Rough River Fly-In 2023
Day 1 – Depart from Beaufort, NC to Mike Beasley’s (Perry-Houston County airport, GA):
After scrambling to get my pack-out final and the shop closed up after I posted my video, Jess picked me up and took me to the airport. Marco taxied up to the hangar and put JT inside… this gives you a good idea of how a Long-EZ will fit in my hangar. That’s Jess and me over on the side talking as Marco snapped the pic.
A bit later Marco and I were airborne and on our way down to Mike Beasley’s in Georgia for the night… another Rough River adventure!
Upon arriving Mike’s home airport, Perry Houston County, we of course bantered around for a good bit catching up. I met Greg Garee (left side of pic) who built a beautiful Cozy III which is hangered directly across from Mike’s. Our ‘ol pal Bruce Sinclair was there as well, and it was good to see him back on a RR trip after a few years off.
After a late lunch, we finally got to Mike’s house, got settled in, and then headed out to Mike’s back patio for some war stories… and a few adult libations.
DAY 2 – Depart GA and arrive Rough River, KY
After some flight planning the night before and some coordination for the flight to RR, we all loaded up and headed for the runway. As you can see, Mike B was lead down the center and we were on the left side, while Greg and his wife Stephanie were on the right.
Coming into RR Marco and I were on the left and needed to scooch over so we were tail-end Charlie on the right… here’s some pics of that maneuver.
And here we are lined up for a pass over the field before doing our respective breaks to land.
On the ground at RR, we got the birds situated and parked… here Mike grabbed a selfie with me heading over to the birds in the background.
After a bit of visiting with the folks that had already arrived (21 planes on Thursday) we headed to the Lodge for a bite to eat.
After hooking up with Roger, Mike Toomey, Terry Lamp and their wives, and visiting for a while, we all then headed back to the Lodge later that night for dinner.
We then went back to our cabin and again told lies… uh, war stories!
Day 3 – On Friday RR officially began!
Here we are departing the cabin to head down to the ramp and then to breakfast.
A while later we hooked back up with Terry, Mike and Roger and hung out for a bit.
The Cozy bubbas had a Pizza get-together in one of the cabins later that night, and here I am regaling Nick Ugolini with my war story of how I shot down a MIG-23 (more lies!).
A short time later, after a bit of a powwow back in our own cabin, we all crashed after a long day of canard watching and visiting.
And what would RR be without some airplane pics?!
First off, here’s a great pic that Bruce S. got of Marco’s bird as the sun was going down.
James Redmon Armpit intakes: I discussed with James how he and the Berkut guys configure their armpit scoop/lower cowl baffles.
Interestingly, as you can see in the pics above and below there is a horizontal baffle plate that splits the air inside the armpit scoop for the cooling air going to the front cylinders (top) and the air for the aft cylinders (bottom). I’ll hold off installing this horizontal divider in the armpit scoop (Mike Melvill didn’t) and only do so as a measure of last resort if Melvill’s versions of the bottom cowl baffles are deficient in cooling the engine.
I grabbed some shots of James’ winglet intersection fairings for reference as well.
I don’t know if I’ll do it, but I also really like how James secured his wing bolt access cover: very clean.
And a couple shots of James’ now painted aileron fences.
Although I snapped some pics of this last year, I grabbed some more of Howard’s canopy latch setup… which is very close to mine.
As well as Howard’s aft nose/avionics cover.
There was a Dave Hanson (I believe) finished green & silver Long-EZ there that had close to the same “remote” oil check door latch that I do. But instead of using heavier steel wire, the owner (who I didn’t meet) used a fiberglass rod. Hmmm? Much lighter and I will be investigating that possibility.
Marco’s Long-EZ has a NACA scoop for engine cooling and the oil filter in the plans position and simply gets phenomenal engine and oil temps. Actually too “good” now as he has to fight to keep his CHTs well above 300°.
I was sitting under his bird for shade with the builder of it, Terry Lamp, when I noticed the edges of the oil cooler outlet were slanted on all sides. I asked Terry about this: he said that he remembered they said it was a good idea to slant the aft edge, but he wanted all sides to look the same. Regardless, it’s working quite the treat!
This fancy fuel vent cap is made for VANs aircraft and was installed by Greg Garee on his Cozy III. Again, sitting underneath his bird for shade, Marco pointed this out to me as Gary told us how he installed them. Very nice looking.
This pic is of Klaus’ bird and was actually not at RR, but sent to me by Dave Berenholtz. I put it here since I often go back and review my RR finds of what other people have done, and this is a unique way that Klaus secured his exhaust pipes.
After arriving back at Perry airport in Georgia, Mike Beasley started removing his bottom cowling to do an oil change. I noted how he had glassed in internal walls that directed the air flow to the center of the cowl and kept it from flowing out towards the wing roots. I grabbed a few pics of that since I had never seen that configuration before (I put them here with all the other airplane-specific pics).
DAY 4 – Heading back to Mike’s place (Georgia)
After breakfast at the Lodge, we all loaded up and headed back to Perry-Houston County airport in Georgia.
Here’s a shot of me and Marco in his bird.
And one of Bruce and Mike in “Scooter.”
Day 5 – Heading Home
After an awesome sushi lunch at a local joint, and then some excellent chili that Sherry cooked up for us, we crashed at Mike’s place for the night before heading out to the airport the next morning.
Here’s Marco and me in his bird flying to NC to drop me off at my airport.
Once again, thanks for the ride and a ton of awesome memories my friend!