NLBA
March 2003 Newsletter
Can you believe it?...Here it
is March already and most of us haven't flown in a long time due to the weather
or one thing or another. Just remember that when it does come time to
take to the skies over Shreveport, or any other location, remember to go
through your check list to keep safety as a priority to ensure that all of
those involved have a great flight.
If you weren't
able to join us for the first, and definitely not the last, Mardi Gras Madness
Fly in, we sure missed you. All of those that were able to get out had a
great time. We even got to fly a little! When the visiting pilots
weren't at the airport, they were either at one of the casinos, the stores or
at the parade. One of the definite highlights was when everyone was able
to go to the Hollywood Casino to share in great food and fun along with
watching the Superstar's Show. Let me tell you . . . I was
"impressed." For the first time, possible ever, Pat Harwell was
speechless. But you definitely had to be there to enjoy the reasoning and
to share in the experience. Thanks to everyone who helped make this a
success and everyone is looking forward to next year’s event. The way
that the visiting pilots were talking, this will be an event that will happen
again and again. Here is just one of the great comments from one of the
pilots that were in attendance:
A
wonderful time was had by all this past weekend - February 21st
thru 23rd -
in
Mardi-Gras
Chute-out. It was held at Lucien Field in
was put on
by Pat Harwell of American Escapes Adventures - a
Powrachute
dealer.
This was
Pat's first time sponsoring a fly-in and I think that he
did an
exceptional job. When we registered (thanks Susan Harwell
and Cookie
Wojcik), we were given a schedule of events, a map of the
flying area
and details about the flying competitions. It would
have been an
overwhelming success except for one small problem...
the weather
didn't cooperate.
I drove from
arriving
about
television
station had done some interviews that Friday morning, but
no-one was
able to fly for them. It was still raining in
when I
arrived at the hotel where everyone else was staying. I only
have an
uncovered trailer and I was really worried that the Blue
Streak (my
Destiny) was not going to make it through unscathed.
Upon
arriving in
hotel and
got instructions on how to get to Lucien Field. It was
only about 2
miles from the hotel and I went there to see if I could
find a place
to get the Streak out of the rain. Thankfully, there
were still a
couple of people hanging around. Registration check-in
was in a BIG
hanger. Everyone else had their PPC parked in the
hanger and I
was glad to be able to get my inundated machine out of
the rain
before it drowned. I parked it in a back corner where it
immediately
began to dribble a pond around itself. *sigh* Gonna
have to
spring for a covered trailer.
I went back
to the hotel and found Pat Harwell - the sponsor. He
was sitting
in the lobby with a group of other pilots. He had
scheduled
dinner at the Hollywood Casino and, afterwards, a
nightclub
show. I went to my room, changed and then drove down to
the
Hollywood Casino in downtown
If you've
never been there, the Shreveport/Bossier City casino
district is
really something. I used to live in
1980 thru
'86. That was BC (Before Casinos) It was NOTHING like it
is
now. All neon and glowing lights - just like a mini
LOTS of fun.
We all met
at the Hollywood Diner. What a group! Eddie Johnson
from
Powrachutes was there (VERY nice guy). So were Scott Hughes and
a bunch of
other guys from the
Comparetto
and a bunch of the others had, apparently, already been
to a Mardi
Gras store to stock up on beads, bubba teeth, matching
shirts,
roaches and other assorted goodies. I won't embarrass you,
Scott, by
posting a picture of you in your finest Mardi Gras attire
at the
dinner. :-)
Afterwards,
we went to a nightclub show, the "Parade of Hollywood
Stars". Very good show. Pat had managed to reserve the whole
front
section for
us (a difficult job since there are normally no reserved
seating at
that show). It started off with a VERY hot-looking
Shania Twain
look-a-like. (I'm only mentioning her because she came
down the
aisle singing "It don't Impress Me Much" and ran her
fingers
through my hair.)
Saturday was
rained out, also. We all met at Lucien Field in the
morning. The pond around the Streak had turned into a lake! I keep
my logbook
in a ditty bag attached to the side and found out, to my
dismay, that
the ditty bag wasn't waterproof. Time for another
logbook... Thank goodness that the seat covers can be unsnapped and
taken off to
dry out. I spent all day Saturday trying to turn the
Blue Duck
back into the Blue Streak.
I got to
examine a number of other PPCs for the first time. Scott
Hughes had a
BRAND NEW Powrachute Pegasus that was beautiful! It
was also
partially disassembled. He was in the middle of putting on
all kinds of
flashing lights, strobes, neon tubes, etc... I have a
feeling that
he'll have the ultimate in "low-rider" powerchutes when
he's
finished. The only thing missing were the fuzzy dice hanging
from the
front support bar. Hope that the alternator puts out
enough
wattage for all those lights, Scott...
Since
Saturday was a washout (literally), about the only thing
accomplished
was the Crewe of Centaur Mardi-Gras parade on Saturday
evening. Pat outdid himself again. He had snared a primo place for
everyone to
watch the parade. I didn't make it to the parade with them
- I had
friends who lived near the parade route and spent my time
with them at
an old fashioned Couchon de' Lait (that's french for
Pig
Roast). I've heard some stories but I'll have to let some of
the other
attendees who made it to the gathering to fill that gap.
Suffice it
to say that beads were had by all.
Sunday
morning came cold, windy but clear. We all arrived about
Streak and
was sweating it out - wondering if she'd start or if I
was going to
have to pull the carbs apart and drain out all the
water.
Pat said that the winds were 7-8 mph and were flyable in the
early
morning. We were going flying!
Since the
winds were a bit on the high side, we made some changes to
the
competition schedule. The original competition was scheduled to
be a timing
route between three points with a bomb drop of two sets
of
Mardi-Gras beads after each timing run and then a third drop of a
foam ball
into a big "X" at the field at the end of the last timing
run.
Because of the winds, it was decided to just make the pattern
three times
and drop the beads and ball for accuracy.
Pat Harwell
was the first one up. He got off the ground just fine
and made a
flight around to show everyone that the weather was
flyable. It was going to be a relatively low-flying day, though.
The winds
picked up really quickly the higher that you got.
I was the
second one up. I had the only Chiron at the fly-in and I
think that
everyone else wanted to wait and see if I'd crash and
burn, since
the Chiron has been said to be a bit squirrelly to
control in a
cross-wind. Thankfully, the Blue Streak started just
fine after
her bath, my Chiron kited up beautifully and we got off
the ground
without a problem.
After I got
off the ground, the other flyers also took off and made
their
patterns. Thanks to Mickey Kimbrell for doing an awesome job
as Air
Boss. He kept everyone safe in the air. What a pleasure to
have an
actual trained ATC controller (even if he IS still new at
it) on the
radio.
Eddie
Johnson from Powrachute won the bomb drop competition. I came
in second
(YEAH! My first competition). Everyone landed safe and
sound and we
all agreed that it was a good fly in - even if the
weather
didn't completely cooperate. I'm looking forward to
attending
next year.
Here are two
pictures from the fly in. The first one is a picture of
Lucien Field
where the fly in was held. The second is Pat Harwell in
his
Powrachute.
Safe flying
and hope to see as many of you as I can at a fly in
sometime
this year!
NLBA
MEETING: The
next meeting of the NLBA will be held on
NLBA SAFETY
SEMINAR: Don't forget to
register for the Safety Seminar to be held on
Here is an article that might
be of interest that might be of interest . . .
The Hopkins
Dairy Festival in
> There are now 1 fun flight, 2 glows and 2 competition flights with
> prizes scheduled. The event schedule is as follows:
>
> Friday night short fun
flight & a glow
> Saturday morning competition flight
> Saturday night glow
> Sunday morning competition flight
>
> We are looking for 15 balloons. More details to follow.
>
> Feel free to forward this to anyone else who might be interested.
>
> Contact Jim Mercier at pilot@skychasers.com
>
Up - in
coming meeting place: For those of you who haven't heard the
"good" news, Mark and Marilyn Hunt are building a new home in
Sunflower Place. Right now the expected date for completion is the end of
June. Once we get settled in (and all help will be appreciated for the
move!) Updates to come.
Finally .
. .
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY TO:
William Buffington - March
7
Pat Harwell - March 17 (Happy St. Patrick's Day)
If anyone's name has been left out, I do apologize. Please email me back
with the information.
Also, if anyone's email has changed, I need those updates as well.
labluiz@aol.com