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Team Fliegen At The Flugtag Who cares who's captain after the tail has fallen off? |
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The Road to Flugtag
Right, so we had a plastic airplane. The only problem is that we in Sunnyvale and we needed to be in San Francisco. Once Der Fliegen Plastik was assembled, there was really no way it was going to be completely disassembled. I figured we could carry everything on four or five trucks. Since hang glider pilots have the best racks (take that any way you want), I set about calling all my hang gliding friends to see who would be able to help. A few people were able to lend a hand. I also scored a few pickup trucks. We were set.
At 8:00 pm we loaded up the trucks and started out for San Francisco... at 30 MPH. Loaded down as they were, exceeding this speed limit would cause parts of the plane to lift off the racks. Every 20 minutes or so, we had to stop and re-secure the wings. On the plus side, we got to see much more of the sights along the way. Nobody had any idea that there was that much stuff on the side of the highway. I was used to more of a constant blur along the edges of the road.
We got to the dock just before they closed up for the night. While the team loaded the plane into the paddock area, I went to register. We got a load of paper work to sign, a launch position and cool sweatshirts. We just had time to unload the plane before they chased everyone out. It was kind of sad to see that all of our work had resulted in a somewhat small pile of black plastic on in the middle of a loading dock. Oh well, we had to get going... we had plans to make
The trip back was much faster. Arriving back in the South Bay, we decided to grab a bite to eat and come up with some sort of plan. Lucky for us there was a Denny's close by. As a wise man once said, "Denny's isn't a place you go so much as a place you end up." We sat down at a table and I passed around the forms to sign and costumes for the next day. The costumes consisted of plastic raid coats and plastic goggles. Not to bad. Brad loaned me a white clean room suit for my costume. You know you are in Silicon Valley when your friend meets you at Denny's to loan you a clean room suit at midnight. I also bought a not quite broken video camera for our in-flight video system.
We came up with, in our opinion, the perfect plan for our pre-launch skit. You see, we had been having problems with the tail properly maintaining structural connectivity with the airframe. That is, the tail boom kept falling off. What if it intentionally fell off during the launch? That's pure Hollywood action! Brian and Brad would push on the plane and Pete would 'push' on the tail. Except Pete wouldn't be pushing so much as making sure the tail didn't fall off for a few steps. Then he would run along with the tail and toss it in the drink behind me. John would be in front and beside the plane directing with batons, then would run after the push crew. At the last second, the push crew would fire the cannons. Oh yeah. We were all that and some Denny's Moons Over My Hammy!
The Preparations
We arrived the next morning to find typical San Francisco weather. That is, it was warm and sunny throughout all of California but cold and overcast in San Francisco. Immediately we set to work assembling Der Fliegen Plastik for it's first (and last) flight. It was a little harder this time since we had to take so much of it apart for transportation. Here's where it got fun...
The 1.5" bowsprit needed to be connected to the 2" adapter to be screwed into the nose. The tail adapter would screw into the 1.5" tail boom and the tail would plug into that (until it was pulled out by Pete). Once this was done, we secured the wings. Usually the wings are held in place by a tourniquet system wound so tight they would never come off. Since this was the big event, we decided to glue them in. That way they would never come off! Now, before you jump to any conclusions, No, we did not put the wings on upside down. More over, we put them on backwards. You see the tail adapter was screwed into the 2" adapter and in turn fastened to the nose while the bowsprit was screwed into the tail. Luck for us everything was glued together!
About this time, I had to attend a pilot's meeting. No worries, Brad had a plan. As I sat at the meeting I could se Der Fligen Plastik shuttering in the background as the team valiantly adapted some left over pieces. When I got back, I saw the idea. The cockpit would be turned around and plugged in where the push assembly usually went. However, it was too short to work in this position so they had hacked together a junction what would make it all work. We had just finished assembling when the gates opened.
Soon the gates opened and the crowd arrived.
I've heard that 20 000 people showed up. This was twice the estimates. The sun
came out and we got down to business. The craft was given a fresh black paint
job so it glistened in the sun. We were right up near the front, so everyone
saw us on the way in. I met people there I hadn't seen in years. It was
amazing. I had borrowed some faded pylons from the Ed Levin LZ and painted them up with our logo
(a big black 'FP'). We set these up around the loaded cannons. Safety first.
It was great to hang out there by the pier. The sun eventually came out and all the stress that had built over the last few months melted away. Everyone we talked to said good things about Der Fliegen Plastik and I though we stood a good chance of, you know, flying. Below you see the whole team just before we got all suited up. Back Row: Brian (Left), Brad (Right). Front Row: Pete (Left), John (Centre), Daryl (Right)
The Last Flight of Der Fliegen Plastik
We were #5, so it wasn’t long before our
launch. The winds were picking up, but were nowhere near as strong as I would
have liked. Worse yet, they were crossing left from 45- to 90-degrees with long
lulls between cycles. Oh well, you can't always pick you cycles I guess. It
took all five of us to muscle the craft up the ramp without having the tail
fall off. Due to a communications problem on my part, we sort of ignored the
cameras and interviewer once we were on deck. From here on out it was all
business.
From up top, the launch looked much higher. On deck there was a 100' long ramp that dropped away into nothing. Somehow, 100' here looked much shorter than 100' marked off in the parking lot. At this point I finally realized that I was really going to do this! I was going to have four people who allegedly were my friends shove me off a dock. Awesome!
I sat down in the cockpit and noticed that the 'modifications' we had made earlier pretty much prevented me from actually seeing the ASI. "Too late to fix that now, gotta fly", I told myself. As I sat there, about to give the signal to go, I felt a cold chill on the back of my neck. No, not nerves, wind. The wind had switched and we would be launch with a tail wind of about 3-4 MPH. Ack! "Too late, gotta fly", I told myself again and gave the signal.
Now I don't know exactly what the rest of the team was like, but I was strung out on adrenalin. I guess they were too, because that is the fastest we ever got going. After a few steps I felt the reassuring pressure of the wind on my face. At least I would have some forward airspeed when I went off the end. As I approached the lip I shouted "Pitch Up!" but it was too late, I was airborne. I remember leaning all the way back, hoping to weight shift control the pitch. Of course this didn't work. In what felt like a split second I was in the water.
And you know, it really wasn't that cold. I surfaced and looked back at Der Fligen Plastik bobbing in the Bay. I couldn't help laughing at the fact that it really did float! I swam towards a rescue diver and he directed me to the Jet Ski nearby. In a minute, I was back on the dock being interviewed by a few different reporters. I made sure to play up that our tail didn't fall off... You mean it did? (Fake shock here)
I think both of these pictures are by Dean Nichols. I don't have any contact
information for him and would appreciate any information you could send.
The Aftermath
Our official distance was 27'. Honestly, with the original cockpit design, the CG would have been further back and we might have done better. The wind could have been better. I would have liked to get a better look at the ASI as I went off the end. Of course none of this mattered at all. It was the greatest feeling to have actually flown at all.
Well, it turns out we forgot to fire the cannons, which was a good idea. You see, John had made some 'improvements' to the cannons that morning. He said something about making them stronger... or something. When I climbed onto the salvage barge to recover some parts from the craft, I noticed that they were still cocked. The soft sharpened projectiles had fallen out already, but I decided it would probably be a good idea to dry fire them. You know, for safety. As I was getting ready to fire the first one, another pilot climbed into view. I warned him to stand back. The conversation went something like this:
Me: You might want to stand back. I'm going to discharge the cannons.
Pilot: Cannons?!?
Me: [Laughing] Yeah, would you believe we forgot to fire them?
Pilot: [Inching Away] Umm, is it safe over here?
Me: Um... Yeah, sure.
[Tugging on Firing Pin]
Me: Hmm, it's really loaded isn't it? You might want to step back a bit
Pilot: [Moving Further Away] Ummm
[Pulling Quite Hard on Firing Pin]
Me: Wow, what did John do?
Pilot: [Taking Cover] Ummmm
For the life of me I couldn't fire the thing. Probably due to a odd angle I thought. I braced my feet on the frame and pulled the line attached to the pin. Then if fired. I just have to say, "In the of all that is good and pure in this world, John what did you do to the cannons?!?". The fiberglass retaining pin shot from the end of the barrel at what I estimated to be a substantial portion of the speed of sound then shattered against the barge's steel deck plates sending bitts of plastic and fiberglass flew everywhere. In the distance I could hear the sound of a retreating pilot. Funny, I never did see him again.
For what it's worth, we forgot to attach the in flight camera too. Oh well, near year.
The hardest part about the competition actually happened in the weeks that followed the event. I don't know if I should call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or addiction recovery. For weeks I would sit around at night with the nagging feeling that I should be drawing plans, cutting plastic or fabricating something. I couldn't sit still and sleep was hard. I mean I felt great! I just didn't know what to do with myself. I drew more diagrams, built more stuff and was amazingly productive at work. Even almost a year since I first started the project, I will see something in the hardware store or sitting by the side of the road and think, "You know that looks like it could fly. I could use that!" I'm taking it one day at a time.