saturday afternoon at the blackdog

[fasteddiecopeman]

OK, guys - you want IDIOT? I'll give you IDIOT! STUPID IDIOT! I was a pilot candidate in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) training on the Tutor jet (same ones the "Snowbirds" demonstration team fly, if you've ever seen them), way-y-y-y back in 1968. The first 5 or 6 solo flights are restricted to the 'circuit' where you practice touch and go's, while you do training with your instructor out in the aerobatic area to prepare you for solos out of the 'circuit'. Well, I'd just been cleared to go solo out of the 'circuit' by demonstrating capability to safely fly stalls, spins, barrel-rolls and loops, and my instructor had demonstrated what we'd cover in the next dual session - the "half roll and pull through". Basically this is the last half of a loop started at the top. One of our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) was that students carried a card with the airplane's emergency procedures with them at ALL times, and on it we would write various procedures that we had been 'cleared' to fly solo. ANY instructor could ask for this card, and if you had any non-authorized procedure written down you were in REALLY BIG doo-doo! Another SOP was that IF a student was in a non-recoverable attitude by 10,000 feet above ground (AGL), he was to eject, and THAT altitude was 12,000 feet indicated (I was in Moose Jaw which is 2,000 feet above Mean Sea Level [MSL)]). My instructor had told me that if you did your aerobatics at 15,000 MSL you'd be safe, BUT if you did them at 25,000 MSL, it would take a much more precise control input, resulting in a much finer aircraft control, so you'd do better on the check ride. Well, I LOVED doing spins and discovered I could spin left, recover, spin right, recover, and STILL be above the 12,000 minimum altitude. So, my instructor had demonstrated a 'half roll and pull through' but I was NOT authorized to perform this solo, yet, and I was on my FIRST solo out of the 'circuit', at 25,000 feet, practicing stalls, spins, rolls and loops, and, as I was a pretty good pilot, doing just fine. Now, on my 'card', was written various 'entry' procedures, for instance, a roll was done at anywhere from 150K to 400K with power at 94% to Maximum Continuous, while NOT written on my card was the procedure for the 'half roll and pull through' - power at IDLE and airspeed LESS than 150K BECAUSE YOU WERE GOING TO DO THE LAST HALF OF A LOOP in this manoeuvre! A little aside - it was REALLY emphasized that we could "pull the wings off" if we exceeded 7G, so we were not given G-suits so as to make it harder to exceed 7G. Well, I was an "ACE", I was happy with what I was practicing, so I thought I'd do the little extra my instructor had shown me. Well my 'card' didn't have entry speeds or power for the 'half roll and pull through', but it DID have for the roll (after all, wasn't it a half ROLL ... etc?), so I looked - 240k airspeed (...ONLY 90K too high), and I had 94% power on (instead of IDLE),so I rolled inverted and started to pull. Right away I knew something was wrong - my airspeed was increasing, my altitude was decreasing, and I was TOO STUPID to reduce power, "pop" my speedbrakes to scrub off speed, or roll out to the nearest horizon. WHAT I DID DO THOUGH, WAS LOOK AT MY G-METER AND PEG IT AT 6.5G. I started 'graying-out' from the G, but I concentrated on not exceeding 7, knowing full well that, if there was a prize for STUPIDITY, I would get it!!! I pulled out of the 'bottom' at 10,000 feet (remember the 'eject' altitude?) at 450K, and realized that, had I done this at 15,000 feet, I would have hit the ground at about 450 Knots in a nose-low attitude and become a "smoking hole"! I've not shared this with many people, but I wanted you all to know that there's 'idiot' and then there's "IDIOT"! Ed

[Vernon Wade]

Hey Fred, I got another of my Black Dog videos edited filmed in Pollyvision with additional footage courtesy of Camas Jack. Filmed during the 2008 Black Dog Dualsport Rally, this section was encountered Saturday afternoon, June 7. The rally organizer gave entrants points for bringing in garbage from the trail, so Saturday saw 200+ bikers scouring the hills between Hood River and The Dalles for trash. One of the deepest mudholes of the rally was on this leg. Even Mr.Cob went around it when scouting the route earlier in the week but Monica and Amy plowed right through, as did Kenjo, who was on a solo 08 KLR 650! Towards the end of the vid you will see the huge rock Monica pulled from the roadbed with the skidplate of Ol'Blue. As Amy was catipulted out of her seat Monica was thinking: " Where is she going? " http://vimeo.com/1263739