Q-talk 61 - Jan/Feb 1997 - index

JAN/FEB 1997
ISSUE NUMBER 61

QUICKIE BUILDERS ASSOCIATION

INTRODUCTION

by Jim Masal

 

Now I know this newsletter is devoted to Q-craft, but let me tell you in a few lines about one of the dammedest airline experiences I recently had. See if you can picture this. I'm on a Southwest Airlines 737 about 8:30 p.m. in El Paso, TX. I feel the plane backing away from the gate as a flight crewman makes the announcement, "Flight Attendants prepare for takeoff". I say to myself "Boy, he just screwed that one up, we're just now backing away." A minute and a half later we were 500 feet over El Paso and climbing out! Whoa, Nellie," is what football announcer Keith Jackson would say.

It turns out the approach end of runway 8 was only a hundred yards or so behind the gate and the captain executed the famous Southwest Airlines rolling start (I never felt the brakes once we started forward.) I can't depart that fast in a Piper from my own strip.

When I got back from El Paso, I found another one of "THOSE CALLS" on my answering machine, i.e. "I just acquired a Q-2 project from somebody who got it from somebody who'd given up on it and I need some information. Has anybody ever put a tricycle gear on one of these?" And then of course he fails to say those magic words "Please call me COLLECT at this number." A stranger calls in a serious hurt for information and he doesn't even want to pay for the call ... he thinks I'm anxious to spend money to help him.

Now this guy says he has a business. Am I the only guy in the world who thinks it takes the brains of a rock to "acquire" an airplane project BEFORE finding out some basic information rather than AFTER? And if you don't even know that there exists a Tri-Q then you are so far behind the power curve that you're not even on it. It's gonna take SOME telecom to get you up to speed.

All of this is to say that our newsletter is in its 15th year, starting now, and there are folks coming out of the woodworks that are deeper and deeper in a pickle in their desire to build one of our planes. Yeah, they got a project at a bargain or even free, but besides the normal work and psychic energy required to finish a kit aircraft, they don't have a clue about the extra and enormous effort and time it will take to identify and fabricate a missing part or to "acquire" a missing plan.

It seems to me after all these years though that there are still gobs of helpful resources. All issues of Quicktalk and Q-TALK are still available from day 1. Builder forums at Oshkosh and Sun 'N Fun are still regular events as well as several actual Q examples always on the flightline. The Ottawa Fly-In still draws a crowd and now in Phoenix. Don Stewart is pumping even more life into a canard fly-in that could surprise us all.

Let no one forget (and first of all me) that the real stars, the real lifeblood of each of these resources is YOU. Yeah, you read that right. You in your easy chair, or couch or at the dining room table or you, just about to doze off to sleep. You are the ones who write the tip letters, you are the ones who greet the confused, inquisitive, eager faces at the shows and fly-ins and share brief moments of time with strangers, some of whom become newfound friends, some of whom become pests, hanging on to the info rope for dear life.

Well, the rope ain't broke yet and I hope you will all thank each other as I thank you now for your years of support, ideas and cooperation with me and all our fellow travelers in big ways and small. Be advised that a new cycle of pulling builders out of the mud with our help starts all over again with this issue, with a new fly-in at Phoenix and the first big "DO" of the year at Sun 'N Fun starting April 6 in Lakeland, FL where you should get you butt outta the sack early and meet me at:

THE QBA FORUM

9-11 A.M., SUNDAY, APRIL 6TH or the follow-up for you slow guys on Tues. a.m.

 

 

Other Articles In This Issue

LETTERS - by Tom Moore
CLASSIFIEDS - by Tom Moore
QUICKPIX - by Tom Moore

 


You can order a PDF or printed copy of Q-talk #61 by using the Q-talk Back Issue Order Page.