Petit Jean Fly-In ReportOctober 1-3, 2004
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The First annual Petit Jean Fly-In was held October 1st –3rd and was deemed a huge success! Bobby Livingston organized the event and was basically just him going down the BFI list and word of mouth. A total of 10 pilots showed up, some camping out in tents at the campground, some slept out in their PPC trailers, and others stayed in their R.V. at different places in the park. Petit Jean Mountain is
situated along the Arkansas River. Atop the mountain (which is almost a
1000 feet in elevation) is a state park with lots of camping, a beautiful
waterfall and many hiking trails. Bob Livingston got in on Thursday and was able to fly right away. My plan was to get there early Friday, set up camp and be ready to fly Friday afternoon. I checked the forecast Friday morning, and it was calling for a small chance of rain, but windy until Sunday. Did not look good at all! SO instead of rushing around the house getting packed up, I just kind of piddled around instead. Well I finally got loaded up and on the way about 3:30 and got there right around 5. I was sure glad I got there when I did! Several pilots were saddling up to get ready to fly. Now the big dilemma was to either A) Take advantage of great flying weather and get up in the air, OR B) Be responsible and get the camp set up so when Stephanie got there we could cook and eat. Hmmmm… Bobby came up to introduce himself and to put a face with a name. We had talked several times over email about the fly-in and it was great to finally meet him in person. The conversation was short and we were soon off the ground! We were flying 50 feet above ground and trees heading towards the river, all of a sudden the ground drops away as you leave the mountain. The view opens up to an expansive view and we are now 1000 feet above the earth. We power back to glide down to the valley floor, and enjoy the smooth as glass air. We flew together exploring the terra and the new sights. Several pilots even saw bald eagles in the air. The sun was setting fast so we made the ascent back to head towards the airport. Stephanie (My fiancé) arrived soon after I landed and lucky for me didn’t mind helping get the tent set up in the dark! Bobby and Jay Gill saw us fumbling around in the dark trying to get it put together and gave us a much needed hand! Soon after that, I got our fire started and cooked us some nice, fat steaks. We relaxed next to a crackling campfire and enjoyed the camaraderie from the other pilots and family. The night air was great for hot chocolate and smores! The next morning started early with sunshine and no wind. The pilots that had arrived to late the night before to fly, were now about to get a real treat! We all fueled up, warmed up our engines and got ready to do some serious flying. While waiting for some of the other pilots to get in the air, some of us buzzed the sand bars along the river. Once everyone was up, we grouped together to fly in loose formation around the mountain. It’s hard to put into words the incredible sights. I will have to let the pictures do the talking! Some of the highlights included the Episcopal church camp with a wonderful chapel overlooking the valley, the Petit Jean grave lookout, rolling hills, huge rock formations carved over thousands of years by a winding stream (or river), and the real finale, a stunning waterfall! There were lots of campers, hikers, and other folks on the ground waving to us. The scenery here is extraordinary! After a great 2 hours of flying, the winds and thermals were picking up so we all called it a morning and landed. We all gathered around and
talked about the great flight we just had, and then went to our campsites
to get some breakfast. Stephanie and I made a nice big batch of pancakes
and had Bobby’s granddaughter as a guest at our campsite…even though I
couldn’t get her to eat any of them! After wearing ourselves out silly, we headed back to camp to get ready for more flying. A local gyro pilot named Richard Kennedy flew in to visit us. We swapped flying stories and showed us his gyro. Then he gave us a short flying demo before heading back home. Everyone was slowly filtering in from their outings and had the same idea…more air time! The air looked slightly breezy, but certainly not un-flyable. Most pilots were going to do more sightseeing of the mountain top and the valley bellow. I had another idea though. I had been wanting for a while to fly over my grandmother’s house, which was about 20 miles to the north. So now here was the perfect opportunity to do it. I called her right before I took off, and told her to be on the lookout for me. She had never even seen a powered parachute before, so I wanted to make sure she was outside waiting. I held my altitude at around 500 feet where the air was smooth as silk. I had the co-ordinates entered into my GPS and was showing an ETA of around 30 minutes. Sunset was in about an hour and a half, so I figured I had plenty of time to get there and back with time to spare. Getting there was no problem. I had a slight tail wind and cruised at a fast 36 MPH. My mom, grandmother and little niece and nephews were all outside greeting me with big waves when I got there. Knowing I was pressed for time, I only did a few low fly-overs, then waved good-bye. I set the GPS back to Petit Jean airport and then relaxed again for the flight home. The sun was setting fast behind me. My ground speed on the way home initially was around 24 MPH. Halfway back though, the speed began dropping slowly because the wind was picking up. I tried different altitudes, and stayed where I had the fastest speed. The idea of getting back to camp by sunset was slowly fading. Now, not only was I worried about it getting dark on me, but I also had to think about my fuel situation. I had plenty of places to make an emergency landing, but I really wanted to make it back to the field. It seemed no matter how far forward I leaned, or how much I stared at the GPS, I was not getting any faster. My hour long flight was now turning into 2 hours! I knew Stephanie would be worried sick, so I sent her a text message via cell phone. I repeatedly called on the radio, but they still couldn’t hear me. 10 miles out and the sun was well below the horizon. I had to keep my altitude high now to avoid obstacles that normally I could see. Gaining altitude also meant being where the wind was stronger. The head wind was around 12 MPH now, which brought my forward speed to around 18. I could see the silhouette of the mountain and knew it was time to climb higher now. I just happened to look back to check my oil, and by the light of the strobe flashing, I could see that it was well below the minimum line. Just one more thing to sweat!! The elevation of Petit Jean is almost a thousand feet, so I put the throttle in and started the climb up. I was on the leeward side of the mountain with all the wind coming right at me. My speed had now dropped to 15 MPH. We finally made radio contact and I advised them what my situation was. They told me that there would be someone on the road to the airport with their flashers on to help guide me in. I finally saw him and had my landmarks picked out. I headed around the runway to the far end, and there they had about 4 trucks with their headlights pointing down the runway. As I passed over them, they followed me down the runway, illuminating the way. It was a great feeling to feel the tires make contact with the pavement! I quickly powered off and brought the chute behind me. Before I could even unbuckle, my new friends were there to greet and rib me! It really was such a great flight, up until the point where I had so much to worry about! There were many lessons to be learned here. Most importantly, I had many opportunities where I could have easily landed and called one of the pilots to come get me. However, I was to worried about inconveniencing them and just hoped for the best that I would make it back. After getting back to the campsite, I hugged Stephanie and apologized…A LOT! She was pretty worried and I felt awful that I had done that to her. Don’t worry though… I learned my lesson! Once things settled down, we all gathered around the campfire and talked about our flying that had been done that evening. Bobby and several others cooked up some delicious cheeseburgers and smoked sausages for everyone. Everyone was having a great time, and we were already planning for next year! We woke Sunday to another beautiful day. All the pilots were scurrying around getting their engines warmed up and the machines pre-flighted. Smitty and Doc Smith from El Paso showed up and were able to join us for some flying. I ended up flying about 5 miles away to fly over a friend’s house. But before I did that, I decided to see how high I could go. I ended up going to 11,000 MSL. It was bitterly cold there, and the scenery not much better than 5,000 feet. I guess it was just one of those things to say you did it. Once I got there, I just powered down to idle and cruised on back to 200 feet. Then I saw my buddies house and headed back to Petit Jean. We all called it a morning since the thermals were really starting to get active. Soon after landing, we all started packing up and saying our goodbyes. Everyone agreed this had been one of the best fly-ins because of the camping out, scenery, and camaraderie. There were no competitions, lectures, or awards, but still such a great time! If you are looking for a great time around the first of October, this really is one fly-in not to miss!
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Here is list of the attendees: Mike Crowell- Morrilton- kerrymike@cyberback.com J. Ken Edwards-Paragould-kedwards@grnco.net Jay Gill-Rudy-jaygill@aol.com Smitty Smith-ElPaso-smittys4@alltel.net Bobby Livingston-Lake Village-scrap@cei.net James Morgan-Bastrop,La- jamesmorgan@cox-internet.com Dennis McMillian-Carthage,TX- lonestara@sydcom.net Glen Dees-Monroe,LA Richard Kennedy- Morrilton-Gyro Josh Wooding-Little Rock- iresqu@email.com
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