Today was a hoot!

The wind was calm to 2 mph out of SSE and the clouds went away about 1030 or so. Actually, we were wishing for a little breeze to cool us off after the clouds cleared.  We were entertained by guys trying to Okie bowl. The jugs were set up and Corky, Bob, and Steve tried bowling. Of course Bob was pretty good at it having had more practice than anyone. Steve blasted around the sky towing the tetherball on a 40 foot rope, and attempting to line up with the pins (old fuel jugs). But that is easier said than done. Most attempts ended up towing the ball through the weeds to the west of the runway. Steve finally got tired of trying to get the ball to hit the pins and flew the airplane into the jugs knocking down a bunch of them. I’m not sure the rules cover Kamikaze bowling. Corky provided the best airshow towing the ball round and round and knocking down a lot of weeds, but not even close to the pins. Even when attempting to line up with the runway like a landing approach, some mysterious force of nature kept pulling the aircraft to the west. The one time he got lined up perfectly, the ball bounced right over the jugs– no score! Corky made some low altitude sharp turns with the ball in the grass and the plane kept stopping in the air as the ball hung up on weeds.  But each time the ball got loose just in time to let the airplane recover and keep flying. This was exciting. On one pass he got too far to the east and it looked like the ball was gonna hit the peanut gallery sitting in the shade of the shed.  I thought the ball was gonna get hung up on the building, but he cheated fate again and kept on going. Finally Corky came across the field from the west with the engine dead stick. The ball hung up in the grass and Corky’s plane did a nose dive into the ground. He got high scores for a nose plant, but none for pins.

Jack considered towing a ping pong ball with his F-22 foamie, but decided against it.  Clem was too chicken to try towing with the marginally powered Phoenix Telemaster, though the airframe would be perfect.  Everyone else was too smart to even try it.  Those with bowling experience, like Mike, left the entertainment to others this time.

There were about a dozen or more pilots there today, flying a bunch of airplanes–Clem, Paul, Gene, Bob, Steve, Mike, Corky, Tom, Jack, and several others that I can’t remember.  It was a good flying day, but started to get hot about noon. When I left, there were still some hardy souls flying.

Fun day in Paradise.

Clem