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We're off. Finally after so many years.
Shenington, United Kingdom |
All I needed to do was get everything in. Ted was too busy flying. And the others were watching the world cup. KR2 WORLDTOUR II Day 1. 22nd June 2014 Shenington to Coventry 22 miles 0:28 hrs Coventry to Wick 292 miles 3:27 hrs Day score 10. How to start? Well I know from experience that I have to catch your attention in the first sentence or you will put this down and walk away. Well I can for once not lie or exaggerate, but I can definitely say that the journey was almost over before it started at the end of the first day after a catastrophic failure of important engine parts!!! But you will have to read on to find out how. (Oh by now I’m writing about the third week and it’s definitely worth reading…) Also, did I make it to Oshkosh…? Well from the title and if you skip to the back page, this could be answered very quickly. But this script for want of a better word explains the sometimes unbelievable situations that arose from such a venture, and it is these situations which have people gasping in disbelief that warrants me to write them down for your amusement or bemusement, what ever your outlook on life… So we begin… I’m no good at good byes. I didn’t say goodbye to my dearest friends around the country, nor my parents. I sort of tricked them the last time I saw them all, saying I would call in again. They know me well though. My parents are quite worried. It’s not really without danger what I’m trying to do, so… Neither did I want to get involved in saying goodbye to the hundreds of members and competitors at the Shenington Gliding Club Regional competition which is on at my airfield this week. So I simply said goodbye to my teddy bears in my caravan, locked the door and turned off the power and while everyone was in the 10 o’clock morning briefing, where they carry out prize giving and briefing for today, I jumped into Itzy and taxied away. I had told everyone I was waiting for paperwork, so no one was expecting me to just disappear, but shaking 200 pairs of hands and all the wishes of good luck would be nice but could take hours… At the far end of the runway I turned on all the cameras, because this was not going to be any normal take off. Itzy, my plane, named after the first aircraft I built, called Bizty, well Itzy was heavy, heavier than I’d flown him before and there was no wind to help take off into. But his tail rose at 30 knots and I dragged him off the ground half way down the runway. I slowly climbed up to about 2,000ft and had a fond farewell look around, hoping to fly back into here in a few years time. Joe, the landlord said to say goodbye, so after a plane landed and the circuit was clear I lowered the nose and beat his farm house up a bit, some 140kts and 20ft before turning over the airfield and lining up with the Shenington Gliding Club’s club house and hangar where all the members and competitors where still in the briefing room. I cleared it by 20 odd feet as well, to express the fact that after some 12 years of returning from the first journey to Australia, after so many disappointments and none achievements, finally this year I was setting off and I waved goodbye. The low flying would have got me in to a lot of trouble, but by the time I get back, if I get back, they will all have long forgotten.
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