Missed It By That Much

Sammy and Roger came over from the Big Island to get some easy airtime. This is Sammy's first time flying away from Kealakekua, ever. He has over 1,500 flights over there, and he finally got a chance to sneak off the Big Rock.

They flew Makapuu on Sunday, and on Monday they lured a gang of locals out there for a Halloween flight. We hiked up to Juice just in time for the first wind dummy, Joey, to launch with a tandem. He was up and gone. Then we let Fireman go first, but he went to the beach, which was weird. Ike stole my Sigma8, again, and took off next with no problem. Then Ramjet, Sammy, Sidehill, Mad Dog, and AllanC were on deck, and all got into the air. Somewhere in between Gaza came floating by from a Manics launch.

We flew around for an hour, and I guess Sammy is not used to being up so long, so he decided to head in. We watched him from the air and we were trying to figure out, "Where is he landing?" He had a perfect landing at the LZ yesterday, and even commented, "Wow this LZ is huge, and no lava rock!"

Sammy appeared to be setting up to land at the dirt parking lot below. We all thought he wanted to land closer to the car. Then he veered, got some weird sink, skipped over the guard rail and into the bushes on the perimeter of Sea Life Park. Thank God, no cars came by, or he would have been a hood ornament.

Still not sure what was behind the whole mishap but he was stuck good. Don, Ramjet and I landed to help him out. I called Fire Rescue to ward off any false alarms. We had him mostly out when Reaper came by with a ladder to pull the last section out. Sammy was unscathed except for some lost pride. Hopefully, I will hear the debrief later. We teased him that it was only 10 bucks to get in - he had heard it was $35. So perhaps he thought dropping in would be cheaper. He didn't quite make it.

Many Halloween monkeys showed up to fly, though no one wore costumes, since we're scary enough. As well as I can remember, here is the roll call: Ike, Sammy, Ramjet, Fireman, MadDog, AllanC, Sidehill, Jorge, One-eye, MauiDoug, Gaza, KaaawaLarry, Reaper, Visitor Shawn, Joey, Airborne, MikeM, Chili & Kevin.

If I missed any, please add them to the comments to keep our roll calls accurate.

Sammy, next time just pay the cover charge to get in, and you won't, "Miss it by that much."

It's Time to Fly Get Your Gear and Sea Life Park pass and Go!!!!!