| Volume 2, Issue 1 - January 1, 2004 |
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Ron and De Morton have spent some time in building a beautiful Bede-4. To refresh your memory it is one of Jim Bede’s early designs. A four-place high wing, with an aluminum fuselage and fiberglas wing skins over a tubular aluminum spar. It was really the forerunner of the kits we have today. When you bought Jim’s kit you got a lot of aluminum and dozens of bags of hardware and a set of plans. Theoretically, and for the most part, you had all you needed to finish the airplane except for instruments, interior, engine and paint. At the time this was unheard of. Back then builders had to go out and
buy or scrounge everything. Most chapter meetings we saw the devoted
builders huddled together telling of the latest vendors or surplus sales
where you could buy aviation stuff. It seemed the lazy man’s way
to have someone like Ron has 200 hp in the nose with a Warp Drive, four bladed prop. He chose to install a nose gear from the Grumman trainer, considering it to be better for grass strips. He confirmed it was the correct choice. The interior is superb, thanks to De and the exterior work is first class. Ron had the FAA guy out Monday for the inspection and was anxious to fly. He had done a few taxi tests and a run-up at full power. On his last taxi test he was planning to lift off briefly to check the controls and land before he ran out of runway. He said that he didn’t get lift off until he chopped power and pulled back the stick. It then floated a few feet and settled gently onto the runway (You don’t have much room for sporting around on 2200’). I had volunteered to fly chase and was at lunch when they came looking for me. Thanks to the informal communication system at Elm Creek I was informed on my return that Ron had been looking for me and was ready to go. I went over to their place and we worked out the plan. Ron was to lift off at Elm Creek and fly directly to BAZ. That way if his temps started climbing too high he would have their long runways to land on. De would ride with me in the pacer with still and video cameras. I told Ron I would stay on his left and slightly behind at all times. It was up to me to watch him as he had enough to do. With this scenario he would know where I was and could respond accordingly in case of an emergency. Planning completed, De and I went down to my hangar and rolled out the Pacer. We fired it up and took off to circle the field. When Ron heard us go he started the Bede and taxied out to the runway. After a check of controls and instruments Ron radioed that he was ready to go. I lined up and flew down the left side of 14 as he began his take-off roll. De was working the video and we managed to get the timing just right. She was able to capture the entire sequence and we tracked him every bit of the way to about 2000 feet and then dropped back for the trip to BAZ. After we leveled off we flew up FM 735 to the west of Seguin then turned east to pick up Highway 46 to New Braunfels. I had trimmed up but left it at nearly full throttle. I was indicating about 135 mph over the ground and Ron was starting to pull away. He radioed and asked if we were encountering turbulence. I stated that it was mild. Looking out my window I noticed his wings rocking a bit. A short time later he radioed back, “I discovered the source of the turbulence.” “What,” I asked. He replied, “Nervous feet on the rudder pedals.” With that understood he smoothed out and flew on to BAZ. I asked him to slow a bit and he did. Upon arriving at New Braunfels we found the windsock to be playing a few games. At first it looked like 31 and we started setting up for that. Ron called in that Experimental was entering left downwind for 31. I chimed in with “Pacer following as chase, will be a flight of two on final.” As we got squared away the wind shifted to favor 13. We radioed in our change and got set up, but then the sock indicated 17. By that time it was too late to change again so we approached 13. I turned inside Ron and paralleled him on final with De again videotaping the run. The cross-wind was drifting Ron a bit and he chose to go around. One of the concerns was a rising oil temp. The cylinder head and EGT readings were good but the oil was getting hot. Ron chose 17 this time and we made a fast approach. He didn’t want to get caught short of the runway with the need to add power. He landed a bit long but from the air it looked smooth. We followed on the next circuit and taxied up to the ramp to find a grinning Ron climbing out of the plane. De asked him to pose for a picture getting out and he asked whether she wanted him facing the camera or climbing out with his back turned (you can get the picture on your own, I’m not explaining what this would look like). As it turned out Ron was never sure when he touched down. The Bede is a high wing but it sits close to the ground so there may have been more ground effect than Ron and De are used to in their Tri-Pacer. I think it was just a very good landing. Ron let it cool off and I flew De back to Elm Creek to get the truck to pick up Ron and bring a few things. They planned on leaving the plane at BAZ until Ron got the numbers down enough to land at Elm Creek. He thought that would take a day or so, barring weather. That evening I emailed them and Ron had done three more flights, all very successful. He planed to return to Elm Creek the next day if the weather cooperated. I really enjoyed myself after the flight was safely down. All the while Ron had it in the air I felt as though I was with him in the cockpit. Not really, but that is the closest I can come to explaining it. I held my breath a little on take off and same for his landing. Flying chase is an interesting experience. To do so I found, from my perspective, that the only place I looked was at Ron’s aircraft. I operated the Pacer by feel for the most part and made the turn and speed adjustments to follow the agreed upon plan. This was more difficult in the pattern at BAZ because we were keeping our eyes peeled for other aircraft. Fortunately, we caught it just right with the only other activity being completed shortly before we reached the airport. I felt so good for Ron and De. To see their efforts bear fruit and to see their ideal airplane actually flying was a great experience. I have heard stories for many years about first flights and at long last got a chance to bear witness myself. Thanks, Ron and De, for letting me share those moments with you. |
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