The Quickilver MX II Sport Introductory Flight

Well, as expexted (it's really easy), I made it through middle school. Now I move on to high school. I really wasn't expecting anything as a graduation gift because it's not too hard to do, yet, to my suprise my mom presented me with a book (Glems Sport Pilot), and an introductory flight with Bill Bardin at his ultralight/light sport flight school (californiasportaviation.com). I was absolutely excited.

We set up a date to head twards the Lodi Airport. When the day came, I was up bright and early at 6:00 am for my flight at 1:00 pm. It only takes about 45 minutes or less to get to Lodi from Sacramento, but I woke up from excitment. I also had a problem getting to sleep the previous day. I probably got a whopping 5 hours of sleep, but that's not bad compared to how much sleep I get on some school days.

When I woke up I recorded a CD as driving directions for my mom. Yes, I did say driving directions on CD. You see, I would predict how long it would take to get from one street to another, so I would talk and play music in between directions. This presented problems somtimes, because there are too many variables to properly estimate how long it would take to get from one street to another.

I allways crack my mom up when I give her the audio directions, or should I call them audorections. This made that 45 minute drive alot quicker. We got there with no problem, and my smile was way overmodulated.

As soon as I arrived, I was quite impressed. Bill Bardin was working on putting together a Quicksilver MX when I arrived. The hangar was quite large and held about 6 aircraft. There was even a plane hanging from the celing, which I think is quite a good idea since lots of times we have plenty of vertical space.
As Bill was showing me the hangar, he walked to a place in the wall and pushed against the sheet metal. The sheet metal moved out of the way and through the door was another hangar. Wow! He showed me even more aircraft, and did the same thing with the wall, which revealed another hangar. Bill rents 5 hangars. His students keep their planes in the hangars for a whopping $35 a month. As of the aircraft, there were a ton of Challengers. Single seat Challengers, dual seat Challengers, single seat with glass pannel Challengers, Challengers that had amazing paint jobs. Did I mention that there were alot of Challengers?

As we were in the second or third hangar, Bill an I went back to the first hangar to get are aircraft ready to fly. I requested to fly the Quicksilver MX II Sport since most likely, I'll end up with the single seat version of the aircraft. We had to push some other aircrafts out of the way in order to get the MX out, but since they weigh soo light, that's not a problem at all. These aircraft weigh lighter than some people.

Bill handed me some foam ear plugs to use during are flight. This was a good idea since this is an open cockpit aircraft, and the engine is right behind you. Bill pull stared the engine and off we we were.

We taxied twards runway 26 (magnetic heading 260 aka: allmost West)



Did the engine run-up. Everything good.
Then it was time to leave the ground.
"Quicksilver 103 is taking off of runway 26, Lodi traffic."

One hundred and fifty feet later we were in heaven. We climed to a safe altitude and flew straight out. When we got about 10 or so miles away from the airport, we flew about 4 feet above the ground weaving in and out of trees. It's a really fun fealing flying close to the ground.
Since it was a hot summer day, we climed to an altitude of 1,000 feet msl. Up there the air was smooth and the temperature was just perfect. Once up there, Bill let me take over the controls.
At the time, I loved stalls, so it was my goal to pitch the nose up as high as it would go, before the wings stalled and the nose pitched down. One time I held the stall and turned it into a spin, which is really fun!

We were out there for about 45 minutes dancing under the sun. It was quite an experiance. It totally proves my theory that I'm a bird stuck on the ground. People say sex is good, but I say screw sex, I'd rather fly. Now I have no idea what sex is really like, but I don't see how anything can top off flying. It's sooooooooooooooo good! Not only that, but it's highly addictive.

Unfortunalely, the flight had to end somtime. We headed back and met up with a trike. We talked to him and did some formation flying on are way back. Since he had the Rotax Hotrod engine, and we only had a Rotax 503, he got to the airport first, but we had more fun.

I don't understand why they use black asphault at airports. They get quite hot under the sun. As soon as we flew over the airport you could feel that blast of heat balloning us upwards. It took some mussle to get twards the ground. As we arrived about 1 foot over the ground, Bill reduced the power, flaired the nose, and made a nice smooth landing.

I taxied back and we shut off the engine as we arrived near the hangar. Bill got out of the aircraft, then I followed. The Quicksilver gently rested on it's tail as I got out of my seat. It was bowing at me for the great flight.

Boy I love this sport!
I need more!

Mark Zinkel

The Golden West Airshow and Fly-In

The skys were as blue as the ocean. The visibility was amazing that cool morning. I got up at 7:00 that day, so I would miss nothing. I had driving directions neatly organized on the table printed the day before. Everything ran smoothly as the morning progressed and we drove towards Marysville to the Yuba County airport.
Traffic was great. The parking lot was small. This confused me at first, until I realized that this was also a fly-in. I would say that most of the people there flew in. Lucky for them, I didn't have an aircraft...yet.
As I arrived, I was surprised at how many light sport and ultralights were there. This pleased me because these are the only type of aircraft that I'm mainly in to. Instead of relying on instruments, you fly by feel, sound, and sometimes smell (believe it or not, the smell part is true). Ultralight's are amazingly safe. They are safer than the big 737s that are commercially flown because unlike 737s ultralights can land just about anywhere. You are more likely to get hurt or die driving to the airport than flying, even if the airport is blocks away. Ultralights are some of the most amazing aircrafts, and the Golden West Fly-In had lots of them.


This article will be continued later...

The Flight

Hello,

I remember when my friends dad mentioned Freedom Field. I really didn't respond. I'm not exactly sure about the reasoning of this strange behavior, but for some reason, It just wasn't a big deal. Boy I was wrong.
School was school was still in session and I didn't have much time to spend on flight. I remember one week I wanted to learn more about this Freedom Field (from now on I'll refer to it as FF) thing. I realised that it was somthing to check out. Every day of that week I remember getting homework done and looking forward to look it up, but then I would look at the clock, and it would be too late.
The day I found the site (freedomfield.com) , I was quite impressed. Every nook and corner of the site was explored. That day I also sent off an email to Ray Mello. Ray is the owner and instructer of the field. I explained about how I loved flying, flight simulator, my grandfather, and probably my life story. I was more than happy, yet I had no patience for a responce back.
Ray's responce was worth gold (it actually had some value). He said that since I seamed to love flight, he would give me a free introductory flight! It felt like my heart skipped a beat. I was soo excited, and was blown away from the big sign that said FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I gave him my phone number so we could set up a date.
After a couple of days Ray and I had set up a time. Saturday at 10:00 am was when the magic was about to hapen. My mom was my transportation, so instead of printing directions, I decided to make a CD for her with audio directions. This would keep me intertained on the way to the strip and not driven crazy by the 6 hour drive that actually takes 30 minutes. I was ready.
Once arriving, I saw the aircraft all ready to be flown, so I knew I was in the right place. I got out of the van to find an empty hangar. How strange, where's Ray? Just about then was the time where Ray made his entrance screeming (not him, the bike) on a dirtbike. That was the moment where I realised that I would have a really fun flight! It got even better when he told me it was an acrobatic plane. HAhaHaha! I was ready to have a blast.
The takeoff roll took only 150'. My mom was on the ground taking pictures, but she didn't get too many shots, because the thing was soo fast. The sport aircraft was amazing. We flew to the Lincoln airport and back. He basicly gave me the controls the whole time, so I could get the most out of the flight. I even did the landing and take off at Lincoln.
On our way back, Ray said "Hey, do you want to see somthing cool?" Of course I said yes. He said the following manuver is really good when you want to turn in a hurry. He pointed the nose straight up till it stalled, when he gave it a little right rudder. The plane literally pivited around the right wing as if you were to nail it to a wall with the nail on the tip of the wing and then swing the plane around that point. This manuver is called a hammerhead, and it was really cool. Strangely enough, I really didn't feel it. Everything else I felt, but not this.

You can check out a video of this amazing manuver here.

We feathered to the ground and rolled back to the hangar. It would be a long time untill I would fly again. My mom and I talked to him for something like 20 minutes afterwards. He has so many great stories to tell and he's truely a great guy.

What a great way to start,
With a cross country flight,
To Lincoln airport,
During the day,
Not at night,

We felt the thermals,
We felt no drift,
We felt that pillow of lift.


Live with Freedom,
Mark Zinkel

Will be updated soon

The story moves on, yet this page stays the same. Why is that? Well, lets say I've been "really buisy". Sounds familiar? Updates will appear soon and you will be able to get a little taste of my dream. Just gave me a week.

Thank-You,
Management

PS: I need to proofreed my previous posts.

The Beginning

It all started about four months ago when I figured out that I can legally fly an ultralight aircraft. I've allways been into flight, but it's now where I get serious. Ever since that rainy January day, my life has changed dramatically. I'm spending more time researching, mowing lawns, pulling weeds, reading theory of flight books, etc. People have found me being "buisy" all the time. I've been staying awake past my bedtime and find myself daydreaming in class. I've discovered that I'm a bird in human form and it's about time to fly!
Ultralighting is much better than flying a 747, Cessna 150, or an F-18. People who fly ultralights don't do it to make money, transport goods, or bomb Iraq, people fly ultralights for one reason...to fly! Although they don't go fast, they still dance in the air, drift with the brese, and soar with the birds. Boeing 737s don't fly at all, they only move, ultralights fly.
The past four monts I've only been doing a couple of things...learning about ultralights, and saving money for my ultralight.
My ship will be the Quicksilver MX. It's probably the most famous ultralight of them all. Ever since the early 80s this ship has proven great reliability, safty, and excitement. It also has a cheep sticker on it. I will buy a used one and that will probably cost me somewhere between $2,000 and $4,000. That's a really good price! Now I don't mean to give a free add, but I think Quicksilver deserves a pat on the back.



It's all a matter of time,
As it gets closer, everything will go slower,
And the excitement goes up
Saying "I can't wait" is an understatement,
Hopefully soon I will be up there,
Looking down wondering if you're watching,
Because I will be watching you,
As of now, It's all a matter of time.


Tailwinds - Mark

Welcome

Welcome all,

This is my journal about persuing my dreams. It's a story about what started with a 14 year old boy with the addiction in flight and ended with somthing great. So much better than anyone would have ever imagined.

This is only the beginning,
And the best part is not there yet,
Once it's started,
I will never go back!


Tailwinds - Mark Zinkel