\u201cHmm, looks a bit high\u2026 I better bring it down a bit\u201d, I muttered to myself. \u201cYeh, that\u2019s about right.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAfter about a six-minute get-acquainted flight, I landed and taxied up to where the crew were scratching their heads and setting up the bridle. To launch a banner, it\u2019s common to use a grappling hook.\u00a0 That hook is at the end of a length of rope, the other end of which is attached to a towhook on the tail of the towplane.\u00a0 That way, the pilot can release the banner when he returns from his flight.\u00a0 In the event of an engine failure or other emergency, he can also jettison the huge banner and get rid of its considerable drag.\u00a0 No one in his right mind would consider flying a banner that was not jettisonable.<\/p>\n
The banner is laid out on the ground and there is another line attached to its \u201ckingpost\u201d at the front of the banner.\u00a0 That line is actually like a huge lasso.\u00a0 The loop end is then draped over the tops of two poles.\u00a0 That loop is presented so that an approach can be flown at it with the grappling hook dangling from the plane\u2019s tail.\u00a0 The hook snags the loop, which is snatched from its poles and snugged around the hook just like a lasso around a steer\u2019s horns.\u00a0 Off the assembly flies to do the job.\u00a0 Upon return, the pilot flies low and slow across the same spot where he picked it up.\u00a0 He pulls the release and the banner floats gently to the ground.\u00a0 At least that\u2019s the way it\u2019s supposed to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand you can get the bridal snagged around the landing gear of the plane if you get too low,\u201d one of the crew told me, with a questioning tone in his voice.<\/p>\n
As the seasoned banner-towing veteran of the group, I confidently shook my head and uttered those soon-to-be-regretted words.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t understand how a guy could do that\u201d, I answered.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019d have to be really low.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t worry about it\u201d.<\/p>\n
With the banner\u2019s bridal slung between the poles, I hopped into my new mount, fired up the big ol\u2019 slobbering round engine and blasted off into the air.\u00a0 I made a bigger trip around the pattern to give myself a bit more time, then set up an approach to the waiting poles.\u00a0 I framed the top of the poles and the loop of the bridal between the wings of that biplane and descended to pick it up.\u00a0 I\u2019d tossed my grappling hook out of the cockpit and it was dangling behind and below me.\u00a0 I closed on the loop.<\/p>\n
\u201cHmm, looks a bit high\u2026 I better bring it down a bit\u201d, I muttered to myself.\u00a0 \u201cYeh, that\u2019s about right.\u201d<\/p>\n
I came in nice and close to the top of the loop and snagged the bridal\u2026 very securely around BOTH landing gear legs.\u00a0 The bridal\u2019s lasso snugged around my landing gear, the bridal came tight and, as I powered up and climbed out, the world\u2019s largest logo banner came up off the ground and we were a unit, ready to fly over the Daytona 500.<\/p>\n
The crewmember\u2019s voice came over the radio. \u201cYou snagged the bridal around your landing gear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh, crap.\u00a0 Oliver Hardy\u2019s words to Stan Laurel probably came into my little noodle:\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s another fine mess you\u2019ve gotten us into!\u201d<\/p>\n
And, indeed, it was a fine mess.\u00a0 With the bridal firmly attached to my landing gear, there was no way I could release the banner.\u00a0 I now had to make a decision:\u00a0 Do I continue to the 500 and fly the job, or do I land with the banner now in order to fix this mess ? I really didn\u2019t have a choice.\u00a0 I\u2019m stupid, but I\u2019m not THAT stupid.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t proceed to the Daytona 500 with a huge banner permanently attached to the plane.\u00a0 No, I\u2019d have to land with it.\u00a0 But that was the problem.<\/p>\n
When you have to land with a banner, it\u2019s necessary to beat it to the ground.\u00a0 That\u2019s difficult.\u00a0 The banner naturally hangs a bit below the tow plane when at cruising airspeed.\u00a0 To get it to fly above the plane, I\u2019d have to increase the speed AND be descending toward the ground.\u00a0 I\u2019d also have to stop as quickly as I could to do as little damage to the banner when it finally impacted the ground.\u00a0 And I\u2019d have to pull this off \u00a0while flying an airplane in which I\u2019d barely checked myself out in for about six minutes!<\/p>\n
I tell all my students that I hate doing demos.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because when you demonstrate a maneuver, you leave yourself wide open to the student\u2019s realization that this Bozo who\u2019s presuming to teach him really doesn\u2019t fly THAT well! I felt that way about the maneuver I was about to attempt.<\/p>\n
I turned final toward the staging area on the grass infield.\u00a0 I lowered the nose and allowed the speed to increase.\u00a0 That speed would help keep the banner above me, but would also mean that the coming wheel landing and quick stop would be tricky as hell.\u00a0 The guys on the ground gave me a running commentary on their little handheld radio.\u00a0 They let me know the banner\u2019s altitude relative to mine.\u00a0 We got the speed and angle just about right.\u00a0 At some point on short final, I simply ignored the banner and concentrated on a steep approach to a wheel landing and a hard-braking stop.\u00a0 The ground rose up and as the wheels contacted the grass, I slammed on the brakes while carefully keeping the ship from nosing over with back elevator.<\/p>\n
All the things that I had carefully taught students for years were now put into play.\u00a0 Maybe all that instruction helped ME that time.\u00a0 The banner contacted the ground but didn\u2019t go far until it stopped.\u00a0 The only damage was a slightly bent kingpost, which was quickly bent into some semblance of straightness. A very red-faced pilot hopped out of the big biplane and re-rigged for the next pickup.<\/p>\n
I learned a few things that day.\u00a0 I learned not to let my alligator mouth overcome the limited ability of my hummingbird brain.\u00a0 I learned that some of the things I teach are worth learning.\u00a0 And I learned to love that Ag Cat.<\/p>\n
Happy Swooping!<\/p>\n
Brian<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHmm, looks a bit high\u2026 I better bring it down a bit\u201d, I muttered to myself. \u201cYeh, that\u2019s about right.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35,52,56,67,171],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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