CVRC Spring Aerotow Festival

Held Saturday and Sunday March 23rd & 24th at the new all grass! club field. "Russell Pond Flying Field" Visalia California. Contact Chris Pratt cmesoar@quik.com .
Monologue by Rick Briggs

The first annual Spring Aerotow was a great success due to a lot of hard work by Chris Pratt. The event brought flyers from all over the Country and Canada. John Derstine from New York, Pete George from Missouri, Steve Dentz from Washington, Ted Willett from Maui and Fred China from Canada.

On Friday the usual 15 or so hard core flyers showed up to get in on the great weather and the CVRC facilities. The flying conditions were fantastic, lots of unstable air and thermals everywhere. Towing started around 1:30 and continued all day till 6:30, when it was time to think about dinner.

Saturday mornings sign in reveled 36 pilots ready for the weekends festivities. After the 9 am Pilots meeting, the event turned into a very fun weekend. As on Friday, the conditions had unstable air which made very good thermal conditions. Blue sky's and cloud streaks forming every where, had every one in line for a tow right away, Tony Elliot's 10.3 meter "ETA" was the highlight of the day. This was Tony's maiden flight, and as the Brits say it was "bloody spectacular ", and I have to say Tony's effort to design and build large scale ships has reached what I consider the zenith of the sport, but wait, what's next Tony?

As the day went on we all had the feeling that rain might be in the days activities, and so it came to be , around 4 in the afternoon a rain squall came through and we all had just enough time to hide are ships under cars, trailers and anything that would protect our toys. It made for an interesting day as we all found an easy up or tent to gather under and watched a monsoon turn into a hail storm. With all that, we all had a great time sharing storyies while we waited for the squall to pass. About an hour passed and the weather cleared, we all made haste to dry out our ships, pack them up, get to are hotels, and get ready for the big banquet at "Little Italy"

Sunday started out cold and overcast but by 11 am the sky's cleared and it turned out to be another fantastic day at Visalia. Many thanks go out to Chris Pratt and the Visalia club for what I am sure will be a great west coast annual event. And a special thanks to the tow Pilots, and there commitment to are sport, with out them, Aero towing would not exist. Thanks to Denny Corderro, Oregon, Bob Machi, Washington, Steve Dentz, Washington, Walt Torgerson, California and Paul Kopp, California.

This column comes a couple of weeks after the March Visalia Spring Aero-Tow Festival, which for those of you who didn't make it, is a "gotta come" for next year. The event attracted about 35 pilots, and a wide diversity of both vintage and modern sailplanes. There were pilots from literally all over the United States - New York, Hawaii and Canada. One of the attendees was John Derstine, designer of the increasingly popular Pegasus tow plane, and owner of Endless Mountain Models, US distributor for EMS sailplanes. During the busy weekend John and I were able to spend some time talking about the Pegasus and the growing interest in aero-towing.

With 36 pilots, and a greater number of sailplanes, the tow planes and tow pilots were kept busy for three days. The tow planes proved their worth at Visalia, needing not much more than a refueling and an occasional charge. There were two DA-100 powered Pegasus', a J&A 3.2 powered Spacewalker, and Walt Torgensen's well-known modified Robin with a 3W-78. Steve Dentz brought his Moki radial powered Cmelak, but due to an erratic motor, chose not to tow with it. He did fly it around a bit, and it is really something to see fly. It is also extremely quiet, quite a change from the other tow-planes. We're looking forward to seeing it fly once Steve gets the motor dialed in. Rick Briggs also has a Cmelak and a Moki, and after Visalia, perhaps some new inspiration to finish it

One of the more unusual airplanes was Mark Foster's 5.7m Super Dimona, a G-45cc gas engine powered glider, with a conventional front mounted engine/prop installation. The Dimona also features a FEMA auto-start, which allows the engine to be started automatically, using the transmitter. Originally, the idea was to kill the engine at altitude, and then land like a glider. However, it became obvious during the initial flights that leaving the engine at idle for the duration of the flight was a better option. The exhaust system on the Dimona is exceptionally quiet, so while it may not be scale to drive around with the prop turning, it works well, is quiet, and gives the pilot far more control during landing. A number of pilots flew the Dimona over the course of the weekend, and all commented on how stable the airplane was, and despite its fixed gear, large canopy, and prop, still flew like a glider. But the best part is that when it's time to fly, one merely taxis out to the runway, and up you go. And once up, forty-five minute flights are well within the Dimona's capabilities on even an "okay" day. Look for the Dimona at upcoming events.

Thanks to Chris Pratt and the Visalia club for their efforts, and playing host to a fun week-end, and a high quality event.