District IV - 2009/07
On Sunday, February 1, 2009, John Robinson showed up at the field with the Wings Across America (WAA) model. We had anticipated that John would get the model at some point, but were unsure exactly when.
The goal of this project was to fly one model in all 50 states during 2008. Well, they didn't make it in 2008, but that is not the point. This has been done before, but this project differs in one important way.
Instead of shipping the airplane from pilot to pilot, each pilot will now deliver the model from one pilot to the next—in person. There are more than 300 pilots who have agreed to participate. John was not certain of the planned route the airplane would take in its journey; recently the weather has played a large part in determining that route.
John got a call last week that he would be next to fly. I got an e-mail Friday and tried to alert as many club members as possible so we could have a good turnout to witness the event. Sunday came with relatively warm, clear skies, but the winds were 10–15 mph. That’s a lot for a small airplane!
John had gone so far as to build a replica so he could fly it first and ensure that the "official flight" would be successful. This test flight was inglorious but didn't result in a crash. Now for the flight with the WAA airplane.
I hand-launched for John and the flight went very well, considering the wind. The flight lasted maybe two minutes, then John realized he was losing battery power. He went for a short downwind and almost made it back to the runway. The WAA model landed in the rough grass just six feet short of the runway—a successful flight considering the size of the airplane and the strength of the wind.
John offered the transmitter and a fresh battery to several of the club members present, but all declined. Who wants to take the chance of crashing the WAA airplane?
— Bill Francis
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
