Hello everyone:

The Canard Spring Fling 2006 at the Casey Municipal Airport in Casey, IL is now history.

Despite the unusually low turnout the weekend as a whole couldn't have been better. The 20 (including me)
who signed the registration sheet were treated to absolutely beautiful weather, one example of each type of Quickie (Q-1 Keith Welsh, Q200 Sam Hoskins, Tri-Q Dave Davis), and a Mark II Dragonfly (Steve Laribee).
Other aircraft flying in were 2 Pulsar's, 2 PA-28's, a Swift and a C-170. And yes you didn't see Terry Crouch's name mentioned. WHAT!!!....TERRY!!!....NOT THERE!!! Well.. yes.. Terry was there but due to an unfortunate set of circumstances he found himself with an airplane needing a minor repair and no airport for a test flight. The Quad City Airshow was gearing up for the weekend rendering the facility nearly impossible for use.
So instead he drove down in his Lexus and man that puppy gets right with the program. Those things are much more than cars with fancy interiors. As it turned out he was great help and should be considered a
co-host. I really appreciate it. Thanks Terry.

Friday evening at Richards Farm restaurant didn't disappoint. We all gorged ourselves.
The Saturday noon meal, a surprise to everyone as I grilled pork burgers, was well received (mopping sweat from my brow as I had no substitute in case they were not liked). It's in the spice folks, believe me. Porkburgers are good but tasteless without sumpin to spruce em up a bit.

Everyone there was very appreciative that they were able to see and experience all they came for and no one left disappointed. And that is always the primary objective. Heck I even gave my best ever Q-1 flight demo. A few commented that they didn't know an Onan Quickie could do all that. In experienced hands it can be demoed impressively. The secret is knowing that gravity can be used as an amassing airspeed builder when needed. Of course with only 20hp it bleeds off quickly when the maneuver begins but starting at 140 mph at full throttle buys allot of time to demonstrate a Quickie.

Sam's condition inspection demo went off very well. He covered the legal aspects of maintaining noncertified airplanes, asked a few questions which received the wrong answers from the group, covered log book entries and let us look over his logbooks. He even changed his oil and showed how a filter inspection should be done. Many thanks to Sam for doing this. It was a real attention keeper.

My personal highlight was Sam's invitation for a ride in his Q200. We were out about 20 minutes and I was able to fly the airplane. I was surprised as to how similar it's handling and control input is to the Q1 the only major noticeable thing was the 115 mph difference in top speed. GEEZE!! I've never been that fast behind a propeller. And boy did the fence rows pass by in a hurry.

Special recognition will have to go to a pair who did not attend but tried. Earnest Martin with Jerry Marstell called Saturday midmorning that they were forced to turn back when running into an overcast wall around Knoxville, TN. Their choice was to scud run at below 500' or file IFR to which neither is instrument rated. Wise choice guys and thanks for your efforts. It didn't go unnoticed.

Well...that's about all I have. While we had an unexpectedly small event it was rich with quality. My personal thanks to those who brought your planes, the cornerstone of any flyin, the stars of the show, the on site experts, and those the builders and dreamers look up to. Your participation really means allot and is the measure of success for these events. Thank you.

For the Spring Fling 2006
Keith Welsh
Quickie N494K
























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