Early Saturday morning in mid April I rolled over and asked my wife to attend the test flight of my Flying Wing. Up she rose and was ready almost as fast as I was. What support I have!

Friday had been clear with winds of 2-3 knots. Perfect for test flights. My prayers for this day were for safety and no wind. The day before I had called my tow pilot to insure his arrival at the New Braunfels Airport which features long runways. We had agreed to have the tow plane, a super cub, there about 9:30 am. My brother had prepped theWing so she was ready for her first true flight. The weekend before we had done a dozen auto tows up to about the 125-150ft altitude to be sure all was ready. With trailer in tow and a McDonald’s coffee and breakfast in hand, we traveled to the airport.

As my friends, relatives, and I put The Wing together, several people from the FBO came to watch. One observer remarked "It aint got no tail!" We could see in their thoughts in their eyes: ‘You’re not going to get me in that thing!’ Several walked around to the rear of The Wing and said, " Where’s the rest of the tail? This thing can’t fly!" I asked if I had any volunteers for testing. Immediately there was a mass exodus to the coffee lounge.

With parachute we did another weight and balance check and all was well. As I walked to the FBO at 9 AM to use the facilities, I overheard one instructor telling another that planes without engines don’t fly very well. He continued, "You are too busy worrying about where to land to enjoy the flying."

Silently I said, "Now, Lloyd, shut your mouth! Go into the restroom and ponder." So I pondered.

Ralph Thompson , a member of the Airport board of directors, was going to fly chase with his 115 hp Citabra . He was also there to allay fears of the airport manager. Ralph found himself caught in a political and economical squabble about me testing my Fying Wing glider at their airport. Thank you, Ralph, for all the unicom and traffic advisories. Thanks to the airport for their corporation.

Here are the wings getting put together

All is set for my first flight. I wanted to take my time with these flights, but things quickly changed. The tow plane landed 30 minutes late. As he rolled up, the pilot told me he had a flat tail wheel and bad battery.....and we need to go ASAP! Across the taxi way we went.....crew, wife and Wing.

I had chosen the runway into the 3 knot wind. As I strapped on the parachute, out of the clear blue it hit me, "I am going to test fly this Wing." For most of my life I have had an obsession with wings. In John Sealy Hospital at 6 or 7 I remember my father bringing me a Cutlass Jet model because he could not find a Flying Wing that I had seen in Popular Science Magazine. I built RC Flying Wings with the help of friends in Virginia and have stopped in Chino to see the N9M. In my youth I saw a Flying Wing plank test flown in the Valley of Texas and it became a part of my dream. Now the dream was at hand!

In my everyday life I direct television sports, a job where there is plenty of pressure and lots of decisions to be made per game. But this was different. I stopped momentarily and had a quick conversation with my Heavenly Father to say, "Thank you. Please find the time to assign a few more angels to me today. And bless my wife if anything goes wrong." I stepped into the cockpit and for some reason felt calm and warm.

Getting ready for an auto tow

Everything slowed down. Radio check...release check...control check...seatbelt check...kiss from wife...thumbs up from my brother on the wing. The radio crackled, "N86TX on runway 17 New Braunfels for glider tow and test flight." With that the rope pulled and we rolled down the open runway. The first 200’ I was focused on deciding ifit was going to be stable. Jim Marske and Mike Hostage who design and build Wings had given me all their words of confidence, but this was the true test. Lift off and in ground effect. The Cub pulled to 70 mph and we started to climb.

The airport has three runways in a triangle so we turned left to always have a landing source if needed. At 300' it is calm and The Wing is just beginning to relax. What about me? The Wing says, "Cool it, I ‘ve been waiting for years as you built me to get here. Shut up and let’s enjoy this."

OK. Check roll carefully. OK, check airspeed. 70 mph, now at 1000'. If all goes well, I had planned to go to 2000' on the first tow to give me a 1000' to just fly smooth. The air is dead calm and very smooth. One circle of airport and we are now at 2000' north east of airport. I reach to pull the release and everything stopped for a second. I had done the dozen ground tows but now we are at 2000'! A nice calm voice said, "I want to be free!" So, with a smile I pulled the release. For the next 20-30 seconds we flew without a single input. I slowed to about 55-60 mph and just flew. I said to myself, " Self, this is what it all about!"

Slowly I turned to the left to over fly the airport to go south. It was as though The Wing was stretching it wings after a long, long sleep. No surprises, just very smooth. We did some slow turns, 45 ^degree then 90 ^degree at about 10 degrees bank and no more. I was always talking on Unicom to insure ground and chase knew my intentions. I took The Wing down to 1500 feet and decided to slow down. She said, " OK!"

At this height my mind turned to pattern and landing. "Tow plane is down and chase plane is clear and advising traffic of test flight". I turned down wind and found myself at 1200' for runway 17.

Without even thinking "full spoilers" The Wing said, "OK!" At this point I realized my toes were starting to hurt.....I was trying to push the rudder pedals out the front of the plane. "RELAX," said The Wing, "we've done this before."

Down we came, going cross wind at 600'. I continued full spoilers while turning to base at 400' so I remained at full spoilers with plenty of room. A small voice said, "Just watch this squeaking clean touch down."

Coming in for a landing!

"OK," I said, and She just rolled to a stop about 300 from the numbers down the runway. As Wing touched the ground, Lloyd had about a minute to thank the Great Designer of Life for everything and also tell my Wing, "Thank you".

The next tows were each to 4000'. We found stall to be at 42 mph but we still have some nose weight to remove. The first 4000' tow was quite and peaceful. We did some 90 ^degree turns with the bank angle at 45^degrees then 75 ^degrees with good response. Wing has a tendency to slowly lift the left wing; we will adjust later. The Wing and I tried some stability tests on pitch. We increased speed to 85 mph, released, and did two cycles of pitch until Wing stabilized at 60mph maybe 58mph in level flight. Then we tried several 360's left and right. Wing wanted to turn right better but we'll see after adjustment. We did some more stalls approaches and there was no tendency to fall off. Wing is heavy with nose weight, parachute, and.....an overweight pilot! The landing was pleasant and very comfortable. The crew and my family rushed over to tell me how good it looked.

The joy of the successful test flight!!Thanks to the wife, Denise who gave me the support needed to complete and fly the Pioneer!!

Last flight to 4000' was uneventful for tow. I did some slack rope tests for yaw with rudder that went well. When I touched the spoilers in tow to see the effect, it was controllable but noisy. Ground has notified me that the wind has picked up to 12-15 mph and the ride is very rough from 150' to 2700'. My radio has failed. I trust that my ground unit will follow the pre test rule: 'When no radio from glider occurs, the ground unit calls all headings and approaches for all air traffic.' At 4000' I go off tow and decide to try a 360 at 80-90 degrees. It works well. I spiral down to 3500' and do some mild approaches to stall in turns to see if any tip stall occurs. None yet. I hit rough air at 2700' and get bounced. It is interesting that at 2500' flying into the wind, The Wing now is climbing at 150' per minute. The Wing and I stay at 2500' for about 5 minutes and then go lower, and then back into the wind to climb again.

I decided to turn down wind and then penetrate upwind. In downwind turn I dropped about 150' with no warning. The handheld radio floated by.....I grabbed it. "No, Wing! What the (&()^&@#$^ are you doing? Or is it you, Lloyd?" I stabilize The Wing and I fly back into wind, going right back up to 2500'.

Wing did well. Pilot is sucking air. A calm voice says, " Just sit back and watch."

I notice that I am getting a wind gradient shift at about 2500' so I do the pelican bounce for lift. I turned down wind just at the wind shear and fell out of the sky until I regained airspeed. "I don't want to be that close to the ground!" I looked at the almost straight out wind sock. "Boy, did the wind ever come up quickly! OK, now high approach, but I am still at 2000'." I do several S turns and long shallow turns to get down to 1000' for downwind. I am trucking downwind at 900' midway on my down wind leg. FULL spoilers and I decide to hit final at 500''Close spoilers,' instead of 300'. Turn cross wind at 600, close spoilers and turn final leg 'miles' from numbers at 550' altitude. Point nose to numbers and go to 70 mph and full spoilers." Wing tells me, "This is fun." Got some news for Wing! "Use full spoiler until ground effect and then level at 65 mph and let headwind slow me to 55 mph and touch spoilers to make a soft touchdown." It occurs to me that I have landed on the numbers about 100' from my crew. I taxi over to them using spoilers and brakes. We load The Wing and go home re-live this precious experience over beer and wine. My Wing is safely in its trailer and Lloyd, the pilot, is safely in his hammock.

Thanks to Jim Marske(designer), John Irwin (co-builder), Mike Hostage, Herk, Ralph and to my brother (my buddy and co-builder) for all the hard work. To my wife, Denise...Thank you, Honey for all your patience and putting up with this nut that wanted to fly a Wing!

To all that read this, you can acheive your dreams! God Bless.

-Lloyd Watson