wypaul

There were several of us that bought the Matco 8" dual fork tailwheel a couple of years back and this relates to that tire furnished with the TW.  I noticed a crack up by the rim about 1/2' long so I ordered a new from Matco.  When I replaced it I found that the crack was all the way thru the sidewall.  The tire was in good shape otherwise and the plane had always been stored inside.  These are the Carlisle tires made in China and like all of the others (other plane) that I have purchased are not round  but at least they don't cost $100's of dollars.  Maybe there is a better tire out there.  I did let Matco know but did not press them for a replacement $35 just is not worth the hassle and they were making excuses.  Who would be surprised, a defective Chinese tire.

Just returned from Johnson Creek, a great 5 day trip to the Idaho backcountry.  If you ever wondered what Ole Yeller would look like up there Larry, here you go.  I bet some of you will know where this picture was taken.

I had a nice mission for my Q2 last week, out from  Casper to Merril, WI to purchase Ole Yeller from Larry.  We departed Casper Thursday at 6:30 MDT with the sun in our eyes headed for KLYV for the midway fuel stop.  The climb out to 11,500 was smooth behind the sweet little Jabiru 3300, with a bit of a tailwind we settled into a 165 knot cruise for the journey.  It didn't take long to cross over HSP at the southern end of the Blackhills and finally joining up with I-90 over the wide Missouri.  It is farm country most the rest of the way.  We took on 15 gallons of fuel at LYV and by the way it's a good cheap fuel stop for anyone taking the northern route OSH.  Back in the air and on to the Mississippi cross over into WI at 8500 on this leg.  It is at this point I finally turn the stick over to my friend Dallas, a 20K hour pilot and he takes us down to 3,500 and the air gets a little bumpy for the rest of the journey to KRRL.  The airspeed is 180 KTS the rest of the way and we are burning more fuel but why should I care Dallas is footing the bill because we are headed out to pickup a Kitfox IV that he is buying.  15 gallons of fuel for this leg.
 
Friday we flew back along the same route.  The Q does not like to fly 90 knots so right after takeoff I waved goodbye as I speed by the little KF and on back to The Wild West.  The weather was going down hill fast in Casper and the 6 KTS headwind sheared into a 20 KTS tailwind as I was on the home stretch around noon.  About six that evening I received a call from Dallas saying he is 50 miles out of Douglas ,WY and requested that I find a hanger in Douglas due to the weather going down fast.  My wife and I hopped into the pickup and headed for Douglas 50 miles away.  The visibility is now about 200 ft in wind driven rain and lightning dancing all around, I'm on the phone looking for a hangar and Mary is in my right ear saying something about its not worth killing our selves.  Anyway to shorten this tale up Dallas makes a white knuckle landing into the rain and wind and we drive home to Casper.  The KF is still in Douglas waiting for some better weather to get it home.