ground loop and the perfect evening
ground loop and the perfect evening
Yep that's right, started off what was to be a perfect evening by ground looping Aurora on RY27 in HLN. but now the good news. no harm was done and the evening progressed as planned.
OK I guess I should start at the beginning. Kris had to work Friday until 4 in Helena and had to be at another job at noon on Saturday. I had to work part day friday and saturday afternoon also. I got someone to cover my on-call hours and dashed out at noon. Dogs to the sitter, I'm running late but load the plane and blast off for Helena. 15minutes later I'm cleared to land 27, no delay, inbound traffic for RY9'r. got there made a sweet landing even short. rolling out I didn't notice anything, but when I turned on Taxiway Echo. I wasn't paying attention and my normally very responsive rocket link tailwheel was in full swivel mode. I was doing maybe 5mph, full rudder deflection, but not enough brake (right foot not fully on the brake) so ended up doing a 360. Nothing other than spinning around, was actually kinda fun. Pulled up to my old FBO where I was picking up Kris, she wasn't there yet. I borrowed a wrench and a bench. Pulled the tailwheel and cleaned the detent pin. Whew easy fix and back together as Kris drives up.
OK I guess I should start at the beginning. Kris had to work Friday until 4 in Helena and had to be at another job at noon on Saturday. I had to work part day friday and saturday afternoon also. I got someone to cover my on-call hours and dashed out at noon. Dogs to the sitter, I'm running late but load the plane and blast off for Helena. 15minutes later I'm cleared to land 27, no delay, inbound traffic for RY9'r. got there made a sweet landing even short. rolling out I didn't notice anything, but when I turned on Taxiway Echo. I wasn't paying attention and my normally very responsive rocket link tailwheel was in full swivel mode. I was doing maybe 5mph, full rudder deflection, but not enough brake (right foot not fully on the brake) so ended up doing a 360. Nothing other than spinning around, was actually kinda fun. Pulled up to my old FBO where I was picking up Kris, she wasn't there yet. I borrowed a wrench and a bench. Pulled the tailwheel and cleaned the detent pin. Whew easy fix and back together as Kris drives up.
Brian
Townsend, MT
Townsend, MT
- Joe Parish
- Class D
- Posts: 311
- Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:42 pm
- Location: Sioux Falls SD
Of course that has never happened before! haha I have a whopping six hours in tailwheel and have already experienced a ground loop. The funny thing is I asked my instructor if he (with 14000 hours tailwheel time) has ever let a student ground loop? He thought about it for quite awhile and said not that he could remember. We were working on three pointers when I let it get away from me and he couldn't save it. No damage done, we kept it on the runway. Very interesting experience!
Joe
N525XC reserved
Empennage done
wings done
Fuse in progress
RV-9A
N525XC reserved
Empennage done
wings done
Fuse in progress
RV-9A
Part II
All good, so Kris and I launched for Polson(8s1). 45minutes and a bumpy ride later we were tying down. My friend Neil had gotten here earlier and already had the keys to our room. Dropped our bags and we walked along the waterfront to an excellent Mexican dinner. Flathead lake was like glass. Later we wandered around and found huckleberry ice cream with our name on it. Neil headed to his room, but Kris and I were enjoying the evening so we sat out on the pier until well after dark.
almost full moon, warm air and dark lake, we didn't want it to end.
Next morning was the the Polson Fly-in. There was about 60 planes, 5 RV's. Lots of taildraggers and float planes
Bad news, we both had to get back for work. Lots of smoky haze from the fires we even went to 11500, no joy. 0.6hrs later I landed at HLN, dropped off Kris in plenty of time for her shift. I headed for Townsend for my slave work.
Amazing little machines. In a 20hr time period, we left our work behind, had a romantic getaway, met some nice airplane people and back. Driving would have taken almost 3.5hrs each way and we wouldn't have even thought about doing it.
Refreshed to say the least! YMMV
almost full moon, warm air and dark lake, we didn't want it to end.
Next morning was the the Polson Fly-in. There was about 60 planes, 5 RV's. Lots of taildraggers and float planes
Bad news, we both had to get back for work. Lots of smoky haze from the fires we even went to 11500, no joy. 0.6hrs later I landed at HLN, dropped off Kris in plenty of time for her shift. I headed for Townsend for my slave work.
Amazing little machines. In a 20hr time period, we left our work behind, had a romantic getaway, met some nice airplane people and back. Driving would have taken almost 3.5hrs each way and we wouldn't have even thought about doing it.
Refreshed to say the least! YMMV
Brian
Townsend, MT
Townsend, MT
-
- Chief Rivet Banger
- Posts: 4013
- Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 8:40 pm
- Location: Baltimore, MD
- Contact:
Sounds like a very cool experience (not the ground loop). Keep the stories coming
- Spike
- Spike
http://www.rivetbangers.com - Now integrating web and mail!
Current Build: 2 years into a beautiful little girl
Current Build: 2 years into a beautiful little girl
- captain_john
- Sparky
- Posts: 5880
- Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 9:17 am
- Location: KPYM
Nice "E" Ticket ride! Tell me, do you put "ground loop" in the logbook? I would! May as well!
All is well that ends well, Brian.
Glad everything turned out ok for you!
Could have been much worse.
CJ
All is well that ends well, Brian.
Glad everything turned out ok for you!
Could have been much worse.
CJ
RV-7
Garmin G3X with VP-X & a TMX-IO-360 with G3i
It's all over but the flying! 800+ hours in only 3 years!
Garmin G3X with VP-X & a TMX-IO-360 with G3i
It's all over but the flying! 800+ hours in only 3 years!