Wow great forum I stumbled across! A little introduction. I grew up in Pierce, Idaho which is right across Dworshak Reservoir from Elk River. I have been flying Powered Parachutes since I was 15 and used to fly out of Orofino (S68) alot. For those that have been into the Idaho backcountry you probably are familiar with these areas. I left Idaho at 18 to join the AirForce and went to school to be a Boom Operator on the KC-135. I did that while stationed in England for 4 years and then I was lucky enough to get stationed at Spokane WA and I spent a couple more years there. If anyone remembers that picture of the all female KC-135 over Afghanistan I was actually stationed with 2 of the 4 of them and knew them really well. Being back in the states I was finally able to be able to afford to fly GA and I spent the last year and a half getting my License out of Felts Field (KSFF). This spring I had the opportunity to goto Flight Engineer school so I did that and now I'm stationed down at Travis AFB in NorCal flying on the massive C-5 Galaxy. I got checked out to fly the Aero Clubs Archer II but the WX has been sour here for almost 3 weeks now. Anyways my dad got ahold of an Experimental Avid Flyer Model C with a 582 Rotax so that is our latest project. It sat for a couple years so just getting it ready for the paperwork now. It should make a great little plane for dinking around and building some time in as soon as I get my tailwheel endorsement.
I currently only have 80 hours of time but my dream for years has been to be able to fly the Idaho backcountry. I have been into Fish Lake and several others with the C.T.P.T.A pilot out of Orofino and have been hooked ever since. My two passions are the outdoors and flying and what better way to get both at the same time than backcountry flying. I cant wait to get some more flying experience and then working on learning how to fly into the backcountry. If I get time this summer I'm going head to McCall and take their week long course. I'm looking forward to reading some more on this site and probing you guys with years of experience at this brains. Attached is some pics taken out of my Powered Parachute. I know alot of the guys that fly with Q Myers in Oregon. One of these days I'll make it your Oregon Outback Q... PS I'm 135Boomer on the PPC forums.

These were taken up by Horsehaven USFS strip outside of Coeur D Alene, ID a ways. Probably not the best place to be flying a Powered Parachute but it was late that day and actually pretty calm. Thank god my Rotax didnt' decide to die eh... And yes that is my shoe in the picture


Our camping site



Spades Mountain Look Out tower


Final approach into Orofino in a C-172


KC-135 tanking some thirsty F-16's


My new office... The engineers panel on a C-5 Galaxy... can you say 332,500lbs of fuel alone.... 772,000 lbs gross...

I'll try and get some more pics up in the gallery section when I have some more time.

Joey Myers[/img]

Joey,

Welcome to the club. First of all, thanks for your service!!! I'm based outta' O22 Columbia and have flown into the Nutree many times over the years. I always try to stay clear of the C-5's at Travis. If you get a chance to take the Archer up and need a place to go, head up here to O22 ( appx 75 miles )
and I'll buy you a cup of coffee.

Mark

Mark thanks for the invite. Hopefully this weather gives up here pretty soon. I know another guy with a Kitfox that lives in Cameron Airpark that I have been wanting to drop in on as well.

My DPE for my Private was named Joel Myers, a King Air driver...I called him The Badger. Still gives me shivers thinking about him. My checkride/oral took 5 hrs. I can remember him saying "I don't know why anyone would want a tailwheel aircraft, they were made obsolete by the nosewheel!"

Where is the photo called "camping site" taken. I wonder if I could get my Maule in there?

Naw I doubt you could get in there it's a pretty small hole. I know you could get into here though where I took off from.



This strip would only be about 15 minutes away from Coeur D' Alene airport by air it's called Horse Haven. It's pretty much been overran by motorcycles and 4-wheelers but you could still get in there in a pinch.

Welcome, welcome! Another experimental builder, great! How far along are you on your Avid? Nifty looking plane, btw.

Yup, the experimantals are discovering BCP. Be afraid.

Well this particular Avid was used as a Guinea Pig for the EA-81 Subaru conversion. It was advertised at 100HP. Everything was completed and the motor was broke in but for whatever reason it got stuck back in a hanger and that's where it sat for several years. We rescued it and paid less for the whole package than what that motor was worth. After doing alot of research we found that the power of the engine did not offset the weight and it had pretty poor performance despite only sipping 2 gallons an hour of auto gas. Anyways we removed the engine and picked up a Rotax 582 FWF kit to go on there for now. Of course alot of restoration type work was required as well like all new fuel lines, tires, ect ect. I was lucky enough to live right down the road from Dean Wilson the original designer of the Avid Flyer and my Dad did some wheeling and dealing with him and he did all the work to it and a couple of AD's as well. Right now all the motor, cowling, and firewall work is done and the current project is the instrument panel. I just spent $$ on all new VFR gauges and my dad is fabbing a custom panel for me. Step two will be a descent dash mounted Comm system and transponder. It should be ready for W&B soon and then we have to haggle with the FAA and EAA to find out what all paperwork will be required to make it legally airworthy again. It had an airworthiness ticket when it was new before they stuck the Soob on their so it shouldn't be too difficult. I still need to get tailwheel instruction on it but hope to be able to go back to Idaho here in a couple months to pick it up and fly it back down here. Performance with the 582 is supposed to be pretty good. 85 mph cruise and 1200 fpm at gross. Gross is 1120 and it it's looking to come out around 550 empty. Lots of guys put alot of trust into the two stroke and fly them into obscure places. I hope to be able to upgrade one day to a higher HP 4 Cycle like a Jabiru or Rotax 912 as funds allow.

BTW I'm looking around for a new bird-- a Kitfox 5,6,or 7 or similar with an O-200. Preferably LSA-compliant (1320# gross), negative electric OK.

Eric

Eric keep your eye on Barnstormers.com Just type Kitfox into the search. A sweet model V just went a couple weeks ago on there reasonably priced. There's one on there now minus the engine that just needs the finish work done on it as well.The prices on the LSA birds are skyrocketing lately.

I think Rans has a few upper end models too in the same category as the Avid and Kitfox. Check out the S-7S Courier. Might be able to find a used one.

Z

Zane- check the useful load on those Rans birds . Eric- lotsa partial kits are gonna hit the market now that Skystar went belly-up, watch yer @$$! Avid flyer- your almost there! Those planes have a good rep, keep us posted!

AvidFlyer:

I grew up -- and my family is still there -- in Fenn, Idaho, right between Grangeville (S80) and Cottonwood (S84). I currently live in Santa Rosa, CA. I fly a really nice Piper Super Cub PA-18-150.

Drop me a note. I'd love to swap you some time in the Super Cub for some time in the Galaxy.

375handh

Hey Joey,

Come on over to the 06 Outback this summer. Dates are June 24th thru July 2nd. We'll be moving between three different places in the Christmas Valley area. Lots of good stuff to see there, Fort Rock, Hole in the Ground, Crack in the Ground, Christmas Valley Sand Dunes, lost forest, several caves, a wrecked Navy A6, and lots more. Fixed wing planes are welcome.

Q

Q I might be able to make it as I was planning on being on leave for the 4th of July this summer. I missed my trip to Alvord this year so I been itching for some desert play time.