By (USUA #A86096)

We will open this month's column with what I think is an appropriate "Welcome" to the Shenandoah Flyers, USUA Club 603, of Greenwich, Ohio. I think a "Welcome" is appropriate because I can't remember having received a news letter from them in the past. If, I'm in error, folks, I apologize. If I am not in error, I say again - Welcome! Good to have you aboard and I look forward to receiving many more interesting news letters from you folks. From reading this newsletter, I get the impression that this joint USUA/EAA club is a very active organization with Young Eagles events, visiting speakers, Air Rallies, and bus trips scheduled for the near future.

Next, I want to thank the Black Mesa flyers (Club 555, of Prescott, Arizona) for mentioning this column in their August Newsletter. Any of you are most welcome to "lift, quote or republish" anything that you find interesting or informative here in your club newsletters. Our main reason for existence is to spread the word and share info about ultralighting and flying in general. It is too bad that we don't have enough space (nor I the time) to pass on all of the interesting articles contained in the many newsletters we receive monthly. For example, the Black Mesa Flyers August newsletter contains a two page article about Budd Davisson's experiences flying the Fieseler Storch. For those of you who are not familiar with this airplane, it has a reputation of being able to take off and land on a postage stamp, but is also considered by many as one of the top ten ugliest airplanes in existence. Budd also indicates that this airplane can be a 'handful'. He writes, "I started the throttle forward, and the exhaust tone of an old circle-track stock car rumbled over me and the airplane lunged forward. I pushed forward with the stick in an effort at raising the tail, but nothing happened. At first I thought the tail must weigh a ton. The stick pressures were enormous. In fact, I found I could barely move it with one hand, so I wedged my shoulder against the seat and really gave the stick a shove. The tail sagged into the air, but even as the tailwheel left the ground, 40 knots showed up on the clock. I relaxed just a little and suddenly found myself above the trees, moving vertically, indicating 60 knot, which was top of the white arc and 20 knots above climb speed."

Sounds like an awesome old airplane. Budd ends his article with this. "What is it about a Fiesler Storch that appeals to something in all of us? It certainly isn't the Storch's blazing 70 knots or its 1600 rpm full throttle sound. Nor is it loved for its streamlined gracefulness. Maybe it's the idea of having an airplane that converts your backyard into an airport, or maybe it's the part the Storch has played in history. For me, the Storch has appeal because it doesn't try to be pretty. It's a good honest ugly and doesn't seem to care."

Don Cripe of the Top Fun Flyers (USUA Club 45 of Boise, Idaho) shares his thoughts with us in an article titled "A Story the Author Did Not Get to Write" which he starts off with "We all enjoy a good adventure story, and I include myself in this." He then goes on to give examples of stories that get the adrenaline flowing - the forced landing in a farmer's field because of an approaching thunder storm, the off airfield repair of a broken fuel line, finding a useable landing strip just before dark because the GPS stopped working, and I got lost - all exciting reading. But, Don points out, these stories may just as well have ended "Joe Flyer, pilot, killed in an airplane crash". While we don't get as much of a thrill from reading stories that follow the line of, "went to the airport in time to do a thorough preflight to include airworthiness, weather forecast, flight planning, and TFR check, made a pleasant, but uneventful flight for a hamburger and returned to my home airfield as planned", it is certainly what we would like all pilots to experience. "Adventure stories" usually result when we don't do something we know we should do. It is much like those folks who go hiking in early winter, in the mountains, in unfamiliar terrain and get lost, thereby requiring good folks to risk their lives rescuing them. There is really no valid reason to turn every flight into an "adventure". All that is needed is to do what we all know we should do - and just enjoy the flight. There is nothing wrong with flying in smooth air, above beautiful scenery, in a well-maintained airplane and returning to make a textbook landing at your home field. It is fun, and it keeps those ugly stories of the danger of Ultralight airplanes out of the local newspaper.

Now it's time to check out Albuquerque's "Laws of the Natural Universe"

• Law of the Telephone - When you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal.
• Law of Coffee - As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, someone will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold. Or its corollary - As soon as the flight attendant delivers your cup of hot coffee, the airplane will enter an area of extreme turbulence.

That's it for this month, folks. Blue sky and soft landings to you all. (Four more months left to take advantage of the 'grandfather clause' to get your Sport Pilot license)