Flight log: 04/27/2015

Great day for flying because the temp was 55F when I headed out, and forecast to be about 80F later.  Sunny skies made it easy to see my G630.  I took 8 packs, all of them for the 630, for four flights.  Was done and weed wacking around the safety fences when Quang showed up.  What a surprise.  He had his newly acquired Extra 300 from Tad, so I hung around to watch him fly that and his helis.  Good fun.  I helped him replace the stiffened Tygon tubing attached to the clunk filter in the fuel tank, and it was good to go.  Even after being dry a maybe a couple years, the DLE 55 started up easily and ran well.  Rather than over 20 hand flips to pop, it popped in under 10, then started up in less than 10 flips too.  Quang liked it, but said it is tail heavy, causing lots of long floating approaches for landing.  A little nose weight should help, plus shifting the flight batteries forward of the CG if possible.

Unfortunately Quang crashed his Gaui X5 on its first flight.  It just stopped responding and went full positive pitch inverted into the tall grass of the North field.  Yikes.  Definitely needs a tail boom, torque tube, main gear, main blades, and canopy.  I actually missed the crash.  I was watching the flight, turned away a second, and that is when I heard the familar WHOMP of a heli going into that grass.

10 packs

I took 10 packs for my helis to the field along with the Goblin 500, Gaui X5, and Goblin 630.  When I decided to fly the 630, I discovered that I forgot the battery tray and battery extension cable at home!  Durn it all, did not get to fly the 630.  Instead I put in 6 flights on the X5, 4 as usual on the G500.  Flying is going well on both the G500 and X5.  I have a switch on my xmitter that allows me to set the iKon on the G500 to sport or 3D mode.  During my last couple flying sessions, I have dabbled with the 3D setting, and am liking it.  It's very similar in feel to the way the X5 feels with the mini Vbar controller...more agile.  The heli definitely flips in any direction a lot quicker on 3D mode.

Helis and Shoestring

Great flying today in super clear and sunny weather!  Must have got to 70F while I was there.  Too bad JB was harvesting sod but I was affected very little.  For helis, I was not affected at all by JB since I fly over the North field almost exclusively.  I had 4 packs through the Goblin 500 and 4 through the Gaui X5.  Good stuff...almost crashed the X5 on the last flight when I did multiple pyros on the stall turn turn-around, and was too low to fully pyro to get nose down.  Managed to recover over the dirt road, but got hairy.  Needed to change undies after that one.  Whew!

I fixed my Shoestring 60 by unsticking the stuck valve at home.  A little pushing broke it loose, then I added some thin heli oil to loosen it up good.  The engine was a little finicky since I lost the needle setting while fixing the engine.  So today I reset the low idle screw and the high needle, plus trim on the xmitter.  It did not die in the air, so good enough!  I only took one flight since JB was on the field.  Per our rules, I had to take off to the west, head north, and eventually land from the west which was slightly downwind today.  To make it easy I just landed on the sod farm just off the runway, with plenty of runout room that way.  In summary though, the Saito 100 ran well enough, and the Shoe was delightful to fly.  I forgot how it flies since it has been a long time since last flying it.  It really does pretty axial rolls, and good four point rolls.  Not noticeably bad coupling while in the knife edge portions of the four pointer.

LIFE IS GOOD!

Feels like SUMMER!

Very fine weather today with no clouds, and maybe 70F when I was out at the field.  I took 10 packs for the G500 and X5.  Ran 4 through the Gobby and 6 through the X5.  I am getting more comfy therefore the altitude of my flips is decreasing to where I can see them lots better!  Still doing lots of straight line inverted without the guts to turn, lol.  One thing I am doing much more of is 1.5 pyros at the top of stall turns, instead of just a half.  I think it looks like I am good but it is so simple.  Great day!

It was a nice day for flying with about 50F and very light winds.  I got in 4 packs on the G500 and 4 on the X5, plus 2 on the Star.  Very nice to finally fly again after too many sick days.  I mowed when done flying.  The grass is thick and the mower throws lots of clippings just 5 days after I mowed last Friday!

Good and bad news

No not what you think!  I did not crash anything, lol.  I had 12 batteries charged for the field today.  6 for helis and 6 for the Star plane.  I was finishing up my 6 packs for the G500 and X5 (3 each) when I went to look for the battery bag for the Star.  Nowhere to be found.  I left it at home on the rug in front of the microwave in the kitchen.  Bah humbug!  And it was a perfect day albeit a bit cool, around 45F.  But it was calm, grey, and no JB workers  around.  No other flyers either though.  Oh well, I did have a good time with the helis.  I did a bunch of flips at my lowest altitudes yet.

Hell of a Day!

In a very good way it was a hell of day at the field!  I got in a pack on the G500 when Bob B showed up with pipe material for our two new sections of safety barrier on the west end of the pits.  Helped him put it in the shed.  He departed, and I put in a second flight on the G500.  Ashton arrived during the flight, and saw Bob departing.  I then helped Ashton take the pipe material back out of the shed and move it to the west end of the pits for assembly.   After helping Ashton place the pipes for the south section of fence, he went home to get a wrench and hammer.  I got in a few flights of the G500 and X5 in that intermission.  Ashton came back and we put the orange mesh on the fence, then placed pipes and orange mesh for the north section.  Somewhere in there I got in another flight on the G500 and two on the G630.  The new fences look awesome and gives added protection to those in the pits.

Ashton working on new North section

Me working on new South section

Eric behind yet to be completed South section, lol

Ashton trimming the edge

To top it off, I then mowed the field in anticipation of rain the next few days at least.  While not tall, the grass sure was thick and the mower tossed lots of cuttings!  Our field is looking awesome!