"Hi Terry,
I have to do a fuel consumption check on the Yellow Trike. If I fly over to your house, will you fly your Kitfox Lite and join me for some flying time?"
Terry answers:
"Yes, I have to check to see if the strip is mowed, but that should work fine."
I take off in my yellow Belite Trike and head over to Terry's strip, about a 20 minute flight to the east:
I'm soon over his strip, circling while he gets his plane ready for flight. I circle for 10 minutes while Terry unfolds the wings and gets his engine started. (He recently upgraded to the big 50HP Hirth).
I snap some pictures from my vantage point.
A couple of minutes later, Terry started his takeoff roll. I had a perfect view from on top, and I snapped several pictures of the ultralight aircraft shooting through the field. A wonderful view of Kansas aviation, a small plane rapidly accelerating through a hayfield:
And a moment later, Terry's Kitfox Lite was airborne.
And a moment later, the ultralight aircraft was over the end of the grass strip.
Terry climbed rapidly and joined formation with me. We made some turns, and took lots of pictures of each other. Although it was well over 90 degrees on the ground, the wind over my shoulders, and the coooler temperatures aloft, made for a very comfortable flight. Here's a pic of Terry, flying off my left wing:
I like that pic.
Terry is holding around 55% power to slow down with me. I'm holding about 90% power to keep up with him. (Terry's flying with a 50HP Hirth twin cylinder engine, I'm flying with a 28HP single lung Hirth engine.) Even so, we flit up to about 1500 feet AGL. The temperature is much nicer than on the ground; the air is reasonably calm, and it just feels good to be a pair of airplanes roaming around Kansas.
I don't know why, but Terry decides to fly his airplane through the struts of my airplane. I capture the event in a photograph:
More time passes, and I land. Terry greases a landing right after mine. Here he is on short final, having cleared the bean field in the background:
After carefully measuring my fuel consumption, I've got to put my yellow Belite Trike away in the hangar.
Terry and I talk for a few minutes. He takes off, and heads back home as well.
Wonderful flight. Thanks Terry, for flying with me.
-- James
