Spectators enjoyed looking at the control-line planes in the pits for the Chehalis Air Fair flying demonstration. All photos by Bill Heher.
I drove up to Chehalis, Wash., from my temporary home at the Hillsboro Towne Place Suites / model building & repair shop. Brought the repaired Oriental Profile in case they needed someone to demonstrate basic / beginner flight and maybe my famous " 1 point landing"! (Editor's note: See Numerous Fragments for the story of the Oriental's crash and repair.)
It was a beautiful day -- but got kind of warm, the hot temps were giving a few of us problems with needle setting / starting. The Japanese Auto-Gyro and the Formation 4 had no problem with power, and throttle control added excitement to the Gyro's flights, fast pass then slow down to taxi, roll along for a 1/4 lap, then goose the throttle and jump almost vertical to cruising altitude. Very cool.
Bill D's EDF He-162 put up a flawless flight. A flip of the switch and it spools up and starts rolling, gets to take-off speed and climbs away, cruises around rock solid with that cool whistling / whine it makes, after a few minutes the motor controller blips the throttle a few times to signal "Prepare for Landing," then it shuts down and glides in.
There was a plane in the air most of the time, so spectators who wandered over got to see either a stunt / sport flight, an Auto-gyro, full blown PA ship, carrier plane or a combat plane in action.
Speaking of the combat guys -- I saw several times where groups of spectators were headed back to the main air show area, a combat plane would fire up and launch. Invariably they would stop and turn -- then drop their jaws and gasp in amazement as a combat wing started it's wild and heart pounding gyrations.
The combat circle was set up on the grass and those guys were still going when we sun burnt and dehydrated sport / stunt guys pulled up stakes and headed to Bill ds house for some A/C and a delicious dinner.
I got a few pics and some short video clips of the Auto-Gyro and Bill's Formation 4 flying, and his He-162 EDF. That Japanese Auto-gyro camo sure works against the backdrop of hills! Hard to spot in the Low-n-slow pic.
Thanks to everyone for the hospitality- I love coming up here to the Pacific N.W. It is like CL paradise!
-- Bill Heher, NW Fireballs Traveling Ambassador
Editor's note: Bill Heher lives in Florida but travels to Portland, Ore., frequently and is a member of the Northwest Fireballs.
Bill Darkow prepares his autogyro for flight.
Darkow's "formation" flying setup always wows the crowd.
Planes lined up and ready for demo flying.
This page was upated Aug. 4, 2009