Saturday July 15, 2006

Interesting flight to Greenville yesterday evening. Stayed under the class C outer level, but still flew within 7 or 8 miles of the Gateway Arch. At one point the sun was at just the right angle, and the arch seemed to light up. Wouldn't you know it, this was the first flight in weeks that I wasn't carrying the camera. Batteries were recharging.

Greenville is Roy Beisswenger's base of operations, and he took us out for a breakfast that was quite unbelievable. The quality and amount of food served, for the price, was (as I said a minute ago) unbelievable. No need for lunch.

While we were eating I mentioned to Roy that I wasn't satisfied with the way my chute was trimmed. I've been "futzing" with it for over 2,000 miles, and although I can usually trim a chute fairly quickly, I simply hadn't been able to get this one flying to my satisfaction.

Roy took it upon himself to solve the problem, and we spent most of the day experimenting and working on it. Roy (similar to Morris Yoder) is a font of knowledge concerning everything PPC related. Watching him work on the problem was a learning experience.

I thought it best if Roy flew the Voyager so as to experience the results of the various adjustments being made. He did so three times, which made Roy the first person, other than myself, to pilot Voyager. Some time in the near future I'll insert comments here about that experience, in Roy's own words.

I'd given two radio interviews to Greenville stations, and was hoping to fly to Terre Haute (HUF) this evening. But due to a delay related to the attachment of the oil cooling fan (the only ongoing glitch we're still experiencing, but hope to solve soon), I decided to fly early tomorrow morning. It will be a 119 mile flight.