LoPresti Newsletter Sept Oct 2009

First Sat – Mid Ohio

Our first LoPresti First Saturday in our new building; to me it was another moment in history for our LoPresti team. Every employee chips in, adding his or her many talents to make every First Saturday a fun, memorable event. If you haven’t seen the new office facilities and hangar, go to the LoPresti site and view a few of the clips David put together. The Hangar is the first GREEN hangar in the state of Florida. Yes, we’re proud of it for several reasons and it’s the hangar where we are building three conformity Furies for the final step of FAA certification. The facility looks like a golf resort complete with palm trees and landscaping, first class all the way.

I went to Sebastian a few days early for a little maintenance, oil change, etc., and also so I could go to dinner with Wayne and Carol Boggs the night before his talk at First Saturday. If you aren’t familiar with Wayne, he is the Air Boss who runs Sun-N-Fun, Oshkosh and many other air shows around the country. Having worked with him at many shows, I must say, is always a pleasure. He’s a true pro. His wife, Carol, was with him, a most pleasant lady who told us stories of flying their PT-19. Wayne was with the FAA for a number of years as an Air Traffic Controller, working towers around the country. He had some interesting stories as a controller at O’Hare airport in Chicago. As a senior controller he got involved with the Chicago lake front show and others followed.

Wayne’s talk at First Saturday was great. He gave a behind the scenes view of what has to be done and how he does he does it all. Working with all of the world’s greatest performers at premiere shows has allowed him to earn an outstanding reputation. I’m proud to call him friend. I also had other friends in attendance, Gene of the AeroShell team, Joe Griffin, the airport Manager, the Mayor, and many other regulars. If you haven’t made a LoPresti First Saturday, it’s every first Saturday of the month. Put it on your list. It’s worth it just to watch RJ in his wizard hat give his science presentation or David MC the event; he should have been a game show host.

I flew back to Dallas on Sunday but was delayed by fog till 10 AM. Just a note of safety, I counted 6 towers on my flight that weren’t on the charts or my updated GPS. I don’t know what the deal is but if you’re running around below the clouds DON’T count on your GPS pointing out all the towers.

With a few days home to catch up on emails and get clean clothes, I once again was flight planning for Ohio. The Mid-Ohio Fly-In is a super event held at Urbana, Ohio, the home of Grimes Lights. Yes, they had the Beech 18 flying lab there along with several hundred airplanes. Like most fly-ins, the aircraft were beautiful, ranging from a B-17 to J3 Cubs and light sport aircraft. It was the first time in a long time that I saw five Twin Comanches and several Aztecs together along with straight tail 182s, 172s all looking like they were just delivered from the factory. The Twin Comanche with the LoPresti cowling and other mods looked modern, like it was made this year.

We all know a good fly-in is not just the airplanes, it’s the people, the brotherhood of aviation and this fly-in, MERFI as its known, had it all. The perky airport Manager, Carroll, was outgoing with aviation interest that matched anyone present. The event was very organized with aircraft parking, ground crews, registration, displays and events for everyone. Friends, oh I saw many, Jim Bede, Jim Jr., Steve, Bobbie and Chris Thompson who put on the big air show at Jacksonville, FL, last spring and too many others to mention. I will mention Bill Steele, inventor of the Virtual HUD, which projects any information onto the back of your propeller. You read me right, a heads up display on the back of your propeller! Bill had me pull the instrument shield off the Fury so he could fit the Virtual HUD that he is putting in the Fury. You can project anything onto the prop, instruments, GPS, TCAS, weather, movies etcetera. Now you combine this with RJ’s Intuition I-Pod unit and BAM, I can now watch the football game on Sunday afternoon flying home from an air show. Humm, for the FAA types, I won’t watch, I may glance every once in a while – NO, I will peek —- wait, it’s on the prop so I can watch where I’m flying and the game at the same time. Thank you, GOD, for RJ and Bill.

I also gave a talk on Saturday and had a new request from the attendance. There was a lovely lady who asked me to tell them the Bearcat beer story. I haven’t told many people that story. When I worked for Bede in Newton, KA, on the BD5 program, I would commute from LA to Newton in my Bearcat. Well we couldn’t get Coors beer in LA, so I would buy 12 plus cases and put them in the gun bays and ammo bays to take back to LA for friends. On this particular day as I was leaving, a good friend and chief test pilot for Beechcraft, Bob Stone, was taxiing out in the T-34C turboprop. Beech had the engine turned up to 850 SHP and it was hot, no doubt. As he taxied by he said over the radio, “Corkey, take off with me and I’ll show you how a real airplane climbs.” I knew how the Bearcat climbed, like a cat with its tail on fire or, as it was noted in the Navy, like a home sick angel. So, I followed him out.

We lined up on the runway, I let him start then went by him like he was stopped and started a big climbing turn about 7500 FPM. I saw Bob climbing in a circle also about 4000 FPM, very impressive. We made several turns and I was going through 12000 FT. and well above him and decided to start overhead runs on him. I dove vertically on Bob. I wasn’t worried how tight he could turn because he couldn’t turn as tight as I could roll. I made several overheads on him, diving to about 8000 FT. then zooming back to 12000 FT. and back at him again. I was turning around for another run on the T-34C when Bob yelled over the radio “Corkey, BREAK IT OFF, BREAK IT OFF, YOU HAVE FUEL POURING OUT OF YOUR WINGS.”

I thought, fuel out of my wings? The Bearcat doesn’t have any fuel in the wings!

I looked at my wings left and right and saw the prettiest golden foam you ever saw coming out the gun bays and off the trailing edge. The Coors beer cans had exploded and beer was everywhere, some floating away in big balls of foam. As I looked around the sky it looked like a bubble bath with foam floating in the sky. I told Bob what it was, he laughed, I laughed and headed back to LA. On the ground I sat on the wing throwing empty beer cans out of the gun bays. We saved seven cans out of all that beer and, yes, the cans were distorted and the beer well shaken. As an after thought I realized if I had had an accident the FAA would have said he was drunk for the Bear smelled like a brewery.

MERFI is worth the trip and another one to put on your list. Great people, great planes, great fun. I will head back to TX and start planning the next flight, the Grace Flight air show at Sherman, TX, then the next weekend is the CAF war bird show in Midland, TX. We still have the NBAA, AOPA and Evergreen, AL, Fly-in yet to do.