Arty's Ultimate Ultralight Adventure

Thursday, April 23, 2009

It’s 6:45 a.m. and the light is beginning to seep through my eyelids. I’m curled in my sleeping bag, cozy and warm and not inclined to move. The inclination changes as I hear the deep “WHOOOOSSSHHHH,” “WHOOOOSSSHHHH,” “WHOOOOSSSHHHH,” of the burners of the balloons. They’re about to rise, and I wonder if I should forsake the coziness of my tent just to get some pictures. No, I saw them yesterday (with a dead camera battery,) and I’ll get up and out tomorrow in time for pictures.

Now there’s the murmur of a waking campground – a campground unlike any other, filled with ultralights and ultralight-type Experimental Light Sport aircraft. The powered parachutes are beginning to fly now, in the calm morning air and their engines are droning mosquitoes, magnified even beyond the fabled Alaskan mosquitoes. I love being in the tent, listening. There’s a light background of conversation as other early risers (the human kind, not the ultralight model) greet each other on the way back from the Honey Buckets and the showers.

For those of you who have never been to a fly-in campground, I’ve included some pictures of the mobile showers – immaculately clean, with wonderfully hot water. After days of sleeping in hangars and washing in cold water in FBO bathroom sinks, it’s a real luxury.

How to describe the excitement of a fly-in this large? I’ve been inundated with sights, sounds, and scents. The weather is perfect – in the mid-80’s, with a breeze. I just have to remember the sunscreen. There’s people, people, people – walking, talking, sitting, eating, gazing longingly at planes, negotiating with vendors and often with spouses for that plane, aircraft gadget, aircraft part they just HAVE to have.

There are vendors, vendors, vendors; everything you can possibly think of that’s plane-related for sale. There’s also booths selling folding chairs and sun screen and sunglasses and t-shirts and you name it. There’s food, food, food. There’s also non-plane related stuff. I saw a booth with cookware. Cookware? Buying cookware at an air show? Of course, since most of the women who come to air shows are non-pilot spouses, I guess they figure it’s a good marketing opportunity.

And of course there’s the educational Forums, the daily airshow, evening movies, and on and on and on. I find it hard to leave the ultralight/Light Sport Aircraft area. So many “birds” to see, so many, many people to talk to.
Here’s a picture of a powered parachute.

And this was part of a helicopter exhibit.

And here’s a fellow who flies a backpack, foot launched powered parachute. His engine and propeller weigh 90 lbs – after he attaches the parachute, he RUNS to get it up in the air, when the engine takes over.

I break away to help set out posters for my talks about the flight; LetsGoFlying.com/SNF, my primary flight sponsor, is giving me 30-45 minutes for the next three mornings to talk about the flight. I feel a little odd that everyone wants to talk with me about the flight instead of Randy and me. Randy says it’s because it was my dream, and he’s just tagging along. I also know it’s because I’m a woman, and that’s more unusual than a man flying this far. Plus, most people are astounded that I’m flying in an open cockpit aircraft.

One of the people who interviewed me is Tim Kern, a professional writer who’s written for several dozen aviation magazines. When Tim found out that I had flown cross-country with only a Garmin 12 hiker’s GPS, he was astounded. And he did something about it – he introduced me to the folks at Control Vision, which manufactures and sells an amazing GPS navigator…the Anywhere Travel Companion. (www.anywheremap.com) I’m going to use one of their ATCs on my flight home. I’ll get a tutorial this Saturday, although I’ve been assured that it’s totally intuitive. WOW! Thank you Tim, for connecting me, and thank you, Control Vision, for letting me try it out.

Tuesday was the first day of the show, and I received a package from Minnesota – personally delivered to me at my plane! “Are you Arty Trost?” asked a voice? And when I said “Yes,” he thrust a box at me. On the front was the picture from my blog – the one of me crouching next to my Drifter – and the words “Arty Trost Congratulations, you made it half way!” It was a box of cookies from Jon and Kathy LaVassseur. I met Jon 2 years ago at a Kolb Fly-In in Monument Valley and we flew and took pictures of each other in the air. Kathy’s cookies are the talk of the Monument Valley Fly-In, and a really welcome addition to my food stash. Thank you Jon and Kathy!! And thanks to Marvin Getten for the hand delivery.

A really funny happening occurred yesterday. As you know, I’m really trying to encourage people to take the first step toward flying. And I especially want to encourage girls to spread their wings, which is why I’m so happy to be supporting the Penelope Pilot Project. I was talking with a pilot (whom I don’t know at all) and he flies a float plane. He mentioned that if I knew any girls who might want a free float plane ride, to send them to him.

A few hours later I talked with a young girl who was very excited about coming to meet me and see my Drifter. I told her parents about the float plane ride offer and gave them the pilot’s phone number. I later found out that when the pilot used the word “girls” – he didn’t mean the under-21-years-old kind!

Speaking of girls, I had a wonderful time meeting a number of girls. One is Natalie Chase, who came with her parents and her brother Nathan. Natalie had already gone to PenelopePilotProject.com website and downloaded Penelope Pilot’s picture; she brought it out to the fly-in and here’s her picture in my Drifter, holding the Penelope Pilot doll who’s been riding in my wing the entire flight.

Here’s her brother Nate. He didn’t want his picture taken with Penelope.

It’s getting dark, so I think I’m going to sign off for the day.