Enroute Monday, July 8 Tuesday, July 9 Wednesday, July 10 Thursday, July 11 Friday, July 12

Tuesday, July 9: All-out Speed Race, BFRs, Custer State Park Tour The all-out speed race was a little more exciting that we probably wanted it to be, this year. The 7:30am pilot briefing (after being up late at Mt Rushmore the night before) was as entertaining as ever. There were over 20 entries in the race, so it took a little while to get all the planes launched. The first hitch in the race occured after the first 3 or 4 planes had travelled a few miles west of Spearfish. Apparently all that lightning from the night before set off over a dozen forest fires in the area, including a couple small fires right along our route. No new TFRs for fire fighting activity had been posted and earlier in the morning, you couldn't see the smoke very well until you past the first ridge on your way to the finish point (Gillete, WY). Some of the first few planes came a little close to the fire, which upset the pilot of a Navajo that was supporting the fire fighting efforts. After alot of frustrated and confused exchanges on both sides of the radio, we quickly agreed to stay well north of the area (now that we knew it existed). Then, to make matters worse, right in the midst of the exhange between the race planes and the fire fighters, Jim Turner reported that we had lost his number two cylinder and that we was going down to land at Sundance airport (the closet airport to him at the time). Jim made a great precautionary landing at Sundance, which turned out to be closed and had a few barricades. Jim reported safe on the ground at Sundance but many of the race pilots that were behind him, flew over just to make sure they were okay. Unfortunately a few pilots standing around on the ground at Spearfish had a handheld radio with them and caught just a fragment of Jim's first transmission, to the effect of "...lost a cylinder...going down..." So for about 30 anxious minutes, Ron was pretty sure I had gone down in flames (I was, of course, safe-and-sound acting as Safety-Pilot for Mitch). Anyway, to make a long-story short, Jim Turner is expecting a replacement cylinder by Thursday. I should have the official race results posted tomorrow, but I can safely say that Dick McSpadden smoked Mitch and my tails in the 260hp category. :-) BFRs: Jim Waldron, Paul Thomas, Judy Sorton, and Rollie Zavada have been giving BFRs (Biannual Flight Reviews) all week, but today was Ron's turn to get some dual time with Paul Thomas. It was a nice windy day, so it was a good work-out for Ron. I would recommend flying with Paul sometime, if you get a chance, he's a very smooth and competent Navion pilot. Custer State Park Tour: I sat in on Ron's BFR to pick up some tips, and ended up not getting back to the hotel in time to catch the bus to Custer State Park, so we just did a little local flying. I'll have to let someone else report on the Custer tour, but I hear it was an enjoyable time.