Flight Log: 12/27/2012

It was too sunny and rainless to pass up.  With temperature about 42F, I headed out and had a quick couple of flights with the Shoestring 60.  Naturally, nobody else was there!  Wind was at least 5mph as our windsock was straight out, and of course it was crosswind from the South.  Takeoffs and landings were on the N/S runway headed due South with a slight curve to the East as needed.  I am really liking the Shoestring 60 with the Saito 100 in it.  The match is perfect and results in a wide speed range.  The plane flies very well, better than the 46 size due to the ability to slow down much more for landings.  It must be slightly rearward on the CG as evidenced by the bouncy tail during taxiing on the grass...full up elevator holds the tail down, but the tail bounces up and down readily!

Christmas Eve

The wind was over 5mph based on our windsock, temp was 42F at home, but it was not raining and the flying was good.  Nobody else at the field, except towards the end when a potential new member and his dad showed up to ask questions.  Looks like another new member to me.  Flew the Toledo Special 3 times and due to the south wind, I used the short runway.  I haven't really done that with the TS before and I had my slight doubts about doing it safely, but it worked out that the runout after touchdown was just short enough to fit on the runway.  The Saito 82 ran well and the plane flew just like usual.  Good stuff.  I am hoping for equally decent weather on Dec 31 and/or Jan 1 to do an individual "polar bear" day at the field.  It really won't be a polar bear day if I fly, because I won't fly if it is under 40F or snowing!

42F Flight Log: 12/13/2012

It was 42F at most and did feel chilly at the field but I got in 4 nice flights on the Sbach.  I wondered if the gas engine, DLE-30, would balk on a colder day, but it acted the same as usual...GOOD!  Nobody else came and I was done in about 90 minutes.  Wind was from the SE, so I landed from the west, and all landings were nice and light.  This plane will float in and sail right by the field even on lowest idle, so I do have to ease in some down and then flare out to get the plane to touch the ground.  Pretty amazing how slow and floaty it gets, while maintaining full flight control.

Flight Log: 12/10/2012

Blessed with another decent day, I flew the Yak 54 four times today.  It reminded me how good it is, and that maybe I should not sell it!  Ran fine and flew great, floating in for light landings.  Dick, Joe, and Rudy also showed up and flew today, trying to get some fun in before the next rains sweep in.

Flight Log: 12/08/2012

Woke up to calm air, no rain, overcast, and 41F.  Waited till 9:30 when it was a whole 43F, then headed to the field.  Flew my 60 size Shoestring three times, eight minutes per flight.  The CA held the two lower cowl mounting blocks to the firewall securely.  This Shoe flies on rails like the smaller one, but definitely slows better for landings.  I like it very much.  The Saito 100 has good power, and gives the Shoe a wide speed range.  I was able to just putter around upright and inverted at half throttle or so, further demonstrating the speed range of the airframe.  I probably can increase rudder throw for tighter turns on the ground, and also to kick the tail over with more conviction in stall turns.  There is a little roll coupling when the rudder is deflected in knife edge, making the plane want to roll to upright.  Might just leave it as is for now.  So far so good with this plane...it looks great on the tarmac and in the air, and flies like a good sport plane.

Flight Log: 12/05/2012

For this time of year, it was a miracle day for flying...over 50F, slight southerly breeze, no rain, and blue skies.  I even saw a bald eagle winging by right over the runway!  I got in 6 flights with the SNAFU, and did lots of touch and go's, loops, rolls, inverted flight, etc.  I just wanted to keep the fingers nimble and the brain from forgetting.  I mowed  the field before flying.  Dick came today too, and flew a small electric (of course) Reactor.  I think it flies better than the larger glow version I have seen!  Seems to be on rails and like a big plane.  It was impressive tracking through loops.   Looks like rain tomorrow again, durn it.

Flights of the Intruder

It was a nice day for flying today...just over 40F but clear and calm.  I got in 4 flights of the Intruder.  The OS 91 Surpass II ran well all day with no adjustments necessary.  The only adjustment needed today was to the nose wheel to make the plane track straighter on the ground.  It is pulling left much less now.  I also had the 60 size Shoestring with me and made one nice flight.  Before I took off for the second one, I checked the cowl and found that two of the lower hardwood mounting blocks were not fixed to the firewall anymore!  I don't get it because those were epoxied on by me.  I will get them stuck on good with CA this time, since it seems the epoxy might have not been compatible with whatever came stock on the firewall?  I thought I coated the whole firewall with epoxy too though.  Nobody else came to fly on the last day before more rain is supposed to arrive.

Boxster Fun

Enjoyed inspecting several Boxsters at the dealership again today, while waiting with Tad for his CR to have an oil change.  Spent nearly 2 hours there, which went relatively fast.  I just began reading my book when the service manager told us the car was ready.  I got to inspect the dark blue metallic base Boxster that we test drove 20 days ago, as well as a newly arrived platinum silver with red top and interior, and an aqua blue with black top and interior, both base Boxsters; and one white with black top and interior S version.  Geez, any color looks pretty nice.  Still leaning towards my choice of mahogany metallic brown with brown top and espresso interior although the dark blue one has similar feel and effect...understated richness and sophistication being basically monochromatic in either dark browns or dark blues.

Look at this silver with red though 

(very nice but loaded up to $68k).

New Membership Card

After using the same background for our KRCA membership card for a few years, I wanted to create something different for a change.  I looked for pre-printed business card stock at Office Depot and online, and found the same ones as usual...either the USA flag (good but it is what we used for years) and the clouds.  I decided to find online images related to aviation to use as a background, and to fit the winner onto plain business card stock, using my own printer and ink. I figured with only 60+ members and 10 cards to a sheet, that I would only be printing 8 or so sheets, allowing for mistakes.  The printing is done in two steps of course.  First I print the plain business card sheets with the background on them.  Then I print the club name and member info onto those sheets, as members submit their yearly dues.  The final product is pictured here:

I issued and mailed the first 7 membership cards for 2013 a few days ago, and was really pleased to get a call from Doug the other night.  He said he liked the new card so much that he just wanted to call to express his opinion.  Made me feel good, and I hope most everyone else also likes the new card.  Note that I noticed the uncentered line that says "2013 Member", and will have it centered on the future cards printed.  BTW the color on the actual cards is a little more vivid than in the photo.

Beautiful Weather on Thanksgiving Day!

After a week of continuous rain, we got a break from Mother Nature, who gave us a cool but calm and dry day at the field!  It was in the low 40's when I got there around 10AM, but the fog was high and breaking up, and the wind was non-existent.  Only Bob Ross was there with his Pulse 60 and we had a great time alternating flights with each other.  I think I had 4 flights with the Toledo Special, just playing with throttle a lot and  cruising around doing some loops and rolls and Cuban 8's between low throttle upright and inverted spells.  As we ended, Wilfredo showed up with a chopper.  Had a great time!

The Boxster Beautiful

What follows is a replacement for my original entry on Nov 6, 2013.  Somehow I managed to lose it as I tried to reformat it to look better.  I had copied it from my entry on Planet-9, but it pasted with underlining.  I know now to paste it as plain text.  

Before today, I really wanted a 2013 Boxster. Now I REALLY REALLY REALLY WANT a 2013 Boxster!!! My son had the day off and asked if I want to go up to test drive a Boxster this morning. I was not that convinced we should go, but he called the dealership to check if they have one to demo, and when they said they have both a base and S to test drive, he said we'd be up there around 11AM! So he called me back and I agreed to go and put off some chores. Off we went in his Cayman R, now a year old. We got to the dealership and the salesman was ready to let us drive either a white S or a dark blue base. Based on a lot of posts here, I wanted to drive the base Boxster. Just as an aside, my son and I were both surprised that the car had only 24 miles on it, indicating to us that there have not been many test drives of that particular car. I expected to see more miles on any car we demoed. I asked the salesman to demo lowering and raising the roof, which he did. Very nifty. I like those neat little plates that flip out to cover some of the openings on each side when the top is fully down. After some very nice orientation to the various cockpit controls by the salesman, we headed out for about half an hour of driving. 

After just a few minutes, the car felt like heaven! Test driving the car put me over the top, I was on the fence before, now I am pretty sure I will order one very soon. Everyone talks about the smooth and precise shifter, and I loved it. My shifter in my 02 Corvette feels long and clunky in comparison (but I still love that Corvette.) I liked the electronic steering...light, immediate, precise. Power was not bad, and while it won't give me whiplash, it makes up with great sound from the engine and exhaust. Very sexy. And I think at higher RPM, I would feel the torque more, but I was gentle with the demo car. Suspension felt right to me...not stiff like my son's CR, but stiff enough to get some feel from the road and to stay flat in the turns. I liked the cockpit feel, not small not large, just comfy and soft enough for my aging body, and very rich feeling in terms of materials, technology, and execution. Very sophisticated car...it suits a baby boomer like me who worked long and hard and wants to enjoy life to the max now. So where was I...my son took a turn at the wheel too as he was interested in how it compares to his CR. Sure the base Boxster doesn't have the power, but he could see it really would be enough for me touring around the countryside. He was slightly taken aback by how much improved the interior is, how much richer it feels, than his CR. He kept saying he loves his CR though, lol. 

When we returned to the showroom we talked about colors. The salesman said he would get some color chips, and he returned with good sized painted and upholstered pieces more like the size of saucers. That sure helped in seeing colors. We viewed them inside and outside. Right now I am leaning towards Mahogany Brown, Brown Top, and Espresso leather, convenience package, Sport Design steering wheel, Boxster S wheels, light design package, and Sports Plus seats. I am not ready to order just yet as I don't want to get delivery in the middle of the long wet Winter here, so the salesman is going to contact me in a month or so, targetting delivery mid or late April when the light at the end of the Wintry tunnel will start to beckon. 

So I am not an official "waiter" yet. I am a "waiter in training"? What I really am is excited about the test drive experience today with my son. We are sharing some great times and making fond memories, first with our Corvettes, and now with Porsches. Looking forward to being a Waiter and then an Owner of the Boxster. Sure got charged up and convinced to get one after the visit to the dealership and the demo drive today.

Here are pics of the color combination that I would love to have, as well as the rims I would choose:

Delightful Day...Almost

It was overcast and under 50F, but still hardly a breath of air, and NO rain.  I made another 5 flights with the Sbach, trying to tune the engine to decrease the black oil residue that spits onto the bottom of the plane from the JTec pitts style muffler.  Leaning out the high end did not seem to help, nor did both opening and closing the low needle by a smidge.  The engine runs strong and smooth to me, and the residue is just a minor issue.  It does make cleanup necessary though, to have that black spit on the entire length of the fuse bottom at the end of the flying session.  In any case, the plane flew great again today, with all good landings.  Slow rolls are so effortless with this plane, and the rolling circle is easier to get done in four rolls with this plane.  Like yesterday, nobody showed up for the nearly 2 hours I was at the field.

Delightful Day

Wow, it was a gorgeous day at the field.  Clear up at my house, I arrived to find sparse fog dissipating.  By the time my Sbach was assembled, the sky was fogless with scatter high clouds and lots of blue.  It must have been 50F at least since it was almost that at my house.  Not another soul came while I stayed for over 2 hours and got in 6 flights on the Sbach.  The DLE-30 gave its first bark after about 16 flips, and then started in another 5 flips.  After several flights, I observed the engine is still spitting out black on the underside of the plane so I turned the high needle in just a 1/16th of a turn or so, then after another flight tried the low needle too.  Had to back off on the low needle when it would not run as reliably on low idle.  Looks like it still spits a little but I will fly a few flights next time and then  recheck for black residue.  No prob with running  WOT and transitions are fine.  Had all good landings today...just have to keep above lowest idle to bring her in with a little speed and enough air under the wings to prevent stall.  The Sbach is turning out to be a real nice airframe.  I added a little more up elevator mixed with left rudder because the plane still wanted to tuck to the belly in right KE.  It is way more present in right KE than left KE (right rudder).  Not sure why.  All in all a fun time and I got more adjustments made to the plane and engine, very beneficial time spent.

Indian Summer?

I'll take these beautiful days of Indian Summer, breezy or not.  It might have been 5-10mph this AM, but I saw the breeziness at home, so I brought my SNAFU to the field for playing in the wind.  It was plain old FUN, just horsing the light and agile SNAFU in the the breeze.  Mike came out too, and did the same with his Uproar, and Steve E with his Blade 450.  He must be good because he made the chopper look very stable in the gusty conditions.  Wind was out of the south so I did all takeoffs and landings on the short N/S runway, with landing rollouts of under 5 feet all  the time.

The wind and sun were perfect for drying off the roads, so upon returning home from flying, I changed into clean jeans immediately and vacated the premises in my Corvette.  Ahhhhh, it was sublime taking about a 45 minute drive just around town...from West Salem south on Commercial/Liberty/Skyline, east on Kuebler, north on Turner Rd, 22 and 25th St, back west on State, Marion, and Edgewater.  I love this Corvette and have to wonder about the benefits of switching to the 2013 Boxster.  I would love that roadster, but would I love it enough to warrant spending nearly $60k on it?  Just the thought of being able to do it gives me a charge, and it is the only other brand car (Porsche) that I lusted for in all my previous years besides the Corvette.  Great dreaming!  Life IS good!

Flight Log: 11/02/2012

The weather has been wet and/or windy so flying has been rare lately.  The wind and rain stopped for half a day during which I was able to fly this AM.  Bob B mowed while I was there, so the grass was short for the three flights I made.  Rudy and I were the only die hards today.  The T-28 had a weird start.  When I turned on the radio, it was like it was set for the wrong model.  Flap trim was way off, and the end points for each flap were different!  I finally got them programmed to throw the same amount and trim properly, but it scares me to that somehow the settings got disturbed.  A similar situation has occurred on another model with this transmitter, but I forget what exactly was off trim.  I will have to be sure to check each model before flying, which is the norm anyhow, but I need to be extra careful.  I am wondering if it is time for a new xmitter battery, as the one in it is likely over 2 years old.  The T-28 flew fine after the flaps were programmed correctly, and the Saito 82 ran well.

Oh, I also got in a little hovering with the Blade 400.  I did not freshly charge the three packs.  One ran fairly long while the other two were low in a minute.

Back in the Saddle Again!

Yahoo, I got to fly again after missing the last two weekends due to the trip to Hawaii!  I had 3 flights with the Toledo Special, wanting to try something tame.  My takeoffs were great but the landings were all slightly bouncy.  Temp was only around 50F, foggy at first, so I mowed the field before flying.  The TS needed a bunch of up trim, and I don't recall it needing much trim adjustment due to seasonal changes in temp.  Oh well, it flew great after that.  I maidened Rudy's new blue and white Osiris to get it trimmed out for him.  He made several successful flights and trimmed it more to his liking after the maiden.  Nice flying bird.  He said he bought the larger 62" one when on sale a few weeks ago too, and it will be his Winter project.

Cove Breaker

You've heard of code breakers.  Well this is the Cove Breaker, my 71st painting, 21st for 2012.  I don't know that I will make 30 for the year like 2011.  I watched Bob Ross do this painting on Monday, four days ago.  I decided to give it a try today and naturally I forgot some of the things he did, but that is fine because just getting practice is the main objective.  Felt good doing most of it.  I think the ocean came out well, but I am not real fond of the land.  Sure was fun to paint it no matter what.  :)

AW Ultimate

With some hesitation, I took the AW Ultimate to fly today, just a few days before our trip to HI.  I did not want to damage the plane and spend a few days fixing it just before the trip.  Luck was on my side and the plane flew beautifully and I did not bung up any landings.  I had 3 flights and I feel like the plane is getting more and more dialed in.  I did not change any trims or mixing today.  The only adjustment needed was to richen the high needle about 1/8 of a turn or less.  When I first started the engine it was missing at full throttle, I let it run a minute then tried full throttle again, but it still missed, so I killed it.  After the adjustment it ran fine all day.  Attribute it to the colder temps today as Fall is upon us.  I did many slow rolls and point rolls, stall turns, a few rolling circles, avalanches, cuban 8's and reverse ones, some harrier flight.  All went well.  Landings were perfecto from the left, over the nearby wheeled irrigation pipes, and onto the runway by carrying some throttle all the way to just a foot above the ground then idle down and flare out.  Did a left circle in harrrier, the smallest one I have done, and it looked good.  Constantly pulsing the throttle sure works.  I think this plane has become my fave in the fleet.  Why?  Definitely it has the most presence of any of my planes, not just because it is one of the largest, but because it has great lines and a beauty of a color scheme, probably my prettiest plane.  And then there is its presence in the air...BIG looks good, is easy to see, and the DLE-55 roars as the plane does fast low passes.

I flew the Apache after the Ultimate, but found no thermals.  There was some light air here and there but I could not buy a thermal today.  Sometimes when it is so calm, the thermals don't form, or they don't drift by. I seem to be much more successful when there is wind up to 5mph.

Ultimate and Apache Flying Again

The winds looked iffy in West Salem, but I gave the field a go anyhow, and am glad I did.  The wind was most times non-existent, and sometimes just spotty and always less than 5mph!  Flew the CG Ultimate three flights and the old Sullivan tail wheel bracket replacement works great.  While it makes the tail sit up higher, the takeoffs seemed unaffected.  It's a great flying plane.

The Apache flew with the new transmitter than it has in a while.  It had been touchy to trim and I never thought about it, but the new transmitter makes the plane easy to trim and much smoother in the air.  While I did not catch any boomers, I did find several small bubbles of light air for some nice flights.

Flight Log: 10/07/2012

Arg, it was a short session of flying on a perfectly beautiful and calm day.  I had my CG Ultimate out for the day, and messed up the landing on the 2nd flight.  Came in too slow, added power, had to adjust quickly as wings tipped, and started to envision a cartwheel down the runway.  Luck was with me and the plane righted in time, but bounced around enough to flatten the main gear a little, and break the tail wheel bracket.  I expected to see broken FG wheelpants, but they were fine.  Expected to see dents in the bottom of the wing due to the wheel pants, but there were none.  The tail wheel bracket is plastic/nylon and the plane is 20 years old, so I think it just got old and brittle enough to break under a bad landing, lol.  I then wanted to fly the Apache, but the elevator servo was real touchy around neutral and would not return to the same position often, and I mean it was 1/8" off...pretty bad.

I came home and got to work fixing both planes.  Finished the Ultimate first.  I could not find another identical CG tail wheel bracket anywhere in my parts, so I went with a used Sullivan tail wheel bracket that I fortunately kept.  I had to straighten it out, but I got it on and it should work well.  I did not use the coiled spring connection between the bracket and the rudder because I have seen enough of those hopelessly bent, so I substituted in some thicker piano wire.  For the main LG, I removed both, along with the leggings, and bent them back and more with my adjustable wrench and body weight.  I got them pretty even and had to go back and forth between them, and trying them on the plane to test for level stab/wings.  Came out good, and I mounted them back on with the leggings too.  She is ready to go and show who's boss again.  (I do think this Ultimate flies truer than the larger AW Ultimate which has fair amounts of roll and pitch coupling when rudder is applied in KE.)

For the Apache, I thought the servo was worn out at neutral, so I removed it, and found another HS-55 which had stripped gears.  I switched all the gears out of the stripped servo, and put the good gears inside.  Mounted it back in the Apache and expected success.  The servo still acted the same way yet it had been fine on my servo centering device!  Humbug!!  Aha, the transmitter became the suspected culprit.  I switched the crystal from the transmitter to another one, and sure enough the elevator servo acted smoothly at neutral and all other deflections.  Joe gave me this brand new transmitter years ago to try with the Apache because it has basic programming capabilities.  Well, it came in very handy today!  While in the Apache, I noticed the servo tray was loose from one side of the fuse, so I CA'd that back in.  Also, the sliding canopy was getting loose, so I used CA to build up the bump inside the canopy that holds it from slipping off the fuse.  These planes do need TLC routinely to ensure they treat the pilot nicely!  The Apache is ready for the warpath to thermal heaven again!

Big Shoe

Finally a day came that was not too windy to fly this week!  Flew my new 60 size GP Shoestring today, making 4 nice flights.  First one surprised me at the end as I came in on final, and discovered the engine stopped in the last few seconds.  Luckily the plane was set up for landing perfectly, and it just rolled to a stop after a gentle touchdown.  The Saito 100 is a great engine for this plane.  I might not need to add any tail weight at all if the plane keeps flying like it has been.  If I do add tail weight it would be to keep the plane from nosing over during taxiing, which it has done just once, but it is obvious to me that the tail is bouncy on the runway.  The Saito 100 was not making much smoke on  the first flight, so I opened the needle valve a couple clicks and it seems to be as powerful and makes a nice smoke trail now.  The plane flies great, and will be a keeper.  It could be better only if the roll coupling when rudder is applied in KE was less prominent.  Hmmm, would tail weight help reduce that roll coupling?  That might be another reason to add some sticky lead under the stab as an experiment at least.

Snow Mantled Sunset

This is my 70th painting in the Bob Ross method of wet-on-wet oil painting, which I began learning in January 2010.  Here we are 2.75 years later, and I finally made a breakthrough today on how to put snow (or fall colors) on deciduous trees and bushes.  Not saying it's perfection, just saying I made a giant leap in execution today.  Mainly the paint has to be thinned, and this time I used liquid clear mixed with the white instead of using thinner or liquid white.  Bob Ross doesn't usually do that, but he did on his program today, so I gave it a try.  The other trick is to be sure to use a light touch AND to not kill off all the dark spaces.  The snow or color highlights need the dark background to stand out from, and to create depth in the trees.  I like how these trees turned out today and will work on executing this even better with each future painting.  It's so satisfying to have one of these "Aha" moments after struggling with this aspect so long!

NOTE: gifted to Syl and Rich during their visit.  11/12/12

Hangar Hangers

The wind has been outright obnoxious this week, so I have not been able to fly.  Today I decided to install two more hangar hangers in my garage.  These are made of rope, pulleys, utility hooks, rope cleats, snap hooks, and pipe insulation.  The hangers made today are those for the Alpha 40 trainer in the foreground, and the 46 size Shoestring just behind it.

 The materials for each hanger averages out to about $15.  Basically there is a utility hook with a pulley in the ceiling, and another hook and pulley high on the wall at the ceiling.  A rope cleat is located at a desired height just below the latter hook and pulley.  A snap hook collects two ropes that are lined with pipe insulation to hold and protect the planes.  3/16" braided nylon poly rope runs from the snap hook to the cleat.  The only "hard" step is to locate ceiling joists and wall studs to accept the utility hooks and cleats.

With the two new hangers, I now have 5 assembled
planes hanging with this system.

Two more assembled planes (right side of photo) that are not
flown anymore are hung without the rope and pulley system.

Wings are stored on shelving brackets lined with pipe insulation.

Fuselages for unassembled planes are held
by shelving brackets lined with piping
insulation, or just left on the floor if too large!

I have to hang planes using these systems to be able to store the planes in the garage.  The rope and pulley system keeps the planes that I fly as accessible as possible.  I wish the two 50cc and one 30cc gas planes could be hung as easily, but I fear doing so due to soft underbellies combined with greater weights could damage those planes.  You are looking at about 20 planes in the garage in these pics.  I have 4 ARFs awaiting assembly in the bonus room right above the garage and will have to make choices on what to sell before the new planes can be completed and sent to the garage!  Still, I cannot just stop buying new planes, can I?  :P  NOPE!

Fall Flavors

Here is painting #69, Fall Flavors.  Inspired by Bob Ross today, so I gave it a try after watching the show on OPB.  I couldn't remember the whole layout, but never do, lol.  Still struggling to paint trees and shrubs like he does, but practice, practice, practice will help.

Flight Log: Last Weekend in September

On Saturday, I maidened my new 60 size GP Shoestring.  Flew well, just needing some down trim and aileron trim to fly straight and level.  The Saito 100 ran good, but needs a little more tuning to be great.  Sounds great already though, but I ran it rich.  Seems like it will be fast  and cleaner in aerobatics than the new 46 size version.  By that I mean it has less adverse coupling when in KE, less than even my 50cc AW Ultimate!  The nice thing about the larger Shoestring is that it slows down for landing much more than the smaller Shoestring, and the ground handling is docile.  It did not have any tendency to ground loop like the smaller one.  I think I had 3 flights with the new Shoe.

On Sunday, I flew my Giles 202 and it was awesome, and handled the brisk north crosswind (nearing 10mph) like it was non-existent.  That is still one of my best planes with rock solid and rail like handling.  The OS 160FX ran like clockwork today.  That leads me to Jer's Extra 300 with the same engine.  He put in new bearings and a new O-ring on the needle valve last night, and the engine still ran rich and weak today.  That was sad.  He only took one flight and set the plane aside for the day.

We flew our DLG's with Joe and had a good time.  Since Jer put the Castle Berg receiver in his Colibri on Friday, we can now fly simultaneously without interference to his Colibri.

Last but not least, Alex flew his Alpha 40 trainer today and I awarded him his smiley face on his KRCA membership card.  He soloed each of 3 or 4 flights.  He was doing loops, rolls, and inverted flight with ease.  All take-offs were excellent, and landings were very satisfactory.  I even made him get to altitude then throttle all the way to low idle to simulate deadsticks, and he landed smoothly and safely on the JB sod farm.  Actually after the second such landing, I made him takeoff again, and the engine quit moments later due to running low on fuel, so he got to do a real deadstick.  He did fine and landed without stalling.   The plane decended steeply though, but he saved it with a flare at the very last second that made for a smooth landing on the sod farm.  It was as good as anyone else might do.  Congrats Alex!!!

EC5TACY

Well, that is supposed to look like ecstacy but with my C5 Corvette!  I took the C5 out today on a 50.5 mile jaunt into the countryside.  With no real plan, I headed through town on 22, exited near the prison, headed further east to McClay, north to State St, and then back into Salem.  Once in West Salem, I did the little loop on the twisty rural road that connects Orchard Hgts to Brush College road.  Headed then to get gas on Wallace but they were crowded so I just came home.  Played some CD mixes on the stereo, but mostly listened to the engine purr and sometimes roar during the drive.  It was indeed ecstacy to listen to.  While I may be remotely considering a Boxster, I still really do enjoy the power and even the handling of the Corvette C5.  I need to wash that baby now.

Here she is after I washed her that day:

New Hankook tires and Z06 repro rims!

Sweet Sbach

Tad and I went flying this AM and had a nice time.  Only Rudy showed up today, and no one else on such a gorgeous Fall day!  I flew my Sbach 4 times and Tad did the same with his Kaos Two.  Got the Sbach dialed in a little better by removing some down elevator mix when left rudder is applied in right KE.  All in all, I might need just a smidge more nose weight, but the plane is flying fine right now.  With the rearward CG it sure can land slowly, which I am getting better at by keeping more throttle on during landing approaches and cutting it just inches before touchdown.  My AW Ultimate requires the same treatment.  The Sbach can harrier upright pretty easily using the throttle pulsing like with the Ultimate, but the Sbach just wing rocks more readily.  On the other hand, hovering seemed easier today with the Sbach than the Ultimate yesterday.

The DLE-30 started everytime easily.  Of course on the first try, it took longer since the plane has been sitting for a few weeks after its last flying day, but it started in under 20 flips.  Subsequent starts were on the first or second flip with no need to choke the engine.  I leaned out the high needle just the width of the flat bladed screwdriver because the muffler is still spitting out black on the underside of the plane.  Nothing bad happened, so I will keep the needle there for a few more outings to see if the black decreases.  Nice engine.

Gave the Apache a bunch of tosses and found no thermals.  Tad flew the plane a handful of flights and said it is touchy and hard to fly, haha.  He will get used to it when he gets his own DLG.

Ultimate Fun

It was chancy to go out today because it was cool and grey, 53F, and breezy, but I gave it a try because I really wanted to get the AW Ultimate 20-300 up again.  It was slightly breezy at the field too, but I think not much above 5 mph out of the North, so I assembled and flew the Ultimate.  It was a great time.  Nobody else came out, not even the JB guys, although the sprinklers were on.  I got in 5 flights today, in just about an hour of pretty continuous flying, typically 8 minutes per flight.  Assembly and disassembly still bother me because it takes at least 20 minutes to assemble, and 15 to disassemble.

The extra ounce of lead in the nose seems to make a difference, such that I have the type of elevator trim I can live with.  The plane flies level or ever so little up on a straight line when upright.  Flipped inverted, it takes just the slightest down pressure on the stick to maintain level flight.  On a 45 upline, it maintains that attitude, or slightly increases its climb, but very minutely.  I played with mixes to help the plane in knife edge.  Both sides of KE require some up elevator to stop the plane from dipping to the LG.  Left KE requires a little less.  Both sides of KE also require opposite aileron to keep the plane from wanting to return to upright flight.  Thus, right KE (left rudder) needs some right aileron while left KE (right rudder) needs some left aileron to stay in knife edge.  I have a feeling some of the incidences of the wing(s) and elevator are creating the problem, but I am not going to start cutting the fuse up to change these relationships.  It is too pretty and too much work to go down that road.  I will enjoy the AW Ultimate as is!

I did a number of fun things in the air today.  I practiced more harrier upright flying per a MAN instructional article.  By pulsing the throttle continuously, it is really easy to harrier, steering with rudder, and keeping wings level with ailerons.  I also tried hovering a couple times, and the pulsing of throttle helps there too, but I need way more practice to get it to stay put.  I did some rolling circles as usual, lots of slow and 4pt rolls, and loops.  And I tried lots of harrier rolls with high alpha.  Getting better and it takes lots of timing and changing of throttle.  It too will come with more stick time.  Lastly, I tried some clockwise rolling circles, with rolls to the left...more promising than ever before.  I do counterclockwise circles with rolls to the right much better due to practicing that direction all the time.  I am loving this Ultimate even if it is a pain to assemble and disassemble.  It's still impressive and my best looking plane, IMHO.

While I took the Apache, the sun never came out during my flight session, so I did not attempt to fly it.  Of course by the time I reached home, the sun was burning the grey haze off, and I betcha this afternoon there will be some nice thermals, albeit windier too.

2012 Additions to the Build Log

Due to way too many planes populating my garage, for 2012 I concentrated on flying and repairing more than expanding the air force.

09/24/2012:  My only addition so far this year is the 60 size GP Shoestring, the predecessor of the 46 size plane with fiberglass fuselage.  For power I installed the Saito 100.

Theoretically I have a subtraction from the air force because I gave Jeremy my GP Extra 300SP, but it will remain in my garage and take up space until he buys a house.

Hardware!

I lucked out and won the Arch Enemy Fun Fly that was CD'd by Joe.  Lots of fun, but lots of carnage to many planes today.  Luckily my SNAFU was not one to bite the dust.  There were ELEVEN pilots to start with, and I think FIVE crashed today.  Some were due to planes snagging balloons or crepe paper, but others were due to pilot errors, and one due to a dead battery in the plane.  It was very close and I just beat out Brandon and Rudy.  I actually thought Brandon had won, but their guess for the wingspan of a plane was off by 4" while my guess on another plane was off by 3".  If not for that, Brandon would have won by virtue of hitting one more balloon (a good thing) in the Cluster Bust flight...he got 7 while I hit 6.

Regarding planes lost to the balloons or crepe paper, I saw Bob B's go in when a balloon with crepe paper stuck on his plane and caused uneven drag.  He could not ditch the balloon, and ended up crashing.  Dick snagged lots of crepe paper a couple times on his flight, and the whole electric motor ended up breaking free of the plane, with a resultant dethermalizer effect on the plane...end of flight.  I actually snagged a balloon with crepe paper attached, it hung onto the SNAFU for a few seconds, then fell off to my relief.  I landed with a crepe paper streamer still attached, and to my surprise the dead weight was still on the streamer too!  While it was attached, it fortunately for me did not make the plane uncontrollable.  Brandon snagged two balloons with one pass, shook them off, then snagged another that stayed on a long time while he sped up and gained altitude.  He then spun it off in a dive and landed unscathed.

The last event was the arch enemy task and EVERYONE miraculously drew the task as flying UNDER/UNDER both arches.  The other option was to fly UNDER/OVER.  By vote we eliminated the OVER/UNDER option...bunch of weenies, lol.  The most wild flight in this task was taken by Quang who decided to do his inverted at high speed.  He missed the first attempt when he went UNDER/OVER, and with time on his side he decided to try again.  This time he went UNDER/BLUNDER!  By that I mean he ended up going under the first arch fine, then was too low for the 2nd arch and slid his plane onto the runway, breaking both sides of the prop, but not anything else by some miracle!  We can only presume he hit at such a slight angle on the grass runway that no damage was caused to the canopy, nor the fin and rudder, which are super thick on this plane (GP Cap 21).  It was entertaining to say the least!

Lots of fun.  While I feel sad for the guys that lost planes that they liked, it's part of the challenge and part of the territory.  I took my SNAFU because I considered it my most dispensible, but lucked out with it coming home with just a dinged APC prop, caused by the dead weight on one of the balloons I popped in the Minefield flight.   Joe made the Funfly a lot of fun, definitely funny, and also challenging.  He ran it well.  Folks said they don't want him to run another though, due to the carnage, almost 50% of the planes entered, crashed!  I think some of them were serious, but I thought (as biased winner) it was all in good fun and good taste!  My SNAFU has done well for me this season...winning the Valley Challenge a month ago, and now the Fall Funfly.  It has not met its expiration date, YET!  :)

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New Shoestring, 60 size

My new Great Planes 60 size Shoestring is essentially complete today, with the addition of the decals provided with the ARF.  Powered with a Saito 100, the all up weight of the plane is 7.3#.  At this time the balance point is perhaps 1/4" or so in front of the recommended CG, so it should be a safe maiden flight.  I am using my second Futaba 7 ch transmitter with the usual 617 receiver and 3152 servos on all flight surfaces.  A Hitec 325 is on throttle.  A 6V NimH powers the receiver and servos.  Here are some pics of the plane.

Hey that's me in the cockpit!  Alex made a coooool profile pilot for the plane,
scaled to be 1/4 scale like the plane.  I am wearing a KRCA cap and Harbor Freight
ear protectors, haha.  He flip flopped the pic for the other side and mounted them
on thin plywood.  

I had the ARF about 2 years before finally assembling it during the last couple months.  This ARF is not sold anymore and I was lucky to find one on RCU.  I also have the 46 size version with the FG fuselage.  They are going to look nifty side by side in the pits!




UPDATE on 09/24/2012:  I test ran the Saito 100 in the Shoestring this afternoon, in the side yard.  It would not start at first because the initial low idle setting was too low to stay running.  I upped the throttle and the engine started right up, so I increased the throttle trim to maintain a decent low idle, on the higher side to keep from dying.  Right now the high needle is set at 3 turns open.  While I opened the throttle up a little, I did not run it prolonged at high speed because I don't want to bother any neighbors.  I doubt anyone heard it with the low sound of this engine.  It ran steady and without hesitations, so that is a good beginning.  I am ready to take it to the field to tune it more and of course to maiden it!

Apache Airtime

Went to the field to mow, but took the Apache along for a few tosses.  After my therapeutic mowing, I flew the Apache and only needed about 4 launches when I found a few very light thermals emanating around the pits.  The air was light, nothing real vigorous, but the Apache shows light air very clearly when it is tipped away or when the whole airframe bobbles upwards.  After I rode the first thermal, I decided as an afterthought to turn on the timer.  I landed with over 8 minutes on the timer, and I think I had at least the same time before I even switched it on, so I am claiming a 15-minute flight, lol.  After the hand catch, I dissassembled the plane, put her in the back of the xB, and headed home.  VERY SATISFYING!!!

Airworthy Again

I got the AW Ultimate out for the first time after the irrigation pipe debacle.  The plane seems to fly pretty much the same, perhaps a wee bit tail heavy due to the repairs to the fin and rudder, so I might add a little more weight to the engine box.  All in all though, I am pleased to have it flying again, and looking about the same.  The JB workers moved the irrigation pipes right up on the runway after I had completed two flights.  After that I put away the Ultimate and assembled the Apache.  In about 20 launches, I found zero thermals, so I packed it up and headed home.

UPDATE on 09/25/2012:  I noticed the muffler could move a little when forced during disassembly, and made a note to self to retighten it.  Yesterday I took off the cowl and found both muffler bolts were slightly loosened.  I removed them and retightened them with a little bit of red threadlock this time.  While the cowl was off, I took the opportunity to add an ounce of lead on the engine box, to compensate for any weight I added due to the fin and rudder repair.  I weighed the lead bundle and it now totals 5 ounces.  Checked all other screws and bolts and tie wraps and everything looked good under the cowl, so I put it back on and the plane is ready to fly.  Hoped to fly today but it is windier than it will be tomorrow, so I am choosing tomorrow to fly.

3 Days of Flight

After being in LV for five days, I sure needed to go flying.  On Friday, I took my Toledo Special and had a few flights with it, all smooth as glass.  On Saturday, I took out the Imagine 50 and had 5 flights with it, very smooth like butter.  And today I took the Intruder out and had 4 flights, smooth as grease!  Don't ask which is smoothest...glass, butter, or grease, I just know all three flew real graceful and in harmony with my brain and fingers.  Enjoyed it immensely, and had no mishaps.

On Saturday, my three sons flew too, and made it a real nice experience.  Unfortunately Alex slightly cartwheeled his plane on his first landing, jarring his nose gear loose, breaking the stock 3-blade prop, and cracking some of the fuselage wood that holds the tail group on.  That ended flying the Alpha 40 anymore for the day.  Later though, he and Tad got to fly Rudy's electric mini Ultra Stick, and had a ball with it.  It looks like Alex is already ready to advance to something beyond a high wing trainer.  At home in the afternoon, Alex and I repaired the Alpha 40 and it is ready to fly again.

I flew my Apache DLG on Sat and Sun too.  Caught small thermals for 5 minute flights a couple times on both days.

Windyish but Great Flying

The winds were out of the South this AM, and fairly healthy at 5mph+, but the flying was great.  Tad had fun with his Kaos Two, and was happy it made it through its second flying day.  Alex did great with four solo flights.  Tad and I did not touch his transmitter at all!  Al had all good takeoffs, avoiding the fence and the pipes laid along the south edge of the runway.  He also made 3 outstanding landings, better than Tad or I have ever landed that plane. They were straight down the runway, with no hops, fairly greased on!  The other landing was decent, but snaked around the final moments before touch down due to the crosswind, but had no hops.  Alex'es flying progress is phenomenally fast!  He was looping more today, as well as doing many rolls, and inverted flight, and all of it seems to be getting lower and faster.  He IS learning throttle management though, witness throttling back on the back side of loops, and making low approaches in practice for landings.  He knows to be at full throttle with that flat bottomed wing inverted.  Very enjoyable to watch his improvement each time out.

I flew my Stinger II a few times, twice with Tad.  His Kaos and my Stinger are fairly evenly matched in speed so we had fun making passes together, but he did try to keep lots of air between us so that he went home with the Kaos intact.  :)  Another fun day.  Too bad Alex will head back to college very soon.

AW Ultimate is Ready to Rock and Roll

I think I spent about 8 hours yesterday after dinging the AW Ultimate, and another 12 hours today fixing all the mess I created with my deadstick landing "under" the wheeled irrigation pipes.  So here are some pics of today's progress.  I final sanded the fin and rudder, located  new Robart pin hinges, covered the fin and rudder with spare Oracover, then epoxied the hinges, joining the rudder and fin.  I CA'd a couple larger pieces of balsa back into the cockpit backplate, filled cracks and holes with Model Magic, sanded, and painted the backplate flat black.  It used to be speckled grey like the cockpit floor.  Using blue Oracover, I covered over the area right behind the canopy that had been burnished hard by the pipe.  I heat gunned any wrinkles out before laying down the new blue.  Let's see, I added some thin fiberglass cloth on the inside and outside BLUE edges of the rear part of the canopy that got shattered by the pipe.  I did not do any gluing to the cracks in the clear part of the canopy because I think anything done there will stand out more than the cracks and burnishing.  And FINALLY, I removed the aluminum landing gear and bent the right side back into about the same shape as the left one.  I used the largest adjustable wrench I have to grasp the wheel end of the LG and bend the nearest angle to attain near vertical alignment of that face and therefore the wheel.  For the angle that sits at the corner of the fuselage, and for the strut section between the angles, I just held the LG at the flat part that attaches to the fuselage, put the wheel face of the LG on the carpeted ground, and leaned with all my weight to get that angle back and remove some bow in the strut caused by the hard landing.  After reassembly the right stab is only 5mm lower than the left stab, measured to the ground, so that is close enough!  Here are more pics.

I will add the yellow and silver trim to the fin later.

That was about 20 hours of hard labor to repair the Ultimate to flying condition.  Not cherry anymore, but it still should fly good, and I am thankful that the plane did not get totalled by the irrigation pipes.  Luck was really with me to allow the wings to make it through before the ensuing bounce and resultant damage to the canopy, cockpit, turtle deck, fin, and rudder.  If I did add any weight via the repair, it should be nominal and maybe I will need another ounce of lead up front to counteract, but that is nothing for this plane.  I am going to fly it as is and see if it behaves the same or more tail happy.  Whew, dodged the bullet on this one!

UPDATE:  I added the silver and yellow trim to the top of the fin...NOW the repair looks complete! :)

Update2:  I used white Monokote to seal the gap between the fin and rudder.  This gap was smaller before the crash, and I had it small during the trial fits, but for some reason I could not get it that small when epoxying the hinges in.  You can see in the pic below what the gap looks like at the top of the hinge line, and how the seal looks  between all the hinge points.

Dead Stick Dufus

Well, I had a good time flying my AW Ultimate for three flights today, until the engine quit on some vertical manuever that I don't recall.  I had enough altitude, but did not rush to make it to the runway.  The plane is big and tricked me, it seemed closer to me, and I thought I already crossed the wheel sprinklers.  NOPE!  In retrospect of course I should have landed parallel to the pipelines, but I really thought I was north of them already.  But luck was with me because it could have been really ugly.  I landed hard with wings level right under the pipes on wheels.  The wing made it through, but the ensuing bounce caused the plane to jump up into the pipe.  The plane hit the pipe right on the last 6" of the canopy, causing some damage to it and the turtle deck, and then sheering off the top few inches of the fin, and knocking the rudder off most of its hinges, yanking hinge mounting blocks out in several places on the fin and rudder.  Looks ugly!  Also squashed the aluminum landing gear, but amazingly there was no bad damage to the pants, or cowl!

I came home and spent all afternoon trying to repair the fin.  It is not pretty, but I got the woodwork done except for final sanding.  Got the rudder fixed lots faster, under an hour.  Then I will cover both and rehinge it.  It was tough to get the fin to be aligned correctly again.  After my first attempt at gluing the shards back together, the fin was not aligned good enough to me, so I busted it loose and tried again and again.  I got it done good enough.  Hope I did not add too much weight with extra wood, some epoxy, and lots of thin and thick CA!

Best Flying Day

I think today was my happiest flying day ever.  Why?   Because I had all THREE sons at the field, flying for one of the first times.  Alex is the impressive addition to the Young Team.  We brought his Alpha 40 and he got 4 flights with it today, after a forgettable beginning...after assembly  Alex said the rudder servo was not operating!  We thought we had a binding nose gear after the last outing, we fixed it, and the rudder servo seemed fine then.  Nope, not today.  Luckily, Sandy and Rachel were heading out from home soon to shop and would be passing near the field so we phoned them and asked them to bring a servo to the field, which they did.  Al and Jer got it in the plane, it worked fine, and Alex got to fly. He soloed two flights and did WELL again.  He is really good very early in the game.  He did more loops, rolls, and inverted flying, and a bunch of landing approaches.  Really good stuff.

Tad maidened his Kaos Two that he completed in the wee hours of the same morning.  After a 10 minute break-in on the ground, he successfully maidened it and flew another flight or two after that.  The plane is a fast and nostalgic bird!

Jer helped Shane maiden his new GP Extra 300SP, same plane that Jer has.  Shane's though, has an OS 55 AX motor that really halls arse!  Jer put it through the wringer and the plane passed with flying colors, pun intended, lol.  Shane was happy but doesn't think he is ready to fly it himself.  He wants to work up to it with some other planes.

I flew my Giles 202 for four flights.  With the cool temps today, I had to keep leaning the engine a click or two each flight.  By the 4th flight it was really sounding great and moving like lightning.  Great flying with it today. I must have been performing good because I got a couple compliments from Dick et al about the nice flights and landings.  :)

Jer and Tad also flew their little red Migs along with Joe's Sabre.  Cool little bullets made for great entertainment and low fly bys over the runway.

Lastly, Jer, Joe, and I flew our DLG's, finding some light air here and there, but not catching any boomers.

In summary, it was a day to remember, really because I had my 3 sons there together with me and enjoying the day together with our common hobby, and making some everlasting memories.  Oh yeah, we ended by going to a new Mac Donalds at Keizer Station, Joe included, and I treated the gang.  Super FUN day!!

Sunday Flying

Forgot to log my flight activity for yesterday/Sunday.  I flew my T-28 Trojan and Stinger II.  Both flew well, and I had 3 or 4 flights on each.  Notable was probably my best landing ever with the T-28, diving for the end of the runway with full flaps and low throttle, and pulling up just at the right time, but keeping down elevator pressure for a greased on landing with no hops at all.  I don't think it can ever be bettered, equaled maybe.  The YS63 in the Stinger operated well the first three flights but on the fourth it was easy to start but would die after idling a little bit.  After I fiddled with the low idle mixture to no avail, Joe suggested just running the engine up with the glow starter still on to burn off any excess fuel that loaded up the engine.  Seemed to work.  The plane idled fine to taxi out and after landing.  I will have to remember that for future similar occurrences with this engine.

Flight Log: 09/01/12

Here we are already, first day of Sept 2012!  Took the Sbach and Apache DLG out today.  Jer had his Colibri, so I that is what instigated getting the Apache out again, first time in a year?  Had 3 nice flights with the Sbach, but it was quickly growing windier by noonish, so the last flight was not real pleasant with heavy crosswind on takeoff and pretty bumpy air.  Sbach handled nicely for the first two flights, and Jer commented that the rolling circles were looking smooth, so that is encouraging.  The DLE-30 started nicely and ran well, but seems touchy on idle for some reason.  Had a bunch of launches with the Apache, and ended with a nice thermal or two on the last flight.  I bailed out of the good air as it drifted south, and because the farmer on the North field was fumigating with some gawd awful stink yellow chemical.  Jer was flying too, and we could taste the bitter "poison" in our mouths.  He said it was making his eyes sting.  I landed and we put our stuff away, and sat in the car when the tractor made another pass.  After that, we went home to avoid any more chemicals in our lungs.

Ultimate Time

Took the AW Ultimate 20-300 out again today since I only got in one flight on windy Sunday.  Today was great weatherwise, but JB had the sprinkle pipe line on the west end of our runway, and they had the wheel system about a 100 yards out stretched from east to west for the length of the field.  I elected to do takeoffs from the west end of the runway heading east, and to land on the sod farm grass between the pipe line and wheel system, taxiing back to our runway.  It worked well and I was able to make 3 nice flights today, all 8 minutes long.  I figured out how to use the countdown timer.  The 8 minute flights require filling the tank back up with about 75 cranks of the manual pump.  As I recall, the initial fill takes just over 100 cranks, so the 8 minute flight is consuming about 3/4 of the tank capacity.  I am comfortable with that margin of safety.

The Ultimate appears to need some aileron throw mixed in with KE, to keep the plane in KE, otherwise it wants to roll upright.  I don't recall it doing this before, but it could be due to the CG being more forward than during initial flights last year.  Other than that, this plane flies so nice!  I got more comfortable and courageous with it today, doing slow rolls perhaps 50' off the deck, and a few rolling circles.  I am trying to get it to fly smaller, as it is large and wants to fly LARGE.

The DLE-55 has been easy peasy to start up each day and each flight.  I love that reliability.  Idle seems to be a little high, but it helps keep the airspeed up during landings, and it keeps the engine running after touchdown.  If the plane is rolling too fast and nearing danger, I hit the kill switch.  I noted today that the DLE must be breaking in because there is hardly any black exhaust residue on the bottom of the LG and fuselage anymore.

As I get used to assembly and disassembly, it seems to be less arduous, and shorter each time.  As I like the plane more, my attitude towards assembly and disassembly is improving, lol.  I am biased, but I can look at the plane sitting on the grass, and just STARE and GRIN...it is so beautiful!!  So since I did not take pics today, I will post an old one:

Waterfalls Galore

I watched Bob Ross and got gung ho to do the painting he had on his program today, so I did my own version of what he did.  It was a 5 hour struggle from 10AM till 3PM, but I like the result.  Many times during the process I felt like I was really lost, and I never remember the exact steps Bob takes, or the exact colors, so I winged it my own way.  In the end I fixed it so it looks pretty ok, haha.  I call it Waterfalls Galore and it is my 68th painting, and 18th for 2012.

I sure was torn between going to fly my AW Ultimate today or painting.  Once I got underway on the new painting, I forgot everything else for 5 hours.  San had to stop me at 1:30 to come up for air and eat lunch.  She even brought it up to me in the bonus room on a tray.  My sweetie.

Ultimate Comraderie

It was breezy when I got to the field before 9AM, and the wind just continued to build all morning.  I flew as soon as I got the AW Ultimate assembled, and had a nice long flight followed by a safe landing in a strong southerly crosswind.  After that flight, the wind increased and I later decided not to fly again.  I still stayed and enjoyed the banter with the other fellas, most of whom did not fly due to the wind.  Even with just getting one flight in, I really enjoyed the comraderie of the guys...we do have a great bunch of members who like to get on each other with good natured wise cracks and kibitzing.  I left around 1PM with good vibes from the day at the field.

Frustration

What a great day for flying, but I got zero flights, haha!  First, I got to the field and had chosen the wrong wing tube for the Giles 202.  I brought one for the Yak, arg.  When I did get the right joiner, very happy that Tad brought it, I promptly started the Giles and went to the pilot box to run up the engine.  I ticked the corner of the left stab with my foot as I lifted my left foot to straddle the tail.  That SNAPPED the control horn and made control non-existent.  Luckily I noticed it did not center the same as the right stab.  I thought maybe the servo gear stripped, but found the broken control horn.  I removed it, and at home installed a regular nylon horn, screwed into the ply support of the  stab.  Used CA to make the holes tight, and just screwed the horn on rather than using a backplate for bolts completely through the stab.  It should work fine with the ply plates and CA hardening.  Got in one partial flight on Alex'es trainer, who continues to show quick skills  on the Alpha 40.  :)  Alex got in 2 flights, one with a takeoff, and one with a landing before we stopped flying the plane due to rudder servo probs.  That later turned out to be a badly binding nose gear strut in the nose gear mounting bracket.  We reamed it out with a drill and it should work great from now on.

Top Off Cruzn!

Just got back from a 63 mile jaunt in the Corvette with the top off.  It was about 65F+ but with wind it felt pretty cool at times, so I put the heater on now and then.  I drove east on Silverton Rd all the way to Silverton, then south from there through the beautiful forests of Silver Falls State Park.  Came down through Sublimity and onto Hwy 22 to return home.  The 63 miles probably took about an hour and a half.  It was a very satisfying drive, just listening to the wind and the engine.  Did not play the radio once.  Home by 11:00AM.  Gave a wave to one mag red C6 on Glen Creek as I returned home, but I don't know that he saw me.  Maybe it was Oh Al.

Talk About Quick Study!

Tad and I took Alex out to fly the Alpha 40 trainer today.  He took off for several flights, but get this...he did more loops, his first rolls, some were even two point rolls with controlled inverted flight, AND he had his first landing.  The landing was entirely on the runway at that!  I mean it would be great to accomplish just one of those things in a day at the field, but he had multiple accomplishments.  Yup, I AM proud, lol!  We had Spencer along, his roommate, because Spencer wanted to see Alex fly, and he enjoyed the experience.  (Later in the day they played with my Real Flight simulator at home.)  Rudy was another witness to the awesome events and progress.  CONGRATS ALEX!!!

I had my Stinger II along, and got two flights with it.  The engine was hard to idle, and it seems the idle mixture screw got loose and vibrated downwards.  I just guessed at how far to bring it out, and the YS 63 ran pretty good after that.  I need to find a way to get the screw to stay where it is set.

Update on YS 63:  I got the idle mixture screw out with the cowl still on (could not remove it due to stubborn muffler that would not come off engine).  It needs a new O ring.  Hard to find those...I cleaned the screw and added a very small drop of blue thread locker on the threads.  Re-inserted.  Hope that holds.  My next idea is a small bit of plumbers tape.  If that fails too, then I will try ACE, and next ordering an official O ring, lol.