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[Brian]

That was bad luck Mark but I'm pleased you have shared the story here just to prove that despite how many times you have done something, never presume anything too much when turning downwind. The situation is worse when your airspeed is low to start with ie working stock and you happen to turn downwind and find a big hole there.John, I would be very much in favour of Barry re printing the article in the Gyro news although it seems that some of us dont read the Gyro news as closely as they should !!!You never know how far you can go, till you get there !

[Brian]

Thats a great story Chuck and shows how easily it is to make a mistake and it was interesting that quote "Something looked wrong " so it also shows that instinct was telling you something!!You never know how far you can go, till you get there !

[asra]

Hi Brian."Did you get to compete in the unlimited areobatic championships? "To answer your question no, there is a big problem with competing and that is the time one must dedicate to becoming competative. And of course it is expensive, very expensive due to needing a special built airplane to fly.( Which I have been offered and was flying. )Anyhow I had an e-mail from the guy in Holland who wants me to at least try telling me that spring should soon be here and the airplane is waiting...Last year Glen Dell from South Africa won the world unlimited competetion and I used to fly with Glen, man I just don't know if physically I can stand the brutal torture of flying enough unlimited manouvers to compete.In any event I will talk to Glen and see what he advises."and it was interesting that quote "Something looked wrong " so it also shows that instinct was telling you something!! "Actually it was pretty simple to tell what was wrong because after thousands of drops on forest fires you get to read the picture real well, what I saw was the sudden uphill ignition of conifer tress on the steep slope causing a mini explosion of thick blact smoke to boil up from the head of the fire.I knew as soon as I saw that and felt the bottom drop out that I was caught in the down hill rush of air that was feeding the fire and immediately punched out the load, which was what saved us. Eleven thousand pounds of fire retardent takes about one second to unload giving a very fast change in lift which prevented us from just smacking right into the mountain side because of being sucked down by the airflow.But hey this is not gyro stuff.Chuck

[Brian]

Hi Chuck"But hey, this isnt gyro stuff"We can talk gyro's anytime, you have an enormous amount of experience and experience's in flying all types of FW's so give us some more stories Chuck. Never done any aerobatics so I cant imagine the torture you would put your body through during a "sequence" but it looks pretty incredible from the ground. One manoeuvre that strikes terror just watching is where you climb untill the aircraft stalls, then you let it slide back down....tail first, then do a abrupt stop and fly the thing out and straight and level. With the forest fire, you had to react and take corrective action, all in an instant which brings in what I call "instinct" .Would have been a memorable ride !![]You never know how far you can go, till you get there !