By Jerry Rosie (USUA #A86096)

In the last Around the Patch, we shared the triumphant return of three adventuresome pilots as they completed their exciting and interesting pilgrimage from Ohio to the birthplace of aviation - Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, and back home again. This month we are not so lucky, as there have been no reports of any long distance trips by any of our members.

They have not, however, been inactive! USUA Flying Club One, from Leesburg, Virginia, as an example, reported on two major events during June. Their annual Poker Run weekend started on a Friday with powered paragliders arriving from Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and other states not recorded. In addition to the scheduled poker run, Ken Kriesler from Libertytown, Maryland showed up with his "Rube Goldburg", Honda powered towing rig to launch paraglider students into the atmosphere without them needing to worry about managing an engine in the process. Dan and two other visiting instructors (Bill Briley of Fayetteville, NC and Wes Evey of Hedgesville, WV) and Club One's resident instructor, Jerry Starbuck, rounded out the instructor team who were kept busy for the entire day. The physical activity ended with the announcement of dinner which was followed by video taped critiques of the days activity. The author of the article left the festivities at about 2230 hours with the comment that "30 die-hards were still going strong". Saturday morning the Powered Paraglider pilots and the fixed wing pilots departed on two different routes to collect their winning cards. The day ended with the playing of the poker hand collected by the participating pilots. Len Alt held the winning hand with three Aces and donated his winnings to the Rich Pendergist Memorial Fund. A very nice gesture, Len.

Club One's other report concerned the 16th Annual Father's Day Fly In to Footlight Ranch in Wellsville, Pennsylvania. After a number of consecutive years of cloudy skies, strong winds and/or rain and muddy runways, the weekend of June 17th 2005 was nearly perfect! Quoting from Club One's newsletter, "Flyers responded by flying and driving to the Ranch in near record numbers. The flyers ranged from powered parachutes to Ultralights to GA. Many drove motor homes trailing aircraft and other vehicles. Aircraft lined the full length of the near side of the runway (2200+ feet)and nearly a third of the far side." Official records show that 75 Pilots from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, the District of Columbia and Delaware registered at the event headquarters tent, and those present know that there were a number of pilots who flew in, but neglected to register. It was conjectured that more pilots would have made the trip had it not been for the weekend extension of the Camp David prohibited area which greatly lengthened the flying time for pilots based south of Frederick, Maryland. The only other less-than-perfect occurrence were the increased winds that blew in (no pun intended) in the early afternoon requiring cancellation of the planned competitive events. The picnic dinner of roast pork and bar-b-q chicken served on Saturday by host, John Shreve, was surpassed only by the Prime Rib and Crab Leg dinner served on Friday evening. For those who wanted to eat between breakfast (also served by John) and dinner, the flight line "chuck wagon" served hot dogs, hamburgers and chili (with all the 'fixins') throughout the three day weekend. The food, the swimming pool, the runway and the helpful folks (Club 201, Club 1, Club 20 and Club 4) who organized and ran this event made it truly an USUA Signature Event. We look forward to next year and another Father's Day Fly In at Footlight Ranch.

Those of us in the East are anticipating Club 20's Annual Charity Fly In supporting Mercy Medical/Angel Flight on 23 July at the Franklin County Regional Airport (N68) in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

We'll close this month's Around the Patch with another look into our mechanics tool box (courtesy of the Albuquerque Ultralight Association):

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER - Normally used to stab lids of old-style paper and tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt. Can also be used, as the name implies, to round off Phillips screw heads.

Safe flight starts with a good preflight. It's too late to tighten anything once you are at 500 feet.