Richard van Heuvelen (left) and Chris Gullikson prepare for
take-off as the sun rises over the Necedah airport.
OM
pilot, Chris Gullikson says "I sat back and enjoyed the scenery and
watched as number 14 studied his new surroundings filled with
man-made structures. A couple of times he pulled ahead of me, flying
just in front of my trike and I reached out and tickled his toes
with my mitten. He climbed up to the leading edge of my wing and
discovered the lift that precedes the wings edge. I bumped up the
RPM’s a bit on the engine, pulled the bar in and he slid along the
leading edge and fell back into the favorable position at the
wingtip."
Once on the ground in South Juneau County, WI., the pilots penned
the birds inside the travel enclosure.
As Chris returns to Necedah to store his aircraft, he captured
this shot over Castle Rock Lake. Note the shadow his ultralight
casts at the base of the trees. Also in the top right are of the
photo you can see the ethanol plant which is just south of the town
of Necedah. Pilots use the plume of emissions it spews out to judge
wind direction and speed - ironically our very first stopover in
2005 was on the site where the ethanol plant now stands.
