We left with great weather for Dallas about 11 o’clock and got into Dallas about 2 or 2:30. It was getting a little warm, so I took it up to about 8500 feet where it was just right for most of the flight back. When I came in to land at Lakeview airport, the owner had cut the grass on the turf side of the runway and he had left all these huge clumps of grass almost like piles of hay all over the place. I decided as I sometimes do to land on the turf instead of the asphalt which is in sorry shape. The grass was fresh cut so I couldn’t see the piles until I was into them. That was the nearest I came to any problems on the whole trip and it was on the final landing at home! When the plane got over those piles of grass, it did something weird to the ground effect and the plane reacted to it. Then it dropped into the piles and I honestly don’t know how the nose gear took the beating. We had grass stuck in all the gear when we got to the hangar! On the left main gear it had ripped the brake line lose from it’s anchors, but it didn’t break the line. Later I found out that a plane had hit the same stuff the day before and flipped over and the guy was in the hospital! Anyway, the plane is fine, but it was a close call and if the plane and the gear weren’t super stout, there definitely would have been damage.

All in all a very good trip, but we are really glad to be home.

First, make yourself a note or a check list concerning things that absolutely MUST be done before closing up the wing for the last time. After the wing is closed, it is virtually impossible to do some of the things that must be done. There is a pre-closure check list in the Glass Goose wing plans. One of the most often overlooked items is the ¼ vent hole which must be put through the
top of the spar just inside the BL65 rib. This vent hole is necessary if you expect fuel to flow into the fuel compartments on the back side of the spar.

Without this hole, the air in those compartments will be trapped! Since the back side compartments fill from the front side thru the spar pass-thru hole down at the center of the wing, or basically the bottom of the tank, the air must be able to escape from the top in order for the fuel to fill that side. If the air can’t escape, the fuel will fill until the trapped air won’t let it fill any further. Without the vent hole, you can only get about 9 or 10 gallons in the 17.5 gallon tanks! I had this happen myself and I know of at least one other builder that had the same problem. If you don’t have that vent hole on your pre-closure check list, put it on there RIGHT NOW while you are thinking about it. If you don’t, you will probably forget about it in the rush to get your wings closed and then discover it the first time