ground loop on the perfect evening

Yep that's right, started off what was to be a perfect evening by ground looping Aurora on RY27 in HLN. but now the good news. no harm was done and the evening progressed as planned.

OK I guess I should start at the beginning. Kris had to work Friday until 4 in Helena and had to be at another job at noon on Saturday. I had to work part day friday and saturday afternoon also. I got someone to cover my on-call hours and dashed out at noon. Dogs to the sitter, I'm running late but load the plane and blast off for Helena. 15minutes later I'm cleared to land 27, no delay, inbound traffic for RY9'r. got there made a sweet landing even short. rolling out I didn't notice anything, but when I turned on Taxiway Echo. I wasn't paying attention and my normally very responsive rocket link tailwheel was in full swivel mode. I was doing maybe 5mph, full rudder deflection, but not enough brake (right foot not fully on the brake) so ended up doing a 360. Nothing other than spinning around, was actually kinda fun. Pulled up to my old FBO where I was picking up Kris, she wasn't there yet. I borrowed a wrench and a bench. Pulled the tailwheel and cleaned the detent pin. Whew easy fix and back together as Kris drives up.

NOTE to self: clean & inspect tailwheel EVERY oil change

Part II

All good, so Kris and I launched for Polson(8s1). 45minutes and a bumpy ride later we were tying down. My friend Neil had gotten here earlier and already had the keys to our room. Dropped our bags and we walked along the waterfront to an excellent Mexican dinner. Flathead lake was like glass. Later we wandered around and found huckleberry ice cream with our name on it. Neil headed to his room, but Kris and I were enjoying the evening so we sat out on the pier until well after dark.

almost full moon, warm air and dark lake, we didn't want it to end.

Me and my high school sweetheart, who I met at the other end of the lake and been together since 1978.


Next morning was the the Polson Fly-in. There was about 60 planes, 5 RV's. Lots of taildraggers and float planes



Bad news, we both had to get back for work. Lots of smoky haze from the fires we even went to 11500, no joy. 0.6hrs later I landed at HLN, dropped off Kris in plenty of time for her shift. I headed for Townsend for my slave work.

Amazing little machines. In a 20hr time period, we left our work behind, had a romantic getaway, met some nice airplane people and back. Driving would have taken almost 3.5hrs each way and we wouldn't have even thought about doing it.

Refreshed to say the least! YMMV, but Keep pounding them rivets

Hi Brian,

Sorry we didn't hook up at Oshkosh, we came by your plane many times just not at the right time to catch you there. We were never at our plane very much either with so much to see and not enough time to see all of it.

My tailwheel latch pin wears the corners off pretty quick and won't latch very well after 30 or 40 hours. I bought several extra latch pins so I can change it out as soon as I notice it not latching up well. I haven't tried to reshape the worn out latch pin's yet. It's good to hear that the ground loop happened at a slow speed with no damage to you or your plane.

I liked the photo's of you giving your daughter her first ride in your RV-7. I need to give my daughter her first ride also, maybe this week.

Bob Babler
RV-7 N797RB
Based at 3W7 Grand Coulee Dam Airport

Hi Brian,

Good story, love your plane (yellow planes go faster . A sticking pin should not cause a ground loop. I have no tailwheel steering on my -7 at all, just a fully castoring tailwheel. Takeoff, landing and taxi are all straight forward. Taxiing in a stronger cross wind requires a few slight stabs on the opposite brake but the rudder is very effective right down to taxi speed.

I won't blame the tailwheel. I know what..who is responsible for the pirouette. I just wasn't paying attention while trying to expedite getting off the runway. My pin stuck early in phase 1, but I was awake that day.

Bob, I didn't hang out at the plane much at OSH. so many things to see and do. next time I'm thinking hanging around everyday at a certain time. We'll get together one of these days. Now go give that daughter a ride.

My RV experience is better than I ever thought it would be!

Brian,

Nice trip write-up and I'm glad you just got a "lesson" with no damage.

I can't wait until I finish my 9 to give many people their first RV ride, mine cost me quite a bit but so far has all been worth it.

Let me know when you want to come to Stevensville, I can always use a second opinion and eyes on my project plus I really would like to see your plane.

Jerry
406-880-0960

5 mph? Heck, I do that every time I land on our narrow runway and need to turn around and back taxi - Rather than go all the way to the end, or put a prop blast in someone's backyard (or open hangar door), I pick a taxiway up ahead and kick the tail so it coasts around without additional power and stays on the pavement. When I am pointed the new direction, power comes in to back-taxi....

5 mph? That's not a ground loop!

Paul

i did one of those 5-mph ground loops once...

in a bird dog, taxiing in after landing. casually mentioned to everyone back at the hangar that i was just wondering who was behind me and had to "check the traffic pattern."

Ironflight said:

.......That's not a ground loop!...Paul

Click to expand...

but it's as close to one as I want to get.

KHLN

Brian.

Beautiful pictures. PM sent.

George

Wow what a weekend....and I worked every day too. While it wasn't Badlands or Triple tree Fly-in. It was as good as I could muster in a limited time.

Last night my friend called, Hey want to go to breakfast. Invite only, so you'll have to fly with me? Sure I'll go.

Well we dropped into a nice little hay strip near Bozeman (1200' kinda bumpy) glad to be in his plane. But it was FANTASTIC.
There were only about 10 planes show up, but about 50 people for a very nice catered morning.
Here's a pic of the front yard


Garfield brought his RV-8 came down from Great Falls area. (might be for sale soon...medical)


A beauty 170 and Murphy on one side of the back yard


Even had jumpers drop in.


Terrorists aren't winning around here! Great day to be an American.

Brian,
Another great write-up with photos.

Did you know that Garfields RV-8 was the first RV I got a ride in. Back in about 2000 we had airport days in Dillon ( I worked there part time) and Garfield showed up to give rides so of course I beat-up several small children in my haste to climb aboard. Wow was that some flight, he even let me roll it. Needless to say that ride has now cost me tens of thousands of dollars but I wiil make it up to those kids with rides of their own. Thanks for the memory.

Jerry Turner
RV9A (now waiting on seats)
Stevensville, MT

I met Gar in 2006 at Johnson Creek, Idaho. He loves to fly that RV for sure.

I had to pinch myself today.....was I dreaming that I went flying 3 days in a row....nope not dreaming. Too bad I had to put a full day in at work today or I would have kept the streak going. Guess I'll start again tomorrow, just wish the smoke would clear out, visibility was about 10 miles today.