By Jerry Rosie (USUA #A86096)

The 15th of September signals that the beginning of autumn is just around the corner.

For some, it is the beginning of the last days of flying for another year, but for others it is the start of those cool, crisp days whose compacted air molecules bring increased engine power and improved lift. In short, while many of the annual Fly Ins have entered the history books, there are many more days of flying available to help sharpen your skills before the bluster of winter slows down activity of those of us north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Before we close out the summer Fly In season, however, we are entertained by Indiana's Terre Haute Ultralight Club's account of the Keedot Fly In as published in their newsletter "Tailwinds". The weekend of July 15th saw guests and competitors from all over Indiana and Illinois descend on Terry Brentlinger's air strip where Terry headed up the effort to ensure that everyone was well fed and well entertained.

Eleven Powered Parachutists competed in the weekend's events which started with a Saturday Morning Poker Run with a slight "twist" in the rules and procedures. Each competitor was given a map of the surrounding area with five landing strips highlighted. The object was to fly to each strip and identify the symbol that had been placed on the ground. Each correctly identified symbol, allowed the competitor to draw one card from a deck of cards, with the best hand declared the winner of the event. Neil Toller took this event with a hand containing Kings and Fours.

The afternoon's events were much anticipated since previous National Champions Niles Newton and Butch Mood were scheduled to compete in the trifacta. This included a three stage bean bag toss, a two throw lawn dart toss and the inevitable spot landing contest. Each of these events was to be completed in a single flight consisting of three passes down the runway. As could be expected, those competitors waiting their turn to fly, showed the general good sportsmanship and camaraderie of the group by shouting encouragement to their rivals, as calls of "Be sure you grab the correct bean bag" and "Just how long have you had that oil leak" filled the air.

The bean bag toss consisted of dropping one bean bag into each of three pans of water placed on the runway. The strategy of this event called for flying low and slow and "skipping" the bean bag off the ground and into the pan of water. The chronicler of this event reports that "No bag found the water", but one competitor came awfully close as his thrown bag skipped directly into the pan only to hop directly back out again. (It is not reported if he received any points for the almost good attempt.)

The next pass consisted of dropping two lawn darts on two targets on the runway. The observers, having witnessed the accuracy of the pilots in the bean bag competition, wisely backed off a considerable distance to watch this event. Lynn Walton garnered first place, with Niles Newton taking second, and Steve Boswell placing third.

The third and final event, the spot landing competition, consisted of placing the right rear wheel of the PPC vehicle closest to a spot marked on the field. Steve Boswell took first place in this event and the closeness of the competition is born out by the fact that it was only a matter of two inches that separated Niles Newton's second place from Butch Mood's third place finish.

With such a close competition, it was no surprise that when all points were counted, there was a tie for Overall First Place with Steve Boswell taking the tie breaker because of his higher place finish in the spot landing contest, Niles Newton took home the second place award and Lynn Walton rounded out the top three finishers.

Throughout the day everyone in attendance feasted on fine food and enjoyed the competitions, the hangar flying, the aircraft inspections, the tales that all start with "You won't believe this, but...." and a few demonstrations of what happens when a bowling ball is dropped from 1000 feet.

Further evidence of the energy that this group has generated, is the fact that this Fly In took place amid new improvements to the hangar at "Keedot International Airport". Volunteers had installed a new concrete floored kitchen area and bathroom with hot and cold running water. The kitchen includes a microwave, a refrigerator, a soda machine and, of course, the kitchen sink. These improved facilities have given rise to an impromptu "Thursday Evening Hangar Talk" which is fast becoming an established social event. These folks are also talking about more improvements, to include the possibility of another hangar to be constructed to support the growing interest in Ultralighting in the Terre Haute area.

Congrats to USUA Club 195, a vibrant and energetic group!

We will not comment further on the disaster that has visited our Gulf Coast, knowing that each and every USUA member has or will contribute to the extent they deem appropriate.

But, in closing, we can not forget to dip into our mechanic's tool bag to find:

HACKSAW - One of a family of cutting tools based on the chaos principle. It transforms human energy into crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

Fly for fun - But - Fly Safe!!