Thomas,l
>From 1978 till 1983 I flew helicopters (Bell 206's) in Salt Lake City for a
local television station KUTV. Whenever the lake (Bonneville) was dry, most
of the time it was 6 to 12 inches underwater, we would fly out to Bonneville
and watch those interested in either trying to kill themselves or break
speed records. Sometime I think they both were synonymous with each other.
Whether is was motor cycles, stockers, the local kids car or rocket/jet cars
they all went faster than my slow ass helicopter. My 130 MPH was a drop in
the bucket when these guys got rolling, especially the 250+ MPH'ers. The
biggest thing I think was just that much speed on the ground instead of in
the air where we are used to going fast being accomplished..
I also flew helicopters to film unlimited hydrofoil boats and they too ran
away from me when they were at idle it seemed like. The only time during a
race when I could even get close to them was catch them in the corners/turns
when they had to slow down to around 150 or so and watch them blow by me.
BTW, make sure you give your bird a good bath, the salt out on the flats is
very concentrated and more corrosive that what you normally would encounter.
Steve
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From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Thomas Scherer
Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 01:10
Subject: Europa-List: Flying on Salt
Just to report about the last flight of N81EU ...
I was asked by a German motorcycle team who was participating in the
Bonneville Salt Flat Speed Trials 2006 to fly the Camera team. Took my magic
carpet to Wendover Airport in Utah / Nevada and landed on the Utah Salt
lake. This basically is a 35 * 35 mile runway of flat salt. Fitted a TV
camera to the elevator and flew 17 times off the Salt. What a ball !
Later in the day I flew the National Geographic team for the new land speed
record (the bike was faster than the Europa at 375 Mph ...)
Hope the images comes through.
be well - happy landings !
<Thomas, N81EU>
35 Mile runway - 5 miles wide. How is that ?!?
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