Hot and Windy Summer Flying

It also featured some good sized storms, winds and even the occasional baseball sized hail stone. As you can imagine the weather affected the turn out for our scheduled flying activities.

On July 8th, the wind in Rapid was brisk -- SD code for 10-20 mph. Three of us showed up at the field for the float fly anyway: Ken Gatzke, Bob Olson and I. Surprisingly, the winds at the field were light and variable, much less than they were in town. Ken Gatzke had his new Sea Monster flying boat along and we decided to head for Curlew Lake, even though the group was kind of small for boat operations. The waves and wind on the lake were just about right for float flying. The ripples were enough to help get on step and yet not so strong that you couldn’t taxi downwind.

We each put in several flights. I loosened a float spreader bar on my first landing and if it had not been for Bob Olson’s rubber band supply, my day would have been cut short. We jury- rigged a repair that worked quite well keeping the floats together and proceeded. Ken Gatzke’s new Sea Monster had its maiden flight and then some. Powered by an OS .46, that airplane practically launched itself from the water and provided more than spirited performance. Ken was doing Lomchevaks in between touch-and-gos on his second flight. That plane seems to be a real winner. If you are in the market for a new floater, I would give some serious consideration to the Sea Monster. An added bonus is that it is even cheaper than the Seamaster that many of our members have.

On August 4th, we had a fun fly at Propbuster Field. On this Sunday, it looked like low clouds would spoil the fun. When I arrived at the field, Ben Roller said Zac Roller had been flying in and out of the cloud with his Sky Racer. That meant the ceiling was a little over 100 feet above runway level.

By the time I got my Cub put together, Darrell Cassidy and Ken Corrin had arrived. The low clouds steadily as the morning went on and it turned into a great morning of flying. Darrell put several flights on his ‘ol standby, the Cherokee, and Ken Corrin flew his little Mustang. Ben Roller had a new LA Racer that Zac had given him, but allowed that the gift was with the proviso that Zac could use it as a backup in the event of an unfortunate event with his.

Both this morning events looked like they were in the dumper, but with a little patience and perserverance, we were able to have some fun in spite of nature’s unpredictability. I guess the moral is, you just have to get out there and let the weather do what its going to do. After all, we should be used to this living here in the great state of South Dakota.