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Mick told me that he spent most of the day flying on Sunday. In my case, after spending all day moving someone on Saturday, and all night Saturday evening at a wedding, I wasn't in the mood to get up early on Sunday. But, I've recently come back to the pleasures of evening flying, and I decided to do so late Sunday afternoon.

I got to Clow at around 5:00, I think. As I opened my hangar doors, I heard a light plane overhead and saw Mick coming back from his all-day flying adventure. We chatted briefly, and I then I took off, headed vaguely in the direction of Cushing. After about 45 minutes of meandering I started circling Cushing, watching John the Gyro guy; the Weedhopper guy; Larry; and the hang glider and Kolb tug operations.

I put down to see what was up and ended up talking to a guy named "Joe" who has the Kolb 2-place with the hang glider advertisement on the underside of his wings. I said that it was too nice to sit on the ground. Joe said that he had never been to Clow, and wanted to know if he could head back with me. I said "sure," but that it was too nice to head back just yet. So, he and I took off and wandered around Southwest for a while, eventually landing at Prairie Lakes. Then we worked our way back Northeast, dropping to 50 feet more often than not, and landing at Clow perhaps 7:45 or so.

I forgot just how nice the last several hours of the day can be. Warm, but not too hot. No thermals. No wind. Just wonderful flying!

From: Kevin Bertorelli

Sent: Monday, July 14, 2003 10:42 PM

Subject: RE: FLYING

Jim,

I made it out on Saturday. Yeah, in fact you took off without me, remember? I met up with Bill, Brad and Paul when they just leaving Cushing. I didn’t hear a peep out of you and Mick on the radio till later in the afternoon. Saturday was one fine flying day. The picture below was taken at Joe’s house. Did you get all of you nav stuff working again or are you still using a map?

Sunday was a another great day of flying. Saturday, Rich and I talked about going to breakfast so we met up about 10 over at Morris. It was nice because now you can eat outside. We joined up with Bill Rehfelt from EAA (used to own a Navion and now has a 152) and sat discussing rumours at Clow. Rich found a guy who said he had a series 4 Kitfox and talked him into a ride because it is a plane Rich is considering. Well it turned out it was the same as what Bruce has but he went up anyway. Not to be left on the ground, I took the guy's wife up. We will run into them at Oshkosh.

We decided to head over to Jack's out by Dixon to see progress on his B-17 but knew Don was looking to fly so stopped at Cushing first. Lots of activity and after about an hour we headed for Jack's. Jack has gotten a lot done since I was there last. He has gotten the retractable gear mounted (I think from a Piper) and got the engine mounts in place. He plans on putting that engine (4!) on that Mark Berle built. Thunder gave us a rude interruption and we all beat-foot for our planes and tried to outrun the empending thunderstorm. We all made it without problem (other than Rich's radio batteries dying- blessed silence). Just another beautiful day of buddies and flying. The visibility wasn't as spectacular as Saturday but the winds were light and variable with smooth air and maybe only 35 miles visibility. My new heater valve worked perfectly.

By the way, Ricky and I flew out to Cushing Wednesday evening. It was the most fantastic conditions for flying I've experienced this year and probably one of the best conditions I've EVER experienced.

The air was glass-smooth. Not a bump in the sky. I was flying at 200 ft with my hands off of the controls and just hanging over the side and looking at all the scenery. Visibility was unlimited. It turned out I couldn't see downtown Chicago from over Cushing, but I tried, it was that clear. It was sunny but there were big patches of high clouds so you transitioned from sunny areas to shaded areas. The temps were in the mid 70's so the air felt like it was air-conditioned. I don't know what the exact atmospheric conditions were but my plane never performed so well before. I usually cruise at about 4300 rpm to maintain 75 mph but I was down at 4100 (with my engine, thats a big difference) and zipping along in the high 70's. I couldn't ever hear the engine! Flying was completely effortless! Man it was fantastic! I wish I could have flown forever.

MISSED A GOOD FLY IN. THERE WERE ABOUT 150 PLANES THERE AT ANY ONE TIME. IT WAS AS BUSY AS OSHKOSH. THEY WERE USING 2 RUNWAYS. ABOUT 2000 PEOPLE LOOKING AT PLANES!

Where to now?

Home

Oshkosh or Bust!

Grandpa's Farm

Quick Trip to Belvidere

Tommy George's

Chicago Air and Water Show

Around the Patch

A Trans-Atlantic Flight!

The Officers