Mickey Sullivan Memorial Aerotow 2021

This annual event at Clearview Field in Milton, Kansas never fails to please.

Sometimes a place calls you: over the past years I have always heard from my friends in the Midwest that the Mickey Sullivan Memorial Aerotow held each year at Clearview Field (see Resources, below) in Milton, Kansas was a ‘must go’ event. The most intriguing part is that anyone I talk to about that venue doesn’t talk about flying, weather or the airfield — they talk about the food! As you know the aerotowing community is very welcoming, laid back and the socializing is a big part of the event. Here it seems it was topped off with some great food on the field, no need to run to a restaurant in the evening, allowing for some superb evening soaring. To make it the most deluxe experience, a large clubhouse is attached to the flying field, with a big hangar to store models and a large room with AC to relax, chill and have meals. It didn’t take any time for me, in late 2020, to motivate everyone to make a collective trip to this paradise destination.

By the way, for accommodations Clearview Field has a couple of camping spots with hookups. There are plenty of hotels are on the west side of Wichita, about 25mi from the field.

The Clearview Field clubhouse and storage facility.

When I looked into it, the venue is in the middle of Kansas, about 35mi from Wichita, so almost a guarantee of uncongested airspace that is quite delightful when you fly big scale sailplanes. On our arrival we received a warm welcome from the organizers — the McCleave brothers — the owner of the field, Ken Stitt and his wonderful significant other Kim Walker. We setup close to the flight line and met with our friends from Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, California, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Missouri. It was really broad attendance, Kansas being a central location for the US. It was quite a drive for everyone, but a very worthwhile one.

Pat McCleave and his Peter Goldsmith Skylark.

The field is composed of two great, long, wide strips (700ft x 150ft) oriented N-S and ENE-WSW, with no major obstacles that are close except two retention ponds on the north side. It’s better to be long than short but if you are well lined up you could use up to 1000ft of runaway. The surrounding area consists of various field crops and some cattle pasture along with groups of trees, variations of topology and bushes that combine to make this field very friendly for thermal development. Other than the owner’s house on the back of the flying area and a power line 2000ft away from where you fly, not much in the way of no fly zones.

View of the field from the clubhouse deck.

Weather in Kansas at this time of the year (mid-September) can be variable but is generally warm, with some moderate wind and heavy thermals. During our stay, we encountered some warm weather — warm enough to enjoy the AC of the club house, but not too hot to make it miserable. The thermal conditions have been unusual for this time of the year with no cloud cover, very light winds, and weak thermals except at midday; probably an inversion layer was preventing the booming thermals to take place, but for my taste that is the weather I prefer.

Towing duties were handled by the pillar of that venue Jim Frickey with is trusted Hangar 9 Pawnee, along with Kevin Kavaney with his Peter Goldsmith Chmelak, Tim Mattsson and his Bidule 170 and me with my trusted Bidule 111. Anything could have been (and was) towed — from a 2m glider to a 9m half-scale Rosenthal AS 33.

Jim Frickey, the chief tow pilot, at work.

This event was the occasion to maiden a 9m AS 33 built this summer from a Rosenthal kit. The first flight is always an intense moment, especially when it is the pilot’s first very big sailplane. Nine meters is impressive, not so much for the wing span but a half scale fuselage is HUGE! No problem for radio install at all! It is not very easy to find a tow plane that can pull such a beast so it was decided to put a front electric sustainer (FES) system on this plane in order to be autonomous in case there is no such tow plane available. Also, it’s nice to have a get-out-of-jail-free card in case something gets in the way during landing. As readers know, when the thermal cycle goes away it is generally raining sailplanes on the runaway some minutes after. In that regard, to be able to go back up and wait for the proper moment to land safely is definitely something I want on all of my sailplanes.

Instead of a costly pylon, the AS 33 has a brushless out runner driving a Torcman system (FES Uni 8) in the nose that has the advantage of not having to cut the nose — they never match right! That’s a very big plus for me. You can also remove the prop from the airframe — for the look, of course, but certainly for safety. Last thing before take off, plug the pro adapter in, first thing on landing, get the prop adapter out. On top of that, it leaves you with the ability to test the motor when you plug the battery. Yes, like everyone, when in a rush I forgot (twice!) to plug in the propulsion battery.

A first flight is always a stressful moment but — oh boy! — the reward is also something else!

Nine meter, half-scale Rosenthal AS 33 first flight.

There were not too many mishaps during this event: a bush landing during a distressed moment, and I have the win of the weekend by flying somebody else’s airplane, I flew a cross tail sailplane for a good five minutes thinking I had an aileron problem and my sailplane was only turning one way. To top that off, I only realized it after a while as the sailplane I was flying was my Edelweiss — a V-tail! Build, fly, crash and repeat, as they say!

A minute of silence for my Edelweiss, along with my supportive friends.

This 2021 edition of the Mickey Sullivan definitely provided a taste of what I’ve been missing — and a desire to make it back in 2022. The next edition will take place September 22 through 25, so pencil it in your schedule now and see you there.

Above, a few more pictures of the 2021 event so you know what you’ll be missing if you don’t make it to the Mickey Sullivan Memorial Aerotow in 2022!

©2022 Stéphane RUELLE

Resources

• Clearview Field — from the website: “Located in the heart of America, Clearview is dedicated to providing a well manicured 750' smooth grass runway for professional, amateur and beginner remote control pilots and enthusiasts. Pilots, their families and spectators can relax in the Clearview Clubhouse and enjoy great country cooking…”

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