Blessed with great weather, a half dozen of us gathered at Cain Field today for our Annual, All-Up-Last-Down Event.

Chilly…………even ‘Frosty’ morning temperatures greeted those of us who arrived early at the Field today, but the sky was a bright blue with absolutely no clouds……and a slight breeze that went from ZERO………….to 6 to 8 mph…….all of which made for a typical flying day at Cain Field.

Four guys signed in by 10:30………..Dave Reynolds, Mark Slama, Bill Jones and Dave Brodak.

Dave Reynolds brought his trusty “Vista EP”, Mark his new “Wild Hawk”, Bill Jones choose his “SIG Riser/Oly 99” combo, and Dave Brodak relied on his faithful “Night Radian”.

Pilots meeting went without a hitch, so Pilots posed for individual photos……and than, the traditional, ‘Group Photo’.

At around 11:00, we all moved to the flight line…….but because of an easterly wind, we had to form our line ACROSS the Field, with two guys on each side of the line of chairs. The Air Horn blew………….and ten seconds later, blew again, as the four each added power and streaked skyward into the chilly morning air.

All went well for everyone, as they each picked out a section of sky and looked for the elusive rising air……….

Mark Slama was the first to yield to the force of gravity, as his battery gave out, and he descended to Mother Earth with a time of 11 minutes and 58 seconds.

The three remaining all continued on for the next half hour, finding occasional strong lift…then the inevitable sink…..and at 43 minutes, 35 seconds, Dave Reynolds had to glide back to earth for a safe landing.

Now two were left…….Bill Jones and Dave Brodak, now flying it out for the winner’s spot.

Both were doing fine……..Bill Jones flying with TWO, 5,000 mah batteries on board his ‘Hybrid’, and Dave Brodak flying with only a stock, single 2,600 Lipo powering his ‘Night Radian’……..the smart money had to be with those two HUGE batteries…………..

Then it happened…………

At 55 minutes and 1 second………..at a very high altitude………….Bill Jones found it necessary to deploy his spoilers, compensate the high sink rate with a little “Up Elevator”, and bleed off some of his altitude, as the lift was back with a vengeance.

As we all squinted to see Bill’s plane……Dave Reynolds announced the he saw the tail break away from Bill’s ship as Bill was attempting to fly out of one of Nature’s Stronger Hat Suckers.

As we all watched from so far away, Bill’s tail assembly flitted off to parts unknown……and the fuselage, with wing still firmly attached, continued on a straight down, purely vertical ‘glide’ path…..and finally disappearing somewhere far, far away……in the general vicinity of…..well…..let’s say it’s to the right of the asphalt plant, and probably well past it, as well.

Needless to say…………we all felt it was rather meaningless to attempt a recovery……as it was felt that Bill’s ship undoubtedly came down in some very uncharted geography…….

And finally, with little fan fare, Dave Brodak’s ‘Night Radian’ ran out of Watts, coming in for a beautiful landing at 59 minutes and 4 seconds for the win.

Congratulations to all four, who came out to enjoy another fun-fllled Event at Cain Field, and my thanks to each for supporting my Annual Event.

Sadly, Bill Jones lost a ‘Close Friend’ today…….had Hybrid has been in his hangar for many, many years, and has given him many hours of great flying time. Sorry Bill……….but hopefully this winter will give him a chance to build an even better contender for next year’s All-Up-Last Down Event.

See you all at Cain Field next September for another session of “Who Can Keep It Up The Longest”.

Peace,

Duie
Event Director / All-Up-Last-Down Event 2020