One last hazard arises on landing: as we touch down a road grader backs toward the runway on a taxiway turnoff near midfield. He holds short, but that's when we notice the six-foot-high Men At Work sign the construction crew has set up right at the edge of the runway, which at 75' is not quite as wide as our wingspan. Edge-on, the sheet metal sign is invisible until we are right on top of it; a last-minute swerve with the rudder to avoid clipping the wingtip saves us from having a really bad day. Not that we'd have been hurt--our speed at that point was perhaps 20 knots--but it likely would have done enough damage to the wing to render the Stemme unairworthy.
Copyright (C) 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 by Steve Zimmermann, all rights reserved