Hello all you Southern Flyers and Associates,
After having a pretty bad January things have certainly got alot better here to start this February. To begin with we had our Club's fabulous Annual Celebration Banquet this past Saturday night . We had a good turn out of members and guests. A total of 21 braved the cold windy weather to enjoy some of the most excellent food and fellowship ever created by known mankind . We had by far some of the very best smoked chicken with all the trimmings prepared by an excellent staff of "paula dean's" at the " Baxley House Banquet, Party, and Convention Center.. Man O Man was it ever good. Top that with my favorite dessert of Strawberry's and homemade pound cake and wow was it good. Whoever it was that planned that menu had to be a pure genius.. wait a minute... I was the one that planned it ... (patting myself on the back)...okay...okay I confess... I told the Baxley House we had $160.00.to spend .and they said that was the cheapest menu they had ... lol ...Some genius Huh ? Ha .... But it was all really good thanks to Patty , Pat and Debra of the " Baxley House". Thanks to them and each one of you for making it one of the best ever banquets.
How do you top that you might say ? Well the very next day I got that opportunity . I went out to 17J to find a day without 25 mph wind and rain for a change .. I cranked my mighty 447 Rotax engine up on my Kolb Firefly and it responded with a mighty "ready to go " roar !  After a very detailed preflight and allowing the ' eager to go " thunderous Rotax to warm up and getting an " ok" from my gauges. I jumped into my 'mighty steed " and taxied out to the ' engine run up " spot short of the main runway.. After announcing my intentions to all the Donalsonville traffic  thru my dependable "Transceiver" I did what all pilots never get used to doing. That's right ! I took my place on the Main runway to try to attain enough wind under these wings to make this marvelous flying machine to sustain controlled flight . With the nose of my Firefly pointed straight down the mile long runway I do a quick check of my gauges and a freedom of movement of my rudder , elevator and ailerons.  Adding power slowly at first to my purring Rotax my Kolb moves slowly then accelerates quickly. As I go to full power while at the same time keeping my feet heavily on the rudder pedals making corrections as the torque of the engine tries to turn the aircraft's nose to the wrong side of the runway. All at once the tail comes off the ground which requires the immediate correct amount of touch on the "stick" . This "stick"  controls the elevator by the pilot which on takeoff  keeps the nose from digging into the hard asphalt surface . As you go lickerly split like a " bat out of Hell" you wait for that magic number from your gauges that tells you this mighty beast is ready to finally  " FLY" .In my Kolb you are doing all this in less than 100 feet which amounts to about 6 to 8 seconds  Pulling back smoothly and genteelly on the " stick" changes the angle of attack on the wings so you suddenly feel the aeroplane get lighter on it's wheels as this man made bird is suddenly loose of all it's gravity and  Golly GEEZ WHIZ "Look Ma I'm flying ". WEeeeeeeee YaHooooo !  Then quickly you remember to make the critical decision of adjusting you angle of attack so that you don't climb to fast and create a deadly " Stall". As the great airman 'Lindy Linderman" told me on my first solo flight . Your two best friends is Altitude and Airspeed . Once you have got them two friends in their proper place you can really enjoy the fun and excitement of flying that is truly one of life's greatest fun adventures.
Yes I am really looking forward to the rest of the year .  Get out and enjoy this great adventure with us all .
    .

Stevon Baxley
Humbly Yours,
President Of Southern Flyers Association
334-435-4124