I started this
little adventure in 2000 by ordering Ken Hill's Joyrider plans. The
unit was so much fun that I started to tinker.
Dec 2005, Mark Yarnell liked my Joyrider so much that he commissioned
me to build him one. A local welder owed me a bunch of money so I
figured that was one way to get it back. When it was finished it was
a major improvement, not even close to the original. One of the first
things I discovered was that the Joyrider works because it is made
from flexible plastic tubing. Making it from metal is a whole new
ball game. I tried at least five different linkages before
I got one that worked. I thought that I was beat several times before
the correct combination was found.
I sent a picture to Maximum PC and they featured it as the "Rig of
the Month." I was sure it was perfect, but testing brought up a few flaws. Unable to leave it alone I started a quest for the solution.
Spring 2006 I sent a demo tape to the Discovery Channel's
Daily Planet. Two days later I fell from the sky with a broken back,
OUCH! Just back at work, I get a call from them wanting to do a show
immediately. Before the crash I had disassembled the unit to make
some changes and I was in no shape to re-assemble it so I stalled
and got two weeks. I hired a welder and we worked long hours getting
it back together the night before the shoot. When Mark
Miller appeared I had no idea how it would work...got lucky.
Sorry guys, another almost perfect
unit. The problem was the amount of trim weight required. I had
calculated maximum of 65 pounds. Turned out I needed 150% of the pilots
weight so if you weigh 200 pounds you will need over 300 pounds of lead.
All is not lost! I found answers to
many of the problems with the "Dreamflyer".
At
Oshkosh and the Abbotsford Air shows it received very favorable reviews.
Numerous skilled pilots tried and liked the Dreamflyer. Gene Soucy and Buck
Roetman gave me flying lessons. Thanks Guys.