Next Meeting - The next meeting will be Monday, December 7, 1998 at 7:30 p.m. at Greenville Downtown Airport, in the meeting room. All are invited. This will be our annual Christmas get-together. Bring a few tasty snacks if you desire, but none required.

November Meeting – Robert Bryant of the Greenwood EAA Chapter1023 gave an enthusiastic talk about heart conditions and regaining one’s medical. Good advice all around: healthy diet, exercise and a positive way to relieve stress go a long way, not just for flight physicals.

Flying Tales - This month’s tale is by Bill Binford. A good pilot learns as much as he can about the aircraft he flies, even if it is not needed for the current flight. Never know when that bit of trivia may be the ‘get out of jail’ card you need to return to normal cruise.

Any other I learned about flying from that stories from the members would be appreciated, both for the lessons learned the cheap way and for their story value. Everyone who has attended a meeting knows how much we love a good hangar tale, and the smart pilots stay around to hear more of them.

‘ I learned to fly while I was going to Georgia Tech in 1951. The Tech flying club had an Aeronca Champ that they rented for $3.75 an hour, wet. Eighty octane was 35 cents a gallon. After I soloed I figured that was too expensive so I bought a 1946 Luscombe for $650. I had about $800 in it when I got it in the air. I had a tie down a Fulton County, now Charlie Brown, for $5.00 a month. During this time I had a close friend who I let fly the Luscombe. He also had learned to fly with the Tech Flying Club.

One day we were at the airport and got into an argument about spins. He said in a spin you would keep gaining speed as you were headed down. I said you would hit some speed and it

wouldn’t increase since you were in a stalled condition and it would stabilize. To settle the argument we decided to find out, so we hopped into the Luscombe, took off and started to climb. While we were climbing we spotted a small cloud. After looking around for traffic we decide to fly through it. We went in OK and seemed to be flying straight and level and the next thing we knew we came busting out of the bottom. This made an impression on both of us emphasizing the fact that you can’t maintain a straight and level attitude without some references, either visual or by instruments. The only thing we had was a level attached to the panel. When we got to 5000 feet we spun the plane at least eight or nine turns. As I had predicted the indicated air speed went up to about 120 and stopped. The spin was smooth. It didn’t tighten up after a few turns like some

planes. That settled that.

Many years later he told me of an episode while on a flight in the Luscombe from Memphis back to Atlanta. He didn’t check weather and encountered a cloud layer. He proceeded on top. The layer tops got higher and higher and he kept climbing. Finally he realized that he couldn’t get over it so he did a 180. It had socked in behind him. He knew he couldn’t fly into the clouds. He said the only way he could think of to get down in a "known" attitude was to spin it. He did just that. He spun from about 6000 feet and broke out at about 1500 feet. He said that was the smartest thing he had ever done but getting into that situation was the dumbest thing he had ever done.

I thought back to that day and the two things we had learned. One, you can’t fly in clouds without some references and two, this plane had stable spin characteristics. What would have

happened if we had not had the curiosity to investigate?’

Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are held in the front conference room located in the main terminal building of the Greenville Downtown Airport, Cornerstone Aviation, 100 Tower Drive, first Monday of every month at 7:30 PM. The Chapter 249 Newsletter of the Experimental Aircraft Association is a monthly publication and is distributed to all members in good standing of Chapter 249. Any articles, items, stories, etc., contained within are not to be interpreted as 100% factual. Reproduction and use of material printed in this publication is approved and encouraged, and permission of EAA Chapter 249 is not required unless stated otherwise. Kindly cite the source as the Chapter 249 Newsletter. Articles published herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Chapter, the editor, membership, or officers. The deadline for items to be published is Monday following the monthly meeting. All copy and other materials should be mailed to the Newsletter Editor at 115 Greenbrier Dr., Simpsonville, SC 29680 or Emailed to john@cdynamics.com.

E.A.A. CHAPTER 249

P.O. BOX 5792

GREENVILLE, SC 29606