Loosening Up

[Ironflight]

It was a wonderful week of flying, across half the continent to our mountain hideaway, then every day in the RV and gliders, followed by an interesting return trip to home - about 24 hours of RV?ating in all (half an oil change), plus another seven or eight hours of silent, soaring flight. But wonderful as that is, it was almost all done upright, staid and solid, turns carefully modulated, autopilot handling the boring parts on the long stretches. It?s grand, and illustrates the travelling personality of the RV-8?.but it misses the fun side, the wild and upside-down side ? the part that cuts free and loosens up the soul, that wonderful time before sunset that makes the world right again.

I spent a few days upon my return getting current at work, and preparing for a long stretch of concentrated effort in the world of high tech, touching the Val only once to take Louise to work one morning. More straight and level, but at least there was morning ground fog and strange clouds to admire and fear (just a little). Now, work currency attained via some quality time in ?the box?, a day before the long mission begins, it was time to decompress ? to pull on the airplane and go have some fun!

With Barb McLeod singing about ?Aerobatic Chiropractic? on the MP3 player, I climbed out of the record-setting Houston heat and up, up into the cooler air above the convection layer. It was too hot even for clouds ? the atmosphere panting under the oppression of the sun, crying uncle and laying there, heavy and motionless like a tired dog. No traffic on the radio ? no one wanted to make the drive to their airport and struggle through getting an airplane out and burning their hands on the skin. I had the sky to myself, and as the tempo of the music increased, I pushed over to build up some speed, then pulled straight up into a corkscrewing vertical roll, positive G, spiraling up until the airspeed decayed and I pulled it over and rolled back upright in a weird sort of Immelman. Fifteen hundred more feet of hot air beneath me ? wonderful! Airspeed low, a half roll and a small amount of G pulled me through into a split S, then back up at a forty-five for another half roll and a lazy, low-G inverted parabola back down to a nice speed for the roll upright.

Barb is now singing about her ?Long Spin? (a long song at 10 minutes, inspirational in a way that is hard to describe), and I pull the power back to do a little slow flight until the oil gets too warm. I love playing with the stall, nibbling at it?s edges, rolling in a little and feeling the burble, letting it go so the nose drops and the airplane sneaks a look at a spin. But I am letting the speed build back up, and I turn the motion into a downward vertical roll with a pull at the bottom, enjoying the building rush of air from the vents. The power comes back in as I build back for a finale, the airspeed climbing back up the tape, ready for action.

Nose high, stick over?three rolls complete to the left before the nose gets too low, then I pull back to level, having traded a little of my cool altitude for speed. Then up into a wingover to the right, turning it into a roll at the top, finishing it back out with a down-line timed to take me under the edge of the Class B on the way home. We are once again loose, me and the Val, relaxed and ready to face the coming challenge. Barb is now crooning about ?Mr. Cool? on the radio, and I put the airspeed tape on the edge of the yellow as I dive for home. ?Polly Ranch Traffic, RV Eight Papa Delta entering a left downwind for One One, Full Stop, Polly Ranch??..Vacation is over ? but the fun never ends!

Paul

[DarylT]

Nice update Paul. I was right there with ya with those descriptions.

Thanks for the motivatonal post!

[fstringham7a]

Paul once agian, thanks for the great write up. All as I can say is FUNTASTIC!!!!

At 62 and struggling a bit to get my flying skills in shape so I can get that RV grin after flying my finished 7 for the first time, your fun filled write up at least gave me a vicarious RV grin.

Frank @ 1L8 ...RV7A... ready to fly

[mdevans9]

Great writing Paul. Really enjoyed it, but I've been all over the web trying to find Barb MacLeod's songs with no luck. Did find an interesting YouTube video of her doing a 52 1/2 turn spin in an Aerobat! Any recommendation on where to buy these tunes?

Thanks,

[Ironflight]

Originally Posted by mdevans9

Great writing Paul. Really enjoyed it, but I've been all over the web trying to find Barb MacLeod's songs with no luck. Did find an interesting YouTube video of her doing a 52 1/2 turn spin in an Aerobat! Any recommendation on where to buy these tunes?

Thanks,

I have no idea how to get them anymore either, unfortunately. I found out about her through Louise, who has touched paths with her in the distant past, and had one of Barb's cassettes. Louise tried to get me my own copy, and though she sent Barb a check, we never got a tape. Finally just digitized it and I have it on MP3, but since it is copyrighted, it wouldn't be legal to post them anywhere. Too bad - it is great flying music! (her "protest song" about Bob Hoover is a blast from the past BTW...)

If anyone else knows where to get her tunes (or if any of the Austinites know her!) - please speak up!

[rv9av8tr]

I've found Google links that indicate her music is available at: http://www.geographicrecords.com; But I can't find it. Hopefully somewhere has better search skills than I, then can post the location here.