The Diary of Jack Flyer

[DGL Fox]

Maybe he is still trying to get the smell out of his plane..

 

 

[ayavner]

"bombs awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

 

 

[DGL Fox]

Looking forward to the next chapter...its a great story....

 

 

[Pilot Pete]

Really enjoying this story. With all thats happening of late its nice to read about the antics of a bygone era and have found myself thinking that this is what ultralights are all about, the sheer pleasure of just being airborne.

 

Jack Flyer, I am envious.

 

I would definately read the full story or watch the movie.

 

Next chapter asap pleeeeeeeeeeeeese.

 

 

[flyerme]

chapter 11 "bird on a wire

 

jan 15 1983

 

We were all up early and in good spirits ready for Our next track which will have us fly to echuca then on to swan hill were we will camp the night. we had atracted the attention of some enthusiastic locals whome where captivated with our adventure,We took off at 6:30am and conditions were perfect so we conducted several flybys for the fans and headed nth/est.We levelled off at 100 ft to really enjoy the flight .Was a thing of beauty watching the fog patches float by us like cotton wool and the dewy smell which I found somehow soothing in its ambiant way.I was cold yet felt so warm and secure.. Charlie commentated on the passing volcano looking hills over Boxwood as some had a mist like fog surrounding the peaks,was almost dream like.Next we crossed the golbourn river where I couldn"t help but make a small diversion to do some river flying and filming.There is truely no words to describe the feeling when flying 50ft above the river following your own shadow as it passes over the land ,all senses overwhelmed with pure pleasure ,truely amazing.We continued the leg to Echuca where the mighty Murray became our next focus.After a quick snack and fuel top up we were back in the air and following a track along the murray.The scenery was spectacular and weather was a gift from the gods as we settled at 300ft .The murray was like a dream-time serpent stretching as far as the eye could see and the lakes on the horiz0n would entrance and lure any pilot with its mystic spell dragging you toward its beauty.

 

As we reached lake boga weather had turned rough and turbulence was starting to really put a dampner on things.I had been looking forward to overflying lake boga with its catalina history.

 

It had been decided Charlie would do some low level filming of lake boga whilst Tommy and I filmed from different hights above.We managed some of the most magical ultralight filming here I believe as Charlie was accompanied by a flock of pelicans as he floated across the surface for several 100 meters.From lake boga it was only to be a short 5 minute flight to swanhill but it was decided to do some more filming over the murray and swanhill township.

 

We circled the town a couple of time then headed over the murray . Between Charlies tour guiding I recalled Tommy saying he was going down low ,nth along the river .I was above him and also turned nth to try and film Tommy.I could not see Tommy at this stage and I was getting worried with the bumps and was surprised Tommy hadnt said anything.I radioed for his position and no reply? I said again "Tommy Ya on channel?"still no reply? "Charlie, can you radio Tommy?" No mate nothing?"Damn now I was really nervous.

 

I turned 180deg and headed back sth along the river with Charlie behind me.I searched desperatly for a Tommy exspecting him to be skimming the river surface.I franticly called for Tommy to answer his damn radio when his bright yellow sail caught my eye,"There he is Charlie"I yelled, "skimming the river" I laughed with relief.Then as we drew nearer its appearence struck me as odd?"Its looks like his hovering?"I radioed to Charlie.

 

We dropped to a hight of around 150 meters above the river which was at Tommy's altitude and when we almost reached him it all unfolded.,"S%^t!!!!!!!! pull up pull up...climb climb"@#$%^!!!!!! power line !!!climb.I instantly realised Tommy was hanging form a power cable and both Charlie and I needed aggressive inputs to avoid it ourselves.

 

I radioed Charlie To land at swanhill and get help while I went back past to acess his condition.I flew over Tommy a couple of times and was relieved when he gave me a wave but I still felt I should stay with him.Fuel would be getting low and I hoped rescue would not be long.I was surprised at the speed in which the local fireies were out scrambling along the wire to rescue poor Tommy.I headed to the airfield and was greeted by Charlie and a number of curious spectators.We were driven by a local pilot to the accident site and by the time we arrived Tommy was sitting in the back of an ambulance smiling and joking with a rather attractive looking ambulance officer.What a sight to see Tommy's hang glider suspended from the power lines 150 meters in the air.We were lucky enough to film the glider being cut down and dropped to the river .It was then retrieved and is now held by the local police? Tommy sustained no injuries except for his pride and as it turns out his friendship.Tommy decided to sell his storey to the news which has upset Charlie very much as Charlie wanted the storey and footage for the docco.

 

Charlie and I will go to swanhill in a couple of weeks and continue the docco on our own,1 man short.

 

 

[Pilot Pete]

Thankyou

 

 

[planet47]

Does Charlie ever forgive Tommy?

 

 

[flyerme]

Does Charlie ever forgive Tommy?

SORRY, NO SPOILERS..........

 

 

[planet47]

Ha ha!!!

 

 

[kaz3g]

I flew out of Coldstream for quite a few years on a and off...your lead character has a certain resemblance to old Jimmy Doake who owned the field from the beginning.

 

That has to be one of the best stories I have read... I need MORE!

 

Congratulations. Don't edit or change it in the telling...it's too good to change.

 

kaz

 

 

[Teckair]

Yes I think you have some writing talent.

 

 

[ayavner]

man I wish i had taken up flying back in these days!

 

 

[flyerme]

little history, back in the day ultralights were restricted to fly under 300ft ,no flying over roads,buildings etc..There were No dual seat trainers unless you went G.A so you either tried it with little to no knowledge or went for the hard to find ultralight instructor.Yes there were instructors in the late 70's early 80's and how it worked was a lot of ground school in which the would be pilot would drive the ultralight with a throttle stop around listening to the instructor shout out instructions.When the instructor was satisfied you would do crow hops/bunny hops and then solo or the more creative instructors would tether the plane to a vehicle ,have his missus drive ,towing the student pilot about 10 ft high then 20ft,30ft etc,, and the instructor would sit in the back/boot and scream out instructions.....unfortunatly due to so many things IE: hight restrictions(try stalling at 300ft! or an engine failure in the high drag contraptions, which were so common) No trianing or certificate required, planes with dash pannels consisting of ASI and tacho (if that in some cases),and Pilots dropping rather fast ,things had to change ,,,,,,for the better? hmm still debateable!!

 

I love them brave pioneers of our belovered HOBBY.... I thank them/you whole heartedly for the development of the movement in which I/and others now enjoy so much in there shadows. Thanks Jack:wink:

 

 

[DGL Fox]

Would love to have had some real video of those times...

 

 

[flyerme]

sorry all I could find at present

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8DfycMzdK4

 

 

[DGL Fox]

Watching that video reminded me of this >>>>

 

 

 

[dazza 38]

sorry all I could find at present

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8DfycMzdK4

I owned one of those eagles back in the day. I bought it 2nd hand in brissy (tennison) around 1990.It was cheap two or three grand.I had a crack at flying it.Only lifted off the ground once or twice & only 5 or 10 feet up.I couldnt get my head around the weight shift.From memory the Canard was connected to a swing chair that you sat in via cables. A Drifter was very hi tech to that.Anyway I though I might kill myself in it. Only had a student licence at the time.So I sold it to some other young bloke like me, you know young & naive.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

A couple from old super 8 quality is not the best. Some more on you tube under 'ozzieinoz'.

 

Flying with the Windsock Club at Gloucester nice formation fly past.

 

The Eagle was a weird one, a mixture of every control method. The canard did have to lines running from the harness but only worked in the up sense. Push back and the canard elevator and weight shift for climb, weight shift only for down. Motor bike handle bars (and throttle) worked the wing tip rudders plus a bit of weight shift for bank. First experience was on floats that had 3 gallons of water in each unbaffeled float. Yoohoo!!!

 

 

[planet47]

OMG! The banner for "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" - the MOUSTACHE. Reminds me of a local from here that I know.

 

 

[Riley]

A couple from old super 8 quality is not the best. Some more on you tube under 'ozzieinoz'.

 

Ozzie. Any chance you might have any footage of an Eagle flying off floats? That's so bizarre it's fascinating, especially considering more than 22 kg of unbaffled water sloshing around in the floats. I'm aware that you still go skywards in your Lazair but, if you looked back and knowing what you know now, would you bet your fundamental orifice against a weight-shift, wing-warp, water-logged, just-barely-flying machine of that ilk (call it an Eagle) again? I once fronted up for a Lazair demo flight in Canada many years ago but it was cancelled just prior to take-off because of unfavourable winds (and I wasn't disappointed!) Thanks for the 8mm history. cheers

 

 

[DGL Fox]

Yes thanks Ozzie, great films from the old days..it really does show where we have come from and where we are now..

 

 

[Doug Evans]

That's where we should be ! I think we are getting to close to ga now it's taken the fun and excitement away from the way it all started !

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Test post from mobile device

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

I do not have any footage on the Eagle. It belongs to Arnold Cohen. He did have a promo video made for it. It flew quite well. It wasn't out to kill you. If you were going to die in it (or any other) it was a pretty good chance the pilot was to blame, like not checking for water in the floats before taxing out. Made for an interesting flight, you can stall a canard if you push the AoA high enough. water in the backend of the floats help. The strings connected to the canard elevator definatly helps raise the nose after the water moved forward. Push ups on the handle bar and full power did the rest.

 

But other than that little fright it was a good performer. I was never a big fan of the American breed of ultralight. They came across as a little light in the robustness area. That was because they did have to demonstrate a foot launch capability back then. So a lot more thin wall beer can material used. Also the unsupported trailing edge of the sail was another shortcoming when they started adding weight and the sail degraded a bit with time. Most of our Minimums followed the more typical Australian approach and were built like a brick outhouse. That said the Lazair is posssibly one of the lightest ultralights on the RAAus register at 73kg empty. Nothing has fallen off over the years and it has had some hard flying. Why do i keep flying it still after all these years? Because it represents what i always wanted, Affordable Flying. Better define "It". Some think it is sitting staring out the window for 98% of the time. 3hrs of filling out flight plans for 1 hours trip sucking upwards of several hundred dollars an hour for letting the autopilot have all the full.

 

Take my old dinosaur, can also do an hours trip with out the three hours of foreplay , might have to do three, four or more of those hour trips to go as far as Parrot but in reality it will probably be even longer from stopping off to play in thermals and 'cloud ally'. I'm not in any hurry once i'm there. only burns 4 lts an hour full power, and ya get to 'synch the props'. An ageless design that could have been built yesterday. Still makes other ultralight owners envious at Airshows by pulling the bigger crowd. ("nah sorry mate sold the last kit thirty years ago"went over well at Oshkosh ) cost $4000 1982 dollars for the kit. Thirty odd years ,2 airframe rebuilds , 6 engines, two props and a lot of frigging 3M sticky tape later, i would say that has be Affordable Flying. But then having to now factor in the RAAus BS and we find ourselves with hand in pocket again.

 

Arnold parents lived right on Port Hacking River and the Eagle was fun addition to all the other water sports toys they had. Then PolAir turned up and bellowed "pull over pilot!" And it was whinge bloody whinge for the next half hour. yeah right a 747, is going come right down the river at 100 ft.

 

Riley, shame you missed flying a Lazair in Canada. Was that a the factory.

 

Would i like to own a real recreational aircraft , sure would. But just not yet. The 'industry' has a little more growing up to do.

 

DGL where we have come from and where we are now!!! Strewth we are back in the same bloody rutt as we were when we started in '75. Expensive, over regulated and driven by poor performance. If i could do one event back over in my life i would go back and shoot Markey the second he stepped into the SAAA meeting at Mangalore '83.

 

ozzie

 

 

[planet47]

Where is Jack!