Sun-N-Fun is an airshow in Lakeland Florida that is an aviators dream. Not only is it an airshow with top aerobatic performers, It's also a place where one can enjoy manufactures flight demos, a parts and accessory expo, and used swap shop to boot. There are venues for just about all forms of flying ranging from cheap, low and slow type of aircraft, to expensive high performance military might. Nearly Five years to the day I got my first view of the Aerodrome Eindecker at this particular event and I now had my own built and ready to fly at Sun-N-Fun. I couldn't wait to get there and fly in the show.
Below is a detailed account of this little adventure. Hope you enjoy.
I knew that the driving part of the trip to Sun-N-Fun and back wasn't going to be fun, but I still wasn't quite prepared for the headache I was destined to endure. Being that my little plane is built solely around the pilot and has no room for storage, I built up a garden trailer to carry it to places where I would be staying over night. The wings easily remove from the plane allowing me to tow it to Lakeland along with all the camping gear I needed for the trip. The trailer works just fine but with the wings roots mounted on either side of the fuselage at the forward end of the trailer, and the wings standing vertically along the leading edge, any passing semi creates quite a push on the trailer. This in turn pushes my little Explorer all over the highway. So, when I had gotten an offer from a friend of mine to use his enclosed trailer I jumped at the idea. It just so happens that this is an 18 foot Quonset hut on wheels with a very effective air dam on the front. I had a head wind that kept the Explorer at 60 mph with my foot buried in the floor board. It made the trip down alright but coming back is another story that will come later. (By the way…I have an Explorer for sale (cheap) if anyone is interested. It's a little tough to start at this time.)
I arrived at Lakeland around 9:00 pm and tried to get into the gate where I could unload the plane first thing the next morning. A guard, resembling Barney Fife in more ways than one, was working the gate and there was no fooling him. He said I needed a wrist band, gate pass, vender pass or camping pass before I could get through his gate. I asked where one would purchase one of these magical devises at such an hour and he said he didn't know. I told him that I was with the Aerodrome Skunk Works project and needed to drop off my secret, super high tech aerial wonder under the cover of darkness. He didn't like that either. He still needed to see a gate pass. After pondering for awhile on my next lie, I decided to call Robert, the Skunk Works project director, and alert him of my unsuccessful attempt at securing entry onto the grounds. Lucky enough it seems that Robert is connected there which got me an escort in through Barney's gate and all without the golden ticket. As I drove through the gate waving goodbye to Barney, I wasn't near aware of the agony that was to come.
I set up my tent and settled down for a good nights sleep. Ah…the night was cool and the wind blew softly through the unzipped windows of the tent as the side walls slowly pulsated with each gentle gust. In the distance I could here the song of some sort of nocturnal bird that sounded as if it could have been a Whipperwill with some kind of serious throat infection. It only took the little creep a matter of minutes to determine the proper location he needed just outside my tent, to perform his relentless and irritating calls for companionship. This went on for hours slowly turning my brain to soup. Finally a cold front pushed rain and lightning into the area running off my fine feathered little freak. The problem was it also created heavy winds and rain that blew in through every microscopic orifice that were present within my tent. At this point I was too tired to care about how wet I got and gave in to much needed sleep for the rest of the night.
At day break I arose, soggy and cold, to beautiful weather and light westerly winds that promised for a great day of flying. I fished my keys out of my pocket and started to open the door to the Explorer noticing that I didn't even need them. Nope, the window was wide open and I could just reach in and pull the lock by hand. How nice! (Oh yeah, The Explorer has recently developed some electrical problems on the drivers side door panel for some reason ( Maybe moisture?) and I'll be lowering the price for that too.) After I drained Lake Explorer from my front seat, I set out for the adventure of signing up to fly and to purchase the golden wristband for the airshow.
Signing up for flying at Paradise City was a relatively painless ordeal. You may be required to submit a whole lot of useless information but the ladies that take this information are quite pleasant and even give you a hat pin to announce the fact that you are indeed a Sun-N-Fun pilot. You are required to attend a briefing everyday before you're allowed to fly. They start with a weather report and then proceed to hammer into your brain the proper pattern for the day. There is a lot of traffic flying in and out of the area therefore a ceiling of 500 feet is imposed to separate the ultralights from the GA aircraft. You also have Chopper Town airspace located on the east end of the runway and a specific pattern boundary is in place to keep the sling wings away from the light aircraft. The downwind boundary is determined by the subdivision located on the south side of the runway. It seems that all the home owners have been given a number to the tower and they sit outside anxiously awaiting for you to bust the pattern airspace so that they can call and report your naughty behavior. And finally on the west end, you're bound by the base leg aircraft for Lakeland's main runways. The pattern is laid out with visual ground clues and at strategic points along the path of intended flight, you will see pattern monitors who sit and watch to make sure your playing nice. In my humble opinion, I felt that the pattern was well thought out and offered the best possible safety for the situation. However, when that many planes get in to the same airspace there is no safe place but in the hangar. After getting through the morning briefing you will receive another wristband that is color coded for one day only. This will allow you to fly for the day during the times when the runway is open.
Next I needed an aircraft safety inspection. This requires yet another wristband and a sticker for the airplane showing it is fit to fly both legally and safely. The safely part was not a problem but the legal issues took the better part of the day to get straight. But I did finally win and was given the blessing of the Sun-N-Fun gods to proceed to the flight line and grace the skies of Paradise City with my presence. EGAD! What a hassle, but was it worth it? You BET!
I could hardly contain my excitement. It was all I could do to keep my cool and not run to my aircraft screaming like a kid on Christmas morning. This was my first time flying at an airshow event and I was quite enthused about it. I somehow managed to prep and preflight the plane and maintain a tiny shred of dignity when I was finished. I noticed people starting to gather around while watching me check over and untie the airplane. The crowd started to grow as I pulled my helmet and goggles from my flight bag and started to don the apparel. I was finally ready to fly.
So there I was, sitting there sporting my three wristbands amidst an anxious crowd that was starting to take notice that the Eindecker was indeed going to fly. As I was readying the cockpit for flight, the little Fokker was drawing attention like a bug light draws in waves of curious little creatures of the night. Slowly we pushed the airplane to the fence and proceeded through to the start up area. The wind was 270 degrees at 15 mph and straight down the runway. Climbing into the cockpit I couldn't help but notice the hundreds of faces staring back in my direction and I was instantly hit with a wave of butterflies. I knew that the Eindecker was capable of performing well but I was just hoping that I could do it proper justice. I didn't want to do something spectacularly destructive here at such a big event. I slithered down in to the seat and fastened my helmet and safety harness. I primed the engine, engaged the choke and flipped the mag switches to the hot position. With a confident sounding "Clear Prop" I pushed firmly on the starter button and the Rotax fired off immediately and settled to a smooth idle within seconds. I watched as the temperatures climbed to a safe level and then proceed to complete the rest of my checklist for the flight. There were so many planes and people in the area that I was concentrating more on getting to the end of the taxiway without mowing someone down than about the upcoming flight. I was "S" turning and peering around both sides of the cowl as I slowly made my way to the ready position.
At the ready position there is a marshal that will tell you by hand signals when he feels it's safe for you to take the runway and hold position. When he maneuvers you into the hold position you're to wait until he gives you the takeoff command before you start your roll and once given the takeoff signal, you are to start your takeoff without delay as there is more than likely another plane five hundred feet or less behind you on final. When I was signaled into the takeoff position a plane had hardly cleared the threshold of the runway and as soon as it cleared the runway after landing I was given the signal to go. I applied full throttle and was soon speeding down the runway committed to flight. I pulled the Eindecker into a brisk climb and headed for our assigned pattern altitude. In looking ahead I could see a multitude of planes slowly making their way around this huge pattern, all in an effort to get back and give a few second glimpse of the their planes to the crowds below. I was doing fairly well maintaining my five hundred foot spacing and was looking forward to my first fly-by. We were warned not to climb or dive over 30 degrees and to maintain a 45 degree or less bank angle as anything more was considered aerobatics and would not be tolerated. Most of our fly-bys were quite boring and pretty much limited to slips, flat turns and slow flight. I chose a slip for my first pass followed by a flat turn as the Eindecker excels in these maneuvers due to the lack of a vertical stab. My next pass was a daring slow fly-by which pretty much covered the extent of my skills in the plane. I then got in line and proceeded to set up for my first landing at Sun-N-Fun.
There were planes all over the place. I could see helicopters buzzing around to the east as well as planes flying through the corridor at mid pattern just above our altitude. Up ahead I had four airplanes backed up roughly 500 feet behind one another and we were all trying to slow down in a deliberate effort to increase the distance between each plane in front. I was on my base leg and getting ready to turn on final watching intently on my visual ground clue when I spotted a P-38 sitting on the ramp, directly underneath the final approach portion of our pattern. Over-flying a magnificent and priceless object such as "Glacier Girl" in my little low budget cloth covered crate just didn't seem like the right thing to do. I could imagine that something falling off my aircraft as small as a dime, at such an inopportune moment, would surely send me into a life of poverty and personal tragedy. I slid a little to the left so that I wouldn't even risk dripping oil on the olive drab mountain of money below. After safely avoiding the "Girl" I maneuvered back on line and set up for a high approach and slip to landing. I gave the little Fokker a small dose of left rudder and the Eindecker swung willingly into a fairly heavy slip. I then countered the turn effect with some right aileron and held the slip as the airplane bled its altitude. Just before touching down I kicked in some right rudder to straighten the airplane and started feeling for the ground. As the wheels touched down the airplane softly bounced back into flight and I held it off the ground to bleed a little more speed. The second time the wheels hit the ground the airplane stayed down and as I slowed to exit the runway and get back in line for takeoff, I was relieved to find that I was looking back at the crowd in a still upright and functional position. All subsequent flights that day were to be pretty much the same as the first.
I was quite amazed at the attention the Eindecker received after its first flight and Robert informed me as soon as I got down that we had an magazine interview scheduled for 9:00 am the following morning. Cool!
Where I was enjoying a head wind the first day of flying, I found that it would be the only day of headwind flying. The next four days would be a real test of my crosswind landing abilities. The following morning I awoke to a light breeze from the north that was bringing in some really cool temperatures. The morning briefing was not comforting as the winds would be 90 degrees to the runway at 15 to 20 knots. As bad as this crosswind was for me it wasn't near what it would get to on the following days. At one point we had 20 to 25 knots gusting to 37kts. Although I waited until later in the evening to fly this day, some of the guys were out braving the crosswind with impressive skill. I didn't witness one ground loop and the only problem I saw all week was where someone caught a prop on the ground and shattered it to pieces. As for my personal crosswind capability, I limited myself to roughly 15 to 20 knots give or take a little. I just carried a little more airspeed on a wheel landing and held the airplane on the left main wheel as long as I could and I felt as though I had complete control though the entire event. I am very pleased with how easy it was to counteract the crosswind.
All total, I flew 240 miles of rectangle at Sun-N-Fun that week. Short of the starter power wire breaking off and having to hand prop it for all remaining flights, the Eindecker performed flawlessly. With the exception of Saturday's flying, because of the incredible amount of aircraft in the pattern that day, I felt relatively safe flying at Sun-N-Fun. Saturday I was waved off of a landing once and had aborted, two more landings due to spacing issues. It wasn't until I watched a Skyboy pass under me twice and continue to buzz around traffic like he was practicing for a pylon race that I decided it was getting a little too wild for me. So in an effort to keep from returning the Eindecker to its original kit condition, I put her on the ground for the rest of the day.
After Sunday's flight it was time to pull the wings off and pack for the long trip home. It wasn't supposed to be that long of a trip, but it turned out to be. Usually it only takes about a half an hour to remove the wings and load the plane in the trailer. But it seems that when the tools come out so to do the spectators and you will then be required to answer a whole new line of questions pertaining to the dismantling of the aircraft. But then I love talking about airplanes and I can't imagine ever getting tired of it. I guess that's why it was well after dark before we left.
We decided to stay the night in Tampa before leaving for Atlanta. The next morning we loaded into the trusty ole Explorer and I turned the key sort of expecting the stupid thing to start, but it didn't. The starter worked but it was not quite grabbing the flywheel and proceeded to make the skin crawling grinding noise that usually signals the demise of ones starter. Lucky enough, I kept on turning the key, as I couldn't believe it would strand us in Tampa, when it finally caught and fired off the Explorer. I figured that I wouldn't shut the engine off and we would be fine. With our problem solved we were on the road.
It wasn't long that I decided that there was no way I could make this whole trip without turning off the truck. We were still in Florida when we came upon a town big enough to have an auto parts store. Being the type that tries to cover all bases, I decided to buy a starter and solve all my worries. So with my new starter in hand we once again started heading north. (Explorer's sale comes with brand new starter.)
Everything was going good as we struggled along I-75 until I noticed the temperature of the truck starting to climb. I slowed a little but the truck kept slowly building heat until I finally started to get a little concerned. I decided that it was time to get off the freeway and when I looked in the rearview mirror to exit, I noticed that the Explorer had developed an extremely impressive, and expensive looking, smoke system.
Once pulled over with the truck turned off, I crawled under it to see how bad the transmission was losing fluid. It appeared that it got too hot and started blowing fluid out of the vent. This was a good sign that I just trashed the transmission but would it start and take us home? We were still 190 miles out and I wasn't real optimistic.
After it cooled and I topped off the fluids, I slowly inserted the key and gave it a try. It didn't even hesitate and fired right off. I figured that we would see how much farther it would take us. (This vehicle might require a little transmission work. Sale comes complete with full three minute three mile warranty. Note: Warranty void if there is not at least three minutes of warm up before placing vehicle in gear.)
We slowly chipped away at the miles until we reached Perry Ga. Roughly 90 miles from home. As bad as I wanted to keep going, ten hours on the road was beginning to test the limits of our little four year olds ability to deal with the confines of a car seat. I knew that we all needed a break so I decided that we should stop and have a nice long dinner. Besides, the transmission was holding out and I had a new starter, so what could happen?
I'm so stupid.
We enjoyed a nice dinner and then headed out to the dreaded Explorer, keeping our fingers crossed for our final leg of the trip. I inserted the key and….Nothing but that terrible grinding. After a few minutes of trying to start the truck I decided to just solve the problem once and for all. I whipped out my new starter and proceeded to change it in the parking lot of Applebee's. After about a half hour I was dirty, tired and ready to fire up the truck and finish the ride home. I plugged in the key, looked over at the wife and said, "You ready?" With a quick turn of the key the Explorer let out this gut wrenching grind that sounded curiously like the same sound it was making before. Great!!! It all of a sudden became apparent that the fly wheel was damaged, which would explain a few other little quirks that had been plaguing this truck. (Truck will require flywheel replacement and or towing to your desired transmission repair facility after completion of sale.) I tried to find something to turn the engine a little in hopes that I could find a spot on the flywheel where the starter would engage. After messing with it for awhile, it finally caught again for the last time, and we headed off into the unknown.
We didn't shut the truck off until we pulled into the driveway of our house. By that time the Explorer was practically screaming for mercy and we asked for all that it could give. I reached over and turned the ignition switch to the off position and that would be the last time it would move under its own power. It got us home and that's all I could ask for. Upon further investigation of the flywheel, I noticed that it was cracked out around all mount bolts with multiple cracks progressing out to the gear teeth. I have no idea how it kept going.
As you can imagine this trip has cost a small fortune. The question is, was it worth it? YOU BET!!! I've already started saving to fix whatever I tear up next year.
See ya there.
Ron Glover
