I decided to start a new thread for my trip report so I wouldn't bog down the main STOL Roundup thread with my personal stuff. I had such a great time, though, that I wanted to let you guys ride along if you are interested.

Just like everyone else, I fretted over the weather for the entire week before leaving. Every day until about 2 days out, it looked like a complete no-go. BTV had invited me to come down early and hang out with him, which gave me a waypoint in Amarillo on the way down to Llano (you don't realize how big Texas really is until you fly the length of it!). Wx didn't allow me to leave any earlier than Thursday, which is ok because it gave me just enough time to get everything done at work. That was a concern on the other side of the trip as well--duty called and I had to be back at my desk on Monday to finish up some big projects. That combination--leaving on Thursday, back by Monday, meant I probably wasn't going to be able to make it if my trusty (but slow) PA-12 was the only steed in my stable. Fortunately, I have better friends than I deserve--friends who will let me borrow their fast airplanes, for instance.

So the plan was set--I would leave from home on Thursday morning, fly across Wyoming to pick up a buddy's RV-4, then down to Amarillo for the evening. On to Llano the next day, Friday, then try to make it all the way home (Llano--Douglas--Home) on Sunday.

Departing Thursday, I was met with the unpleasant sight of snowflakes in the vicinity. I won't say how close they were, or how many, but needless to say it was more snowflakes than I wanted to deal with for very long. My trusty co-pilot, who I appreciate both for her wisdom and her ability to keep quiet, kept looking at me like, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"


Fortunately, as was to become the theme for the entire trip, my perseverance was rewarded and the skies opened up and allowed me to proceed. Here's a pretty red rock formation along the way, and you can see the silver lining out at the edge of the clouds.


After a few hours of flying slow (which I never mind), I got to step into a different world for the weekend commute.


After figuring out how to fly the thing, I jumped up high and picked up a nice tailwind. I'm not embarrassed to admit I was like a tourist the whole time I was flying the RV--I kept taking pictures of the GPS, then another, then another, every time my ground speed inched up another mph! Not the ideal backcountry rig, but man is she FAST. Here I am beginning my descent 100 miles from my destination--which is funny, because 100 miles is often an entire trip in my PA-12.


This what a happy camper looks like, riding on a borrowed magic carpet.


Stopped in Lamar, CO for fuel. That's a lot of cattle.


I know it sounds cheesy, but this is as close as I'll ever get to Top Gun. Flying this plane, I felt like a kid whose imagination was being allowed to run wild.


Landed in Amarillo...at the wrong airport (I knew where I was, but it turned out it wasn't where I was supposed to be ). I'd like to blame BTV for bad directions, but the screw up was pretty much all on me. Where I'm from, we don't have more than one airport in a town. That meant I had to talk to a big control tower more than I've talked to ATC in the last several months (i.e., once going in, then, immediately, once to take back off for a "repositioning flight" a few minutes later to an airport 10 miles away). I'm hoping ATC thought I was just picking something up at the FBO, but I'm pretty sure he knew I was just a clown. When I taxied up next to this guy on the ramp, I realized two things: (1) I'm probably in the wrong damn place; and (2) there's always somebody faster out there!


Once I finally got to the right airport, BTV and Shortfielder met me with the first of only one or two cold beers for the evening. We got the grand tour of the other hangars on BTV's home field, and got to see some incredible gems. Several of the hangars on the field have basements (I didn't even know that was a thing), and one guy is rumored to have quite the wine cellar in his (probably a good thing we didn't have the key to that one). Started off the tour with this beauty--an L4 that saw time in Italy. The guy said he brought it home from OSH one year and had to leave it either 3 or 4 times to get back to work. Finally had some buddies drive their truck along his route while he flew--they outran him on each leg and were waiting for him with fuel every time he had to land! (I'm sure Soy would be happy to talk to you, if anyone wants to volunteer for that gig!)


One hangar after another, the eye candy continued...





In this gorgeous Bird Dog, I found the next upgrade for my Cub. Pretty sure there's not an STC for this, so I'm thinking it's gonna have to be a one-time field approval.


I could have spent a week at this place, just drooling over these birds.


One of several beautiful Stearmans.


The next morning dawned with beautiful blue skies. One of the coolest birds on the field, which I'd never actually gotten to see in person, was the Ryan PT-22. Although the pilot confirmed that it is a handful to fly, the lines on this bird are absolutely beautiful.


The evening before, while getting the grand tour, BTV mentioned there was a new tailwheel pilot who had just recently purchased a PA-12. BTV said the guy was willing to let me fly it to check it out, if I was interested (the owner obviously hasn't heard about my spotty record yet). Never one to say no to a chance to fly a new bird, the owner and I went and wrung this little beauty out for a few hours on Friday morning before I headed out for Llano. It was a lot of fun to get back in a -12 after several hours in the rocket ship the day before, and I managed to get her back to the hangar without bending anything.


Showed up at the airport to pick up the RV, just in time to see Don Johnson loading up into his Citation to fly to the Masters. His plane, and he drives. As for me, this is what freedom looks like.


Had a nice flight to Llano and arrived to find a beautiful Friday afternoon. Couldn't have been any more different from what the weather guessers were predicting just days prior.


Plenty of neat birds there already, and the story telling had already begun when I arrived.


Headed to town for an epic open pit BBQ lunch at Cooper's, rendering myself both overgross and utterly out of weight and balance for the rest of the afternoon.


Went for an evening spin with BTV to check out the Blue Bonnets, which were in full bloom.






One of the local pilots tested out his smoke system Friday evening.


Kevin Eldredge, of Reno fame https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLLG2_ErvJs, showed up in his sleek little RV-8.


Neat PA-12 amphib.


Barnstormer's SQ was looking good.


The owner of Backcountry Super Cubs brought a kit down to deliver it to Shooter, the editor of STOL Magazine.


The Carbon Cub and Bearhawk guys were flying their banners as well, and showed up with some very nice birds.


The paint job in the Grizzly Cub is really something to behold.




Saturday dawned with low ceilings, but not low enough to keep everybody from having fun. Everyone who braved the weather forecasts and got there the day before was rewarded with a really fun day of flying. The entire event was really well organized and well run and I can't say enough about what a great job Jimmy the Air Boss and his crew of volunteers did all day long. Kudos to Phil, Jimmy, and everyone involved for putting on a hell of a good event.


Soy in the J-3. He came a LONG ways from Boulder at 75 mph!


Gary in the Margwagon. As mentioned in the other thread, he plied his fellow competitors with plenty of margaritas on Friday night, giving him a pronounced advantage when it came time for the competition on Saturday! Obviously not this guy's first rodeo.



A neat variety of planes showed up. Cubs, Rans, Maules, Murphy Rebel, Cessnas, Bearhawks, Champ, etc., etc.






Really good crowd turnout too.


The pylons were a HUGE hit--great idea Phil!!!


Here's Goza on his way to a 200' landing, after going over the pylons. Amazing.




A cell phone video of one of Randy's landings:
https://www.facebook.com/jim.wreyford/videos/10204241213934905/

All were welcome, though, which is what made it so fun!


Soy wowing the crowd in the Crazy Daisy


Margwagon on short final.


I don't know why, but something about this picture really summed up the spirit of the day for me. The combination of all the volunteers, Soy's J-3, and everybody having fun despite less-than-perfect weather captures a lot of what was so special about this fly-in. The numbers were down this year due to wx, but those of us who went were rewarded with a really special time together.


BTV getting ready to take off. He then came back around, dropped it right on the chalk, and had his Rans shut down in 98 feet. Pretty impressive!














Coming over the pylons, we did see some bounces


Or two (Nobody gets to throw rocks who wasn't there putting it on the line themselves. The pylons presented an interesting new challenge for everybody involved, no matter what they were flying.)


The fuel pump was a popular place, with avgas BELOW 4 BUCKS!!! (Thanks Llano Larry).


Fortunately, this guy didn't show up until after the short landing contest was already finished.


Jimmy takes the award for Best Air Boss!


The BCP crew cleaned up pretty well in the awards category.


I caught some hell for taking so many pictures of the flowers (Skalywag asked if I wanted to go lay out in the middle of them and put one in my teeth for a picture ), but they were too pretty not to!


It was a trip I won't forget, and definitely one I want to make again next year. Thanks Phil, Jimmy, and everybody in Llano for making it such a great time. Thanks to all the pilots who haired up and showed up, despite the weather guessers. Here's to next year!!!

RanchPilot you summed up my feelings as well. Excellent TR!

Great trip report RP. Thanks for taking the time to out it together. I really enjoyed reading it.
David

Thanks, Phil. And thanks again to you and all the folks in Llano for the hospitality. You deserve a lot of credit for making this vision into a reality.

RanchPilot wrote:Thanks, Phil. And thanks again to you and all the folks in Llano for the hospitality. You deserve a lot of credit for making this vision into a reality.

You are very welcome. You and the others that "haired up and showed up" (great phrase by the way) made it a great event, I thank you all for that.

Thanks for an excellent write-up. Shortfielder, I like your fire-extinguisher location.
-DP

Yeah, Phil - thanks for organizing! Super fun!

Great report RanchPilot! Finally got back from work. Going to work on putting my media in a video format from Llano. My question is this. I have some awesome footage of the Obstacle event including some "touch and goes" from our heavy touring class. (Nemo slow motion is pretty epic!) Would never be critical of anyone except myself. Wanted to share without causing any hurt feelings. Think its cool? Am I making sense?

I don't know who your referring to on the touch and goes but it won't hurt my feelings any.
First time I've ever messed up.

Great trip report RP. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one taking copious amounts of pictures of flowers.

Wanted to share without causing any hurt feelings. Think its cool?

Hell yeh, lets see 'em.

Great `TR RP

Gary

Awesome TR! I hope to make this one some time!

Such a great trip report RP.... I'm glad I didn't actually go, because I now feel like I DID go after reading your report,. Though I can't relate to that go fast you flew there and back (cheater), it obviously let you attend and get back in time for work and saved a lot of time, I want one too.

With perfect timing, about 3 minutes after reading your trip report, Hal Stockman called (of Zipper BigBore fame) and told me all about his win in the short takeoff event. He did complain though about the low density altitude throwing his game off in the landing event, which I can relate to, hard to make a quick change over in landing technique/speeds to that thick air down there coming from our neighborhood, faster take offs sure!

https://www.facebook.com/jim.wreyford/v ... 213934905/

Ranch Pilot's video, and especially the excellent still shots, in conjunction with Barnstormer's pylons have inspired me to again try to explain the apparent brisk walk rate of closure approach.

Also, when we compare the pitch attitude difference between Gonza's and Anarchisto's pitch attitude, we can see the difference that flaps, slots, and big engines make.

Both are using a power/pitch approach that maintains the steep glideslope, or angle of descent, that will put them in a directed course over the pylon and onto the target touchdown spot. Neither is using the hover taxi in ground effect up to the target touchdown point and cutting power, like some at Valdez. That means they will have to be power Vso or better over the pylon when out of ground effect. The advantage of this steeper angle is that it is much easier to nail the target touchdown spot. Notice, however, that they increase pitch attitude between the pylon and touchdown spot. This is because the apparent brisk (slower in a headwind component) rate of closure appears to speed up as they get lower and closer, just as it does when we approach a stop sign with our auto.

Why is Gonza's pitch attitude higher than Anarchisto's? Flaps, slats, and a bigger engine. If we just look at engine size, there is an optimum for balance and comfort. Could you imagine instructing the apparent brisk walk rate of closure approach from the back seat (I assume it is tandem) of Gonaz's airplane? If like the 150 hp Super Cub, you are nearly sitting on the floor back there. That is with cushions that put your helmet into the headline. Forward vision is like in Lindberg's Spirit of St. Louis. J-3s through PA-12, 7AC Champs, etc. land slow without the excessive pitch attitude. Anarchisto did almost as well, and plenty slow enough to get in most anywhere.

How can a light airplane with a big engine slow down enough to compete. Take away the flaps and slats for comparison. The engine will put out enough thrust to almost hover out of ground effect. Those aerobatic guys do it for seconds at a time. That means the engine is blasting a lot of air across the mid-section of the wing. Not rotary wing; big fan wing. That is why these high power to weight airplanes will keep a lot of power in until touchdown.

With any airplane, we know we have slowed enough to get onto the target touchdown spot slow enough when we don't have to cut power until we touch down. I know, these guys sometimes go ahead and cut it and bounce, but that doesn't always work What if they bounce too far?

Nice take on what is going on Contact!

Full flaps on my SQ2 is 62 degrees (4th notch). It is tandem but no controls in the back seat (to save weight and keep the passenger from monkeying with anything). When I'm landing off-airport on anything flat, smooth and without obstructions - such as a sand bar or gravel (not rock) bar, or a meadow - I might do a landing like Goza and I were using over the "obstacle" for practice and fun. And as you said it can't be done without slats and a lot of horsepower (205). I'm running 3 1/2 pounds in the 35's so when power is chopped while the nose is still high in the air, the tires absorb the lion share of the impact with the AOSS suspension doing the rest - replacing the landing gear bolts annually is a prudent exercise (as is having the horizontal adjusted to full nose up during landing). Done correctly there is only a small bounce due to the low tire pressure, very low airspeed, and AOSS rebound dampening.

A more usual off-airport approach will see me on the 3rd notch of flaps so I can keep the deck angle flat for visibility, going to the 4th notch generally in/or near ground effect at the same time the 3rd notch can no longer fly the plane. This lets me get as slow as possible without getting so far behind the power curve that I'm pointed to the sky hanging on the propellor, and without balloning. Just as the wheels are about to touch down I'm coming back on the stick with perhaps a small, short burst of throttle. In the SQ2 my approaches are accompanied by little, periodic throttle bursts to maintain the glide slope.

There are a couple of things that can be problematic flying the SQ2's very high angle of attack approaches, in addition to visibility. One is exposing that much wing to the wind. I'm not likely to fly that kind of approach in cross, gusty, or variable winds. The other is P-factor. It takes a lot of rudder to counter P-factor at those high angles of attack as the throttle goes to near full to "catch" the plane. Sometimes all the rudder there is, which can leave one in a "sporty" situation if the right wing lifts at the same time. The over-sized tail feathers help, as do the roll spoilers, but it can still get sporty.

One of the beautiful things about the SQ2 is it can also land as one would any other cub type airplane, it will just be closer to cub landing speed and distance.

Since it looks like we’ll soon see some heavy touring obstacle landings I’ll talk briefly about my 185 (pre- Sportsman & WingX). Since my 185 doesn’t have slats the shortest over obstacle approach is the “stall down”, which was introduced to me by learntolandshort. It’s done essentially idle power, stall horn on, wings level. Maintaining glideslope is again done with bursts of power, larger then used with the SQ2. Being a heavier plane with a lot less wing, the descent rate is faster. “Catching” the 185 just off the ground usually requires a fast burst to full throttle that is held longer. If the engine isn’t tuned “just right” a cough is likely to occur and the “catch” won’t happen in time or fully, resulting in a big bounce. Here I think the 185 has an edge over the 180 because fuel injection is less likely to “cough” then a carburetor. I said “less likely”. A poorly configured fuel injected 185 will cough with a sudden burst of full throttle from idle, whereas only a well tuned and adjusted 180 won’t cough - hence the edge I give the 185.

A perfect executed “catch” of a 180/185 in an obstacle landing is a thing of beauty to be sure. The spring gear absorbs the remainder of the descent with zero spring back and the landing is staggeringly short. I’ve managed exactly one of these. Not executed perfectly and it’s rodeo time. You just hope you didn’t draw “Bodacious” for the remainder of the landing.

A word of caution to those who are not very familiar or practiced in this technique - go high and practice against an imaginary hard deck, not a real hard deck.

Oh, final thought on the SQ2’s obstacle landings at this year’s Roundup. Goza flew first (and I tried to stay hidden so everyone thought it was me flying). His first landing was a stunning 198 feet, but the run was DQ’d as the judges called Goza just a bit under the top of the pylons. On his second run he ensured he wouldn’t DQ and managed 317 feet.

Next was my turn. I also DQ’d my first attempt, I assume for the same reason, but that was okay because once I landed I momentarily forgot to jump on the brakes (I have a good excuse for that. I generally don’t use the brakes when landing off airport in the SQ2 cause it lands so short and slow. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it). On my second run I was ready to be on the brakes the second the wheels touched. I also managed 317 feet. A tie! Pretty cool. Of course the takeoff distance was added to the total score so Goza edged me out. I mean, he does weigh a 100 pounds less then I, no way I could beat him off the ground. (I suppose there also is that "he’s a way better pilot then me" thing, but I’m not going there). I do know this, I’m gonna make him fly his own plane next year.

Well it's off to the big airport for Montana to get the 185 and bring her home. Woohoo!

Barnstormer,

Thanks for the full explanation. I have never flown anything like that, but I have done a lot of instructing ag students from the ground in single seat airplanes.

The beauty, for instructors, of the normal apparent rate of closure approach is that we can let the student handle the controls more and find his own mistakes. The only time it is necessary to catch a potential ground loop is just at touchdown, when too fast. Using slow approaches, we can almost go to sleep back there. Nothing is more impressive, for a lazy student, than to roll a hundred feet and ground loop it. That gets gets expensive, if they are allowed to land too fast.

Contact

Great TR Darin! Maybe I can make it next year.

Great report, great pictures, thanks from us that couldn't make it, really appreciate your time in putting that report together!