicle with the trike trailer - and a burger for
me!

The next leg (43 miles) to Luray was warm and sunny, but I did get cocked up into a 60
degree bank momentarily shortly after leaving Eagle's Nest. It only happened once,
though... I kept it low (1000-1500 AGL) to avoid possible mountain wave from the fast
south wind blowing over the Blue Ridge. (If wave isn't too strong, I would be seeking it out
if I were in my hang-glider...) I was still making 75 over the ground, so always ran away
from Steve in the car. He got stopped for speeding, but the cop let him off - the story
about chasing a friend in a powered hang-glider must have worked. I waited quite awhile
at Luray chatting with an apprentice A&P who was buttoning up a big six-seat single-
engine Piper after a pre-sale inspection.

The last leg to Front Royal was only 20miles/minutes. I appreciated the beautiful
meanders of the East Fork Shenandoah (flying hang-glider at Woodstock makes me
familiar with the other fork's bends). The Front Royal sailplane club was operating.
"Ultralites" share right traffic with unpowered aircraft while powered airplanes make left
traffic. Got to know our hangar neighbors: a Commander and a twin Beech Baron - pretty
fancy neighborhood!

Steve took the trike up after he arrived (he's not signed off for cross-country yet so had to
drive chase the whole way). Wind was dead cross and there was rotor from trees upwind
of the runway. His first landing had two audible chirps - a good sign - but he was
oscillating pretty badly the second time around, got planted by the rotor and took out a
runway light, messing up the right wheel pant. To his credit, he went back up to redeem
himself and had a decent third landing. The chief sailplane instructor said the club has
taken out about 8 lights and that the first one is free... If I got my commercial, I could be
a tug pilot - they must be hard up...

- Hugh McElrath